Mrs.
Daniels stated that it was the fever which she had feared and she
offered to sit up with the sick man through the rest of that night.
Buck lifted her from the chair and took her place beside the bed.
"No one but me is goin' to take care of Whistlin' Dan," he stated.
So the vigil began, with Buck watching Dan, and Black Bart alert,
suspicious, ready at the first wrong move to leap at the throat of
Buck.
CHAPTER XXVII
NOBODY LAUGHS
That night the power which had sent Dan into Elkhead, Jim Silent,
stood his turn at watch in the narrow canyon below the old Salton
place. In the house above him sat Terry Jordan, Rhinehart, and Hal
Purvis playing poker, while Bill Kilduff drew a drowsy series of airs
from his mouth-organ. His music was getting on the nerves of the other
three, particularly Jordan and Rhinehart, for Purvis was winning
steadily.
"Let up!" broke out Jordan at last, pounding on the table with his
fist. "Your damn tunes are gettin' my goat. Nobody can think while
you're hittin' it up like that. This ain't no prayer meetin', Bill."
For answer Kilduff removed the mouth-organ to take a deep breath,
blinked his small eyes, and began again in a still higher key.
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