The fire died
out--the night swallowed up their figures.
CHAPTER XIII
THE LONE RIDERS ENTERTAIN
When Lee Haines rode into Silent's camp that evening no questions were
asked. Questions were not popular among the long riders. He did not
know more than the names of half the men who sat around the smoky
fire. They were eager to forget the past, and the only allusions
to former times came in chance phrases which they let fall at rare
intervals. When they told an anecdote they erased all names by
instinct. They would begin: "I heard about a feller over to the Circle
Y outfit that was once ridin'--" etc. As a rule they themselves were
"that feller over to the Circle Y outfit." Accordingly only a few
grunts greeted Haines and yet he was far and away the most popular man
in the group. Even solemn-eyed Jim Silent was partial to the handsome
fellow.
"Heard the whistling today?" he asked.
Purvis shook his head and Terry Jordan allowed "as how it was most
uncommon fortunate that this Barry feller didn't start his noise."
After this Haines ate his supper in silence, his ear ready to catch
the first sound of Kate's horse as it crashed through the willows and
shrubs.
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