by Max Brand
CHAPTER XXXVIII
THE CHALLENGE
All this time Black Bart had trotted contentedly ahead of Satan, neverhaving to glance back but apparently knowing the intended direction;save that when Dan Barry turned to the road leading out of the littletown, the wolf-dog had turned in an opposite direction. The rider turnedin the saddle and sent a sharp whistle towards the animal, but he wasanswered by a short howl of woe that made him check Satan and swingaround. Black Bart stood in the centre of the street facing in theopposite direction, and he looked back over his shoulder towards hismaster.
There was apparently a perfect understanding between them, and themaster first glanced up and made sure of the position of the sun and thelength of time he might allow for the trip home, before he decided tofollow the whim of the wolf-dog. Then he turned Satan and cantered, withthe piebald trailing, back towards Black Bart.
At this the wolf-dog began to trot down the street, turned the nextcorner, and drew up at the door of a rambling building above which hunga dirty, cracked sign: "GILEAD SALOON" and underneath in smallerletters was painted the legend: "Here's where you get it!"
Black Bart strolled up to the swinging doors of the emporium and thenturned to look back at his master; clearly he wished Dan to enter theplace. But the rider shook his head and would certainly have ridden onhad not, at that moment, the rain which had hitherto fallen only inrattling bursts, now burst over the roofs of the town with a loudroaring as of wind through a forest. It was possible that the showermight soon pass over, so Dan rode under the long shelter which stretchedin front of the saloon, dismounted, and entered behind Black Bart.
It was occupied by a scattering of people, for the busy time of the dayhad not yet commenced and Pale Annie was merely idling behind thebar--working at half-speed, as it were. To this group Black Bart paidnot the slightest heed but glided smoothly down the centre of the longroom until he approached the tables at the end, where, in a corner, sata squat, thick-chested man, and opposite him the most cadaverously leanfellow that Whistling Dan had ever seen. Before these two Black Bartpaused and then cast a glance over his shoulder towards the master;Whistling Dan frowned in wonder; he knew neither of the pair.
But Black Bart apparently did. He slouched a pace closer, crouched, andbared his fangs with a tremendous snarl. At this the lean man left hischair and sprang back to a distance. Terror convulsed his face; but hiseyes glittered with a fascinated interest and he glanced first at hiscompanion and then at the great wolf-dog, as if he were making acomparison between them. It was the broad shouldered man who firstspoke.
"Partner," he said in a thick voice, in which the articulation wasalmost lost, "maybe you better take your dog out before he gets hurt. Hedon't like me and I don't like him none too much."
"Bart!" called Dan Barry.
But Black Bart gave no heed. There had been a slight flexing of hismuscles as he crouched, and now he leaped--a black bolt of fightingweight--squarely in the face of the giant. He was met and checked midwayin his spring. For the two long arms darted out, two great handsfastened in the throat of the beast, and Black Bart fell back upon thefloor, with Mac Strann following, his grip never broken by the fall.
A scurry of many feet running towards the scene; a shouting of twentyvoices around him; but all that Whistling Dan saw were the fangs of Bartas they gnashed fruitlessly at the wrists of Mac Strann, and then thegreat red tongue lolling out and the eyes bulging from theirsockets--all he heard was the snarling of the wolf and the peculiarwhine of rage which came from the throat of the man-beast fighting thewolf. Then he acted. His hands darted between the thick forearms of MacStrann--his elbows jerked out and snapped the grip; next he draggedBlack Bart away from the danger.
The wolf was instantly on his feet and lunging again, but a sharp"Heel!" from Dan checked him mid-leap. He came to a shuddering haltbehind the legs of his master. Whistling Dan slipped a little closer tothe giant.
"I should have knowed you before," he said in a voice which carried onlyto the ears of Strann. "You're the brother of Jerry Strann. And they's areason why Bart hates you, partner!"
The thick upper lip of Strann lifted slightly as he spoke.
