The moonlight dropped across her face. He recognized
Kate, with Lee Haines walking a pace before her.
"Stand where you are," he said.
Haines leaped to one side, his revolver flashing in his hand. Dan
stepped out before them while Black Bart slunk close beside him,
snarling softly.
He seemed totally regardless of the gun in Haines's hand. His manner
was that of a conqueror who had the outlaw at his mercy.
"You," he said, "walk over there to the side of the clearing."
"Dan!" cried Kate, as she went to him with extended arms.
He stopped her with a gesture, his eyes upon Haines, who had moved
away.
"Watch him, Bart," said Dan.
The black wolf ran to Haines and crouched snarling at his feet. The
outlaw restored his revolver to his holster and stood with his arms
folded, his back turned. Dan looked to Kate. At the meeting of their
eyes she shrank a little. She had expected a difficult task in
persuading him, but not this hard aloofness. She felt suddenly as if
she were a stranger to him.
"How do you come here--with him?"
"He is my friend!"
"You sure pick a queer place to go walkin' with him."
"Hush, Dan! He brought me here to find you!"
"_He_ brought you here?"
"Don't you understand?"
"When I want a friend like him, I'll go huntin' for him myself; an'
I'll pack a gun with me!"
That flickering yellow light played behind Dan's eyes.
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