Satan, for the first time deserted by this
wolfish companion, turned a high head and neighed after him, but he
raced on.
The men returned to their work over Dan's body, cursing softly. There
was a hair-raising unearthliness about the sudden coming and departure
of Black Bart. Jim Silent and his comrades waited no longer, but took
to their saddles and galloped down the road.
Within a few moments the crowd at Morgan's place began to thin out.
Evening was coming on, and most of them had far to ride. They might
have lingered until midnight, but this peculiar accident damped their
spirits. Probably not a hundred words were spoken from the moment
Silent struck Dan to the time when the last of the cattlemen took to
the saddle. They avoided each other's eyes as if in shame. In a short
time only Morgan remained working over Dan.
In the house of old Joe Cumberland his daughter sat fingering the keys
of the only piano within many miles. The evening gloom deepened as she
played with upward face and reminiscent eyes. The tune was uncertain,
weird--for she was trying to recall one of those nameless airs which
Dan whistled as he rode through the hills. There came a patter of
swift, light footfalls in the hall, and then a heavy scratching at the
door.
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