The Night Horseman

essed clos

r dream. Now climb that hoss of yours and feed him leather till you get clear of Bro

brown ey

e crowds," m

rtender-"a hell of a lot wiser tha

oon. But Jerry Strann stood at the swinging do

coming?"

ement," answere

gement here," mocked

ftly: "I see we ain't going to have no trouble, you and me!" and he moved to clap his strong hand on the shoulder of the smaller man. Oddly enough, the hand missed, for Barry swerved from beneath it as a wo

ou was as quick with your hand

lancholy brown eyes dwe

and turned on his heel to the

rl from the furth

od!" yelled o

wiftness the length of the room and stood between the d

one," murmured that

k a pass at my leg just now and dam' near took it

roke in one of the others. "That

ry's face. A gesture served as sufficient command, and he slipped shadow-like into the corner and crouched w

es the length of the bar; there was the chimin

rry Strann, "but there's one out. Who's out? Oh

tfully. Outside, the wind had risen, and it shook the hotel and carried a score of faint voices as it whirred around corners and through cracks. Perhaps it was one of those voices which made the big dog lift its head from

ann?" he

ried faintly down throug

ak to you," suggeste

the latter, "wh

to listen; and they s

said the musical voice, "I

rverse. And that devil came in Jerry Strann and made his heart small and cold. If he had been by nature the bully and the ruffian there would have been no point in all that followed, but the heart of Jerry Strann was ordinarily as warm as the yellow sun

ait a while. I ain't through with you yet. Maybe-" he paused and searched his

ciation went up the

n the devil in Jerry Strann

gentle answer. "So I took a wa

pa

the big man, "y

e to shoot so that the bullet will barely graze the top of the animal's vertebrae, just behind the ears, stunning the horse and making it helpless for the capture. But necessarily such shots are made from a d

th a halter and after a while Satan

ght. But the obscure devil was growing stronger and stronger in Strann. He beat

through his teeth,

ly. Came a sick silence in the barroom. Men turned their eyes towards each other and then flashed them away again. It is not good that one who has the eyes and the tongue of a man should tak

from all danger by an incredible barrier. He found that new target at once, for his glance reached to

?" he shouted. "Do I got

e dog doi

ad, a black thunderbolt leaped from the corner and lunged down the room. It was the silence of the attack that made it terrible, and Strann c

it landed on the floor and slid on sti

ang the v

ed backwards, inch by inch; it was slavering,

ried Strann. "B

his gun to d

t could not have come from the lips of Barry. It held a resonance of chiming me

s unhealthy to stand between the two men at that i

the command a

ing swiftness; Jerry Strann

y. "I don't need to. But-you yaller hearted houn'-get out from

for Strann. They stood back against the wall, flattening themselves, and they stared, fascinated, at the slender stranger. Not that his face had grown ugly by a sudden metamorphosis. It was more

ere was not another man in the Three B's, with the exception of his own terrible brother, who could get a gun out of the leather faster than he, but now it seemed to Jerry Strann that he was facing something more than mort

ry Strann, "to kill mad dogs whe

as frozen on his lips. When he moved, at last, it was a convulsive jerk of his arm, and it was said, afterward, that his gun was all clear

own and dangled loosely from his hand. He made a pace forward with his smile grown to an idiotic thi