by Max Brand
CHAPTER XXI
MAC STRANN DECIDES TO KEEP THE LAW
It was hours later that night when Haw-Haw Langley and Mac Strann sattheir horses on the hill to the south. Before them, on the nearest riseof ground, a clump of tall trees and the sharp triangle of a roof splitthe sky, while down towards the right spread a wide huddle of sheds andbarns.
"That's where the trail ends," said Mac Strann, and started his horsedown the slope. Haw-Haw Langley urged his little mount hurriedlyalongside the squat bulk of his companion. He looked like the skeletonreality, and Mac Strann the blunt, deformed shadow.
"You ain't going into the house lookin' for him, Mac?" he asked, and helowered his voice to a sharp whisper in spite of the distance. "Maybethere's a pile of men in that house. It's got room for a whole army. Youain't going in there by yourself, Mac?"
"Haw-Haw," explained the big man quietly, "I ain't going after Barry.I'm going to make him come after me."
Haw-Haw considered this explanation for a dazed moment. It was far toomysterious for his comprehension.
"What you goin' to do?" he asked again.
"Would you know that black hoss agin if you seen him?" asked Mac Strann.
"In a thousand."
"That hoss has had a long ride; and Barry has put him in one of thembarns, they ain't no doubt. Most like, the dog is with the hoss."
"It looks a considerable lot like a wolf," muttered Langley. "I wouldn'tchoose meetin' up with that dog in the dark. Besides, what good is itgoin' to do you to find the dog?"
"If you hurt a man's dog," explained Mac Strann calmly, "you're hurtingthe man, ain't you? I'm going to hurt this man's dog; afterwards thedog'll bring the man to me. They ain't no doubt of that. I ain't goin'to kill the dog. I'm goin' to jest nick him so's he'll get well and thenhit my trail."
"What sense is they in that?"
"If Barry comes to me, ain't he the one that's breakin' the law? If Ikill him then, won't it be in self-defense? I ain't no law-breaker,Haw-Haw. It ain't any good bein' a law-breaker. Them lawyers can talk aman right into a grave. They's worse nor poison. I'd rather be caught ina bear trap a hundred miles from my shack than have a lawyer fasten ontomy leg right in the middle of Brownsville. No, Haw-Haw, I ain't going tobreak any law. But I'm going to fix the wolf so's he'll know me; andwhen he gets well he'll hit my trail, and when he hits my trail he'llhave Barry with him. And when Barry sees me, then----" he raised hisarms above him in the dark. "Then!" breathed Mac Strann, "Jerry canstart sleepin' sound for the first time!"
Haw-Haw Langley wrapped his long arms about himself.
"An' I'll be there to watch. I'll be there to see fair play, don't younever doubt it, Mac. Why didn't I never go with you before? Why, Jerrynever done anything to touch this! But be careful, Mac. Don't make noslip up to-night. If they's trouble--I ain't a fighting man, Mac. Iain't no ways built for it."
"Shut your mouth," said Mac Strann bluntly. "I need quiet now."
For they were now close to the house. Mac Strann brought his horse to ajog trot and cast a semi-circle skirting the house and bringing himbehind the barns. Here he retreated to a little jutting point of landfrom behind which the house was invisible, and there dismounted.
Haw-Haw Langley followed example reluctantly. He complained: "I ain'tnever heard before of a man leavin' his hoss behind him! It ain't rightand it ain't policy."
His leader, however, paid no attention to this grumbling. He skirtedback behind the barns, walking with a speed which extended even the longlegs of Haw-Haw Langley. Most of the stock was turned out in thecorrals. Now and then a horse stamped, or a bull snorted from the fencedenclosures, but from the barns they heard not a sound. Now Mac Strannpaused. They had reached the largest of the barns, a long, lowstructure.
"This here," said Mac Strann, "is where that hoss must be. They wouldn'trun a hoss like that with others. They'd keep him in a big stall byhimself. We'll try this one, Haw-Haw."
But Haw-Haw drew back at the door. The interior was black as the hollowof a throat as soon as Mac Strann rolled back the sliding door, andHaw-Haw imagined evil eyes glaring and twinkling at him along the edgesof the darkness.
"The wolf!" he cautioned, grasping the shoulder of his companion. "Youain't goin' to walk onto that wolf, Mac?"
The latter struck down Haw-Haw's hand.
"A wolf makes a noise before it jumps," he whispered, "and that warnin'is all the light I need."
Now their eyes grew somewhat accustomed to the dark and Haw-Haw couldmake out, vaguely, the posts of the stalls to his right. He could nottell whether or not some animal might be lying down between the posts,but Mac Strann, pausing at every stall, seemed to satisfy himself at aglance. Right down the length of the barn they passed until they reacheda wall at the farther end.
