They say he got plugged while he was ridin' through
the lines and he bled all the way home, and he got there unconscious. Is
that right, Kate?"
He waited an instant and then accepted the silence as an affirmative.
"Funny thing about that, too. The place where he come to was Buck
Daniels' house. Well, Buck was one of Jim Silent's men, and they say
Buck had tried to plug Dan before that. But Dan let him go that time,
and when Buck seen Dan ride in all covered with blood he remembered that
favour and he kept Dan safe from Jim Silent and safe from the law until
Dan was well. I seen Buck this morning over to Rafferty's place,
and----"
Here the marshal noted a singular look in the eyes of Kate Cumberland, a
look so singular that he turned in his chair to follow it. He saw Dan
Barry in the act of closing the door behind him, and Marshal Calkins
turned a deep and violent red, varied instantly by a blotchy yellow
which in turn faded to something as near white as his tan permitted.
"Dan Barry!" gasped the marshal, rising, and he reached automatically
towards his hip before he remembered that he had laid his belt and guns
aside before he entered the dining-room, as etiquette is in the
mountain-desert. For it is held that shooting at the table disturbs the
appetite.
"Good evenin'," said Dan quietly. "Was it Buck Daniels that you seen at
Rafferty's place, Marshal Calkins?"
"Him," nodded the marshal, hoarsely.
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