"
"It isn't a wolf, Dad," said Kate, "it's a dog. Dan says so himself."
"Sure he says so," answered her father, "but there was a lone wolf
prowlin' round these parts for a considerable time an' raisin' Cain
with the calves an' the colts. An' Black Bart comes pretty close to a
description of the lone wolf. Maybe you remember Dan found his 'dog'
lyin' in a gully with a bullet through his shoulder. If he was a dog
how'd he come to be shot--"
"Some brute of a sheep herder may have done it. What could it prove?"
"It only proves that Dan is queer--powerful queer! Satan an' Black
Bart are still as wild as they ever was, except that they got one
master. An' they ain't got a thing to do with other people. Black
Bart'd tear the heart out of a man that so much as patted his head."
"Why," she cried, "he'll let me do anything with him!"
"Humph!" said Cumberland, a little baffled; "maybe that's because Dan
is kind of fond of you, gal, an' he has sort of introduced you to
his pets, damn 'em! That's just the pint! How is he able to make his
man-killers act sweet with you an' play the devil with everybody
else."
"It wasn't Dan at all!" she said stoutly, "and he _isn't_ queer.
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