He paused, swallowing hard, and the doctor’s misty, overworked eyes lighted with some comprehension.  He had felt from the first a certain danger in this big fellow, a certain reckless disregard of laws and rules which commonly limit the actions of ordinary men.  Now part of the truth was hinted at.  Buck Daniels, on a time, had been outside the law; and Barry had drawn him back to the ways of men.  That explained some of the singular bond that lay between them.

“That ain’t all,” went on Buck.  “Blood is thick, and I’ve loved him better nor a brother.  I’ve gone to hell and back for him.  For him I took Kate Cumberland out of the hands of Jim Silent, and I left myself in her place.  I took her away and all so’s she could go to him.  Damn him!  And now on account of him I got to leave this place.”

His voice rose to a ringing pitch.

“D’you think it’s easy for me to go?  D’you think it ain’t like tearing a finger-nail off’n the flesh for me to go away from Kate?  God knows what she means to me!  God knows, but if He does, He’s forgotten me!”

Anguish of spirit set Buck Daniels shaking, and the doctor looked on in amazement.  He was like one who reaches in his pocket for a copper coin and brings out a handful of gold-pieces.

“Kind feelin’s don’t come easy to me,” went on Buck Daniels.  “I been raised to fight.  I been raised to hard ridin’ and dust in the throat.  I been raised on whiskey and hate.  And then I met Dan Barry, and his voice was softer’n a girl’s voice, and his eyes didn’t hold no doubt of me.  Me that had sneaked in on him at night and was goin’ to kill him in his sleep—­because my chief had told me to!  That was the Dan Barry what I first knew.  He give me his hand and give me the trust of his eyes, and after he left me I sat down and took my head between my hands and my heart was like to bust inside me.  It was like the clouds had blowed away from the sun and let it shine on me for the first time in my life.  And I swore that if the time come I’d repay him.  For every cent he give me I’d pay him back in gold.  I’d foller to the end of the world to do what he bid me do.”

His voice dropped suddenly, choked with emotion.

“Oh, doc, they was tears come in my eyes; and I felt sort of clean inside, and I wasn’t ashamed of them tears!  That was what Dan Barry done for me!

“And I did pay him back, as much as I could.  I met Kate Cumberland and she was to me among girls what Dan Barry was to me among men.  I ain’t ashamed of sayin’ it.  I loved her till they was a dryness like ashes inside me, but I wouldn’t even lift up my eyes to her, because she belonged to him.  I follered her around like a dog.  I done her bidding.  I asked no questions.  What she wanted—­that was law to me, and all the law I wanted.  All that I done for the sake of Dan Barry.  And then I took my life in my hands for him—­not once, but day after day.