Chapter XXVIII. The Blood Of The Father
On the night of her failure at the cave, Kate came back to the cabin andwent to her room without any word to Buck or Lee Haines, but when theysat before the fire, silent, or only murmuring, they could hear hermoving about. Whatever sleep they got before morning was not free fromdreams, for they knew that something was impending, and after breakfastthey learned what it was. She struck straight out from the shoulder.She was going up to the cave and if Dan was away she would take Joan byforce; she needed help; would they give it? They sat for a long time,looking at each other and then avoiding Kate with their eyes. It wasnot the fear of death but of something more which both of them connectedwith the figure of Whistling Dan. It was not until she took her lightcartridge belt from the wall and buckled on her gun that they roseto follow. Before the first freshness of the morning passed they werewinding up the side of the mountain, Kate a little in the lead, for shealone knew the way.
Where they rounded the shoulder, the men reined the horses with whichKate had provided them and sat looking solemnly at each other.
"Maybe we'll have no chance to talk alone again," said Lee Haines. "Thisis the last trail either for Barry or for us. And I don't think thatBarry is that close to the end of his rope. Buck, give me your handand say good-bye. All that a man can do against Whistling Dan, and thatisn't much, I'll do. Having you along won't make us a whit stronger."
"Thanks," growled Buck Daniels. "Jes save that kind farewell till I showyaller. Hurry up, she's gettin' too far ahead."
At the bottom of the ravine, where they dismounted for the precipitousslope above, Kate showed her first hesitation.
"You both know what it means?" she asked them.
"We sure do," replied Buck.
"Dan will find out that you've helped me, and then he'll never forgiveyou. Will you risk even that?"
"Kate," broke in Lee Haines, "don't stop for questions. Keep on andwe'll follow. I don't want to think of what may happen."
She turned without a word and went up the steep incline.
"What d'you think of your soft girl now?" panted Buck at the ear ofHaines. The latter flashed a significant look at him but said nothing.They reached the top of the canyon wall and passed on among theboulders.
Kate had drawn back to them now, and they walked as cautiously as ifthere were dried leaves under foot.
She had only lifted a finger of warning, and they knew that they werenear to the crisis. She came to the great rock around which she hadfirst seen the entrance to the cave on the day before. Inch by inch,with Buck and Lee following her example, they worked toward the edge ofthe boulder and peered carefully around it.
There opened the cave, and in front of it was Joan playing with whatseemed to be a ball of gray fur. Her hair tumbled loose and bright abouther shoulders; she wore the tawny hide which Kate had seen before, andon her feet, since the sharp rocks had long before worn out her boots,she had daintily fashioned moccasins. Bare knees, profusely scratched,bare arms rapidly browning to the color of the fur she wore, Haines andBuck had to rub their eyes and look again before they could recognizeher.
They must have made a noise--perhaps merely an intaking of breathinaudible even to themselves but clear to the ears of Joan. She was onher feet, with bright, wild eyes glancing here and there. There was nosuggestion of childishness in her, but a certain willingness to fleefrom a great danger or attack a weaker force. She stood alert, ratherthan frightened, with her head back as if she scented the wind to learnwhat approached. The ball of gray fur straightened into the sharp earsand the flashing teeth of a coyote puppy. Buck Daniels' foot slipped ona pebble and at the sound the coyote darted to the shadow of a littleshrub and crouched there, hardly distinguishable from the shade whichcovered it, and the child, with infinitely cunning instinct, raced toa patch of yellow sand and tawny rocks among which she cowered andremained there moveless.
One thing at least was certain. Whistling Dan was not in the cave, forif he had been the child would have run to him for protection, or atleast cried out in her alarm. This information Haines whispered to Kateand she nodded, turning a white face toward him. Then she stepped outfrom the rock and went straight toward Joan.
