“We told you all along, Jim,” said Purvis, as soon as he could control his voice, “that there wasn’t any whistlin’ behind us.  We know you got powerful good hearin’, Jim, but we all figger you been makin’ somethin’ out of nothin’.  Am I right, boys?”

“You sure are,” said Kilduff, “I ain’t heard a thing.”

Silent rolled his eyes angrily from face to face.

“I’m kind of sorry the lad got his in the fire.  I was hopin’ maybe we’d meet agin.  There’s nothin’ I’d rather do than be alone five minutes with Whistlin’ Dan.”

His eyes dared any one to smile.  The men merely exchanged glances.  When he turned away they grinned broadly.  Hal Purvis turned and caught Bill Kilduff by the shoulder.

“Bill,” he said excitedly, “if Whistlin’ Dan is dead there ain’t any master for that dog!”

“What about him?” growled Kilduff.

“I’d like to try my hand with him,” said Purvis, and he moistened his tight lips.  “Did you see the black devil when he snarled at me in front of Morgan’s place?”

“He sure didn’t look too pleasant.”

“Right.  Maybe if I had him on a chain I could change his manners some, eh?”

“How?”

“A whip every day, damn him—­a whip every time he showed his teeth at me.  No eats till he whined and licked my hand.”

“He’d die first.  I know that kind of a dog—­or a wolf.”

“Maybe he’d die.  Anyway I’d like to try my hand with him.  Bill, I’m goin’ to get hold of him some of these days if I have to ride a hundred miles an’ swim a river!”

Kilduff grunted.

“Let the damn wolf be.  You c’n have him, I say.  What I’m thinkin’ about is the hoss.  Hal, do you remember the way he settled to his stride when he lighted out after Red Pete?”

Purvis shrugged his shoulders.

“You’re a fool, Bill.  Which no man but Barry could ever ride that hoss.  I seen it in his eye.  He’d cash in buckin’.  He’d fight you like a man.”

Kilduff sighed.  A great yearning was in his eyes.

“Hal,” he said softly, “they’s some men go around for years an’ huntin’ for a girl whose picture is in their bean, cached away somewhere.  When they see her they jest nacherally goes nutty.  Hal, I don’t give a damn for women folk, but I’ve travelled around a long time with a picture of a hoss in my brain, an’ Satan is the hoss.”

He closed his eyes.

“I c’n see him now.  I c’n see them shoulders—­an’ that head—­an’, my God! them eyes—­them fire eatin’ eyes!  Hal, if a man was to win the heart of that hoss he’d lay down his life for you—­he’d run himself plumb to death!  I won’t never sleep tight till I get the feel of them satin sides of his between my knees.”

Lee Haines heard them speak, but he said nothing.  His heart also leaped when he heard of Whistling Dan’s death, but he thought neither of the horse nor the dog.  He was seeing the yellow hair and the blue eyes of Kate Cumberland.  He approached Jordan and took a place beside him.