"He ain't here," sighed Haw-Haw, with relief. "Mac, if I was you, I'dwait till they was light before I went huntin' that wolf."
"He ought to be here," growled Mac Strann, and lighted a match. Theflame spurted in a blinding flash from the head of the match and thensettled down into a steady yellow glow. By that brief glow Mac Strannlooked up and down the wall. The match burned out against the callousedtips of his fingers.
"That wall," mused Strann, "ain't made out of the same timber as theside of the barn. That wall is whole years newer. Haw-Haw, that _ain't_the end of the barn. They's a holler space beyond it." He lightedanother match, and then cursed softly in delight. "Look!" he commanded.
At the farther side of the wall was the glitter of metal--the latch of adoor opening in the wooden wall. Mac Strann set it ajar and Haw-Hawpeered in over the big man's shoulder. He saw first a vague and formlessglimmer. Then he made out a black horse lying down in the centre of abox stall. The animal plunged at once to its feet, and crowding as faras possible away against the wall, turned its head and stared at themwith flashing eyes.
"It's him!" whispered Haw-Haw. "It's Barry's black. They ain't anotherhoss like him on the range. An' the wolf--thank God!--ain't with him."
But Mac Strann closed the door of the stall, frowning thoughtfully, andthought on the face of Strann was a convulsion of pain. He dropped thesecond match to his feet, where it ignited a wisp of straw that sent upa puff of light.
"Ah-h!" drawled Mac Strann. "The wolf ain't here, but we'll soon havehim here. And the thing that brings him here will get rid of the blackhoss."
"Are you goin' to steal the hoss?"
"Steal him? He couldn't carry me two mile, a skinny hoss like that. Butif Barry ever gets away agin on that hoss I ain't never goin' to catchhim. That hoss has got to die."
Haw-Haw Langley caught his breath with a harsh gurgle. For men of themountain-desert sometimes fall very low indeed, but in their lowestmoments it is easier for him to kill a man than a horse. There is thestory, for instance, of the cattleman who saw the bull-fight in Juarez,and when the bull gored the first horse the cowpuncher rose in the crowdand sent a bullet through the picador to square the deal. So Haw-Hawsighed.
"Mac," he whispered, "has it got to be done? Ain't there any other way?I've seen that hoss. When the sun hits him it sets him on fire, he'sthat sleek. And his legs is like drawn-iron, they're that fine. And he'sgot a head that's finer than a man's head, Mac."
"I've seen him close enough," answered Mac Strann grimly. "An' I'vefollered him for a day and a half, damn near. S'pose Barry finds out I'mon his trail; s'pose he won't foller the wolf when the wolf tries tolead him to me. S'pose he gets on this hoss and cuts away? Can I follerthe wind, Haw-Haw? This hoss has got to die!"
From the manger he threw out several armfuls of hay, wrenched down frombehind the manger several light boards, and tossed them on the hay. Helighted a match and was approaching the small flame to the pile ofinflammables when Haw-Haw Langley cried softly: "Hark, Mac!"
The big man instantly extinguished the match. For a moment they coulddistinguish nothing, but then they heard the sharp, high chorus of thewild geese flying north. Haw-Haw Langley snickered apologetically.
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sp; "That was what I heard a minute ago!" he said. "And it sounded likevoices comin'."
A snarl of contempt from Mac Strann; then he scratched another match andat once the flame licked up the side of the hay and cast a long arm upthe wooden wall.
"Out of this quick!" commanded Mac Strann, and they started hastily downthe barn towards the door. The fire behind them, after the puff of flamefrom the hay, had died away to a ghastly and irregular glow with thecrackle of the slowly catching wood. It gave small light to guide them;only enough, indeed, to deceive the eye. The posts of the stalls grewinto vast, shadowy images; the irregularities of the floor became highplaces and pits alternately. But when they were half way to the doorHaw-Haw Langley saw a form too grim to be a shadow, blocking their path.It was merely a blacker shape among the shades, but Haw-Haw was aware ofthe two shining eyes, and stopped short in his tracks.
"The wolf!" he whispered to Mac Strann. "Mac, what're we goin' to do?"
The other had not time to answer, for the shadow at the door of thebarn now leaped towards them, silently, without growl or yelp or snarl.As if to guide the battle, the kindling wood behind them now ignited andsent up a yellow burst of light. By it Haw-Haw Langley saw the greatbeast clearly, and he leaped back behind the sheltering form of MacStrann. As for Mac, he did not move or flinch from the attack. Hisrevolver was in his hand, levelled, and following the swift course ofBlack Bart.