"Him or you--you and your wolf together or one by one--it don't make nodifference to me. I've come for you, Barry!"
The other straightened a little, and his eyes travelled slowly up anddown the form of Strann.
"I been hungering to meet a man like you," he said. "Hungerin',partner."
"North of town they's the old McDuffy place, all in ruins and nobodyever near it. I'll be there in an hour, m'frien'."
"I'll be waiting for you there," nodded Mac Strann, and so saying, heturned back to his table as if he had been interrupted by nothing morethan a casual greeting. Still Dan Barry remained a moment with his eyeson the face of Mac Strann. And when he turned and walked with his light,soundless step down the length of the silent barroom, the wolf-dog slunkat his heels, ever and anon swinging his head over his shoulder andglancing back at the giant at the end of the room. As the door closedon man and dog, the saloon broke once more into murmur, and then intoan excited clamoring. Pale Annie stepped from behind the bar and leanedupon the table beside Mac Strann. Even while leaning in this manner thebartender was as tall as the average man; he waved back the others witha gesture of his tremendous arm. Then he reached out and took the handof Mac Strann in his clammy fingers.
"My friend," said the ex-undertaker in his careful manner, "I seen a manonce California a husky two-year-old--which nobody said could be done,and I've seen some other things, but I've never seen anything to touchthe way you handled Black Bart. D'you know anything about that dog?"
Mac Strann shook his ponderous head and his dull eyes considered PaleAnnie with an expression of almost living curiosity.
"Black Bart has a record behind him that an old time gun-man would haveheard with envy. There are dead men in the record of that dog, sir!"
All this he had spoken in a comparatively loud voice, but now, notingthat the others had heeded his gesture and had made back towards the barto drink on the strength of that strange fight between man and beast,the bartender approached his lips close to the ear of the giant.
He said in a rapid murmur: "I watched you talking with Dan Barry and Isaw Barry's face when he went out. You and he are to meet somewhereagain to-day. My friend, don't throw yourself away."
Here Mac Strann stared down at his mighty hand--a significant answer,but Pale Annie went on swiftly: "Yes, you're strong, but strength won'tsave you from Dan Barry. We know him here in Elkhead. Do you know thatif he had pulled his gun and shot you down right here where you sit,that he could have walked out of this room without a hand raised to stophim? Yes, sir! And why? Because we know his record; and I'd rather goagainst a wolf with my bare hands--as you did--than stand up against DanBarry with guns. I could tell you how he fought Jim Silent's gang, oneto six. I could tell you a lot of other things. My friend, I _will_ tellyou about 'em if you'll listen."
But Mac Strann considered the speaker with his dull eyes.
"I never was much on talkin'," he observed mildly. "I don't understandtalkin' very well."
Pale Annie started to speak again, but he checked himself, staredearnestly at Mac Strann, and then hurried back behind his bar. His facewas even graver than usual; but business was business with PaleAnnie--and all men have to die in their time! Haw-Haw Langley took theplace which Pale Annie had left vacant opposite Mac Strann.
He cast a frightened glance upward, where the rain roared steadily onthe roof of the building; then his eyes fluttered back until they restedon the face of his companion. He had to moisten his thin lips before hecould speak and even then it was a convulsive effort, like a manswallowing too large a morsel.
"Well?" said Haw-Haw. "Is it fixed?"
"It's fixed," said Mac Strann. "Maybe you'd get the hosses, Haw-Haw. Ifyou're comin with me?"
A dark shadow swept over the face of Haw-Haw Langley.
"You're going to bea
t it?" he sneered. "After you come all this wayyou're going to run away from Barry? And him not half your size?"
"I'm going out to meet him," answered Mac Strann.
Haw-Haw Langley started up as if he feared Mac Strann would change hismind if there were any delay. His long fingers twisted together, as ifto bring the blood into circulation about the purple knuckles.
"I'll have the hosses right around to the front," he said. "By the timeyou got your slicker on, Mac, I'll have 'em around in front!"
And he stalked swiftly from the room.