There was no stir in the little figure. Even the wind seemed to takepart in the secret and did not lift the golden hair. Once the eyes ofthe child glittered as they turned toward Kate, but otherwise she madeno motion, like a rabbit which will not budge until the very shadow ofthe reaching hand falls over it.
So it was with Joan, and as Kate leaned silently over her she sprang toher feet and darted between the hands of her mother and away among therocks. Past the reaching hands of Lee Haines she swerved, but it wasonly to run straight into the grip of Buck Daniels. Up to that momentshe had not uttered a sound, but now she screamed out, twisted in hisarms, and beat furiously against his face.
"Joan!" cried Kate. "Joan!"
She reached Buck and unwound his arms from the struggling body of thechild.
"Honey, why are you afraid? Oh, my baby!"
For an instant Joan stood free, wavering, and her eyes held steadilyupon her mother bright with nothing but fear and strangeness. Thensomething melted in her little round face, she sighed.
"Munner!" and stole a pace closer. A moment later Kate sat with Joan inher arms, rocking to and fro and weeping.
"What's happened?" gasped Haines to Daniels. "What's happened to thekid?"
"Don't talk," answered Buck, his face gray as that of Kate. "It's Dan'sblood."
He drew a great breath.
"Did you see her try to--to bite me while I was holdin' her?"
Kate had started to her feet, holding Joan in one arm and dashing awayher tears with the free hand. All weakness was gone from her.
"Hurry!" she commanded. "We haven't any time to lose. Buck, come here!No, Lee, you're stronger. Honey, this is your Uncle Lee. He'll take careof you; he won't hurt you. Will you go to him?"
Joan shrank away while she examined him, but the instincts of a childmove with thrice the speed of a mature person's judgment; she read thekindly honesty which breathed from every line of Haines' face, and heldout her arms to him.
Then they started down the slope for the horses, running wildly, for themoment they turned their backs on the cave the same thought was inthe mind of each, the same haunting fear of that small, shrill whistlepursuing. Half running, half sliding, they went down to the bottom ofthe gorge. While the pebble they started rushed after them in smallavalanches, and they even had to dodge rocks of considerable sizewhich came bounding after, Joan, alert upon the shoulder of Lee Haines,enjoyed every moment of it; her hair tossed in the sun, her arms wereoutstretched for balance. So they reached the horses, and climbed intothe saddles. Then, without a word from one to the other, but with many abackward look, they started on the flight.
By the time they reached the shoulder of the hill on the farther side,with a long stretch of down slope before, they had placed a largehandicap between them and the danger of pursuit, but still they werenot at ease. On their trail, sooner or later, would come three powersworking towards one end, the surety of Black Bart following a scent,the swiftness of Satan which never tired, and above all the rider whodirected them both and kept them to their work. His was the arm whichcould strike from the distance and bring them down. They spurted downthe hill.
No sooner were they in full motion than Joan, for the first time, seemedto realize what it was all about. She was still carried by Lee Haines,who cradled her easily in his powerful left arm, but now she began tostruggle. Then she stiffened and screamed: "Daddy Dan! Daddy Dan!"
"For God's sake, stop her mouth or he'll hear!" groaned Buck Daniels.
"He can't!" said Haines. "We're too far away even if he were at the cavenow."
"I tell you he'll hear! Don't talk to me about distance."
Kate reined her horse beside Lee.
"Joan!" she commanded.
They were sweeping across the meadow now at an easy gallo
p. Joanscreamed again, a wild plea for help.
"Joan!" repeated Kate, and her voice was fierce. She raised her quirtand shook it. "Be quiet, Munner whip--hard!"
Another call died away on the lips of Joan. She looked at her motherwith astonishment and then with a new respect.
"If you cry once more, munner whip!"
And Joan was silent, staring with wonder and defiance.
When they came close to the cabin, Lee Haines drew rein, but Katemotioned him on.
"Where to?" he called.
"Back to the old ranch," she answered. "We've got to have help."
He nodded in grim understanding, and they headed on and down the slopetowards the valley.