He answered
at length: "How long would I have to stay? One rain could wipe out all
the sign and make me like a blind man in the desert. Doc, how long would
I have to stay?"
"A few days," answered Byrne, "may work wonders with him."
The other hesitated.
"I'll go up and talk with him," he said, "and what he wants I'll do."
CHAPTER XXIX
TALK
He was long in getting his answer. The hours dragged on slowly for Kate
and the doctor, for if Joe Cumberland could hold Dan it was everything
to the girl, and if Barry left at once there might be some root for the
hope which was growing stronger and stronger every day in the heart of
Randall Byrne. Before evening a not unwelcome diversion broke the
suspense somewhat.
It was the arrival of no less a person than Marshal Jeff Calkins. His
shoulders were humped and his short legs bowed from continual riding,
and his head was slung far forward on a gaunt neck; so that when he
turned his head from one to another in speaking it was with a peculiar
pendulum motion. The marshal had a reputation which was strong over
three hundred miles and more of a mountain-desert. This was strange, for
the marshal was a very talkative man, and talkative men are not popular
on the desert; but it has been discovered that on occasion his six-gun
could speak as rapidly and much more accurately than his tongue. So
Marshal Calkins waxed in favour.
He set the household at ease upon his arrival by announcing that "they
hadn't nothin' for him there.
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