Page:Max Brand--The Seventh Man.djvu/133

Rh I used it to sell him. Daniels, Haines, I got no use for livin'.”

“Vic,” he said, “take—this!—and march to your friends outside; and when you get through them, plant a forty-five slug in your own dirty heart and then rot.” Haines held out his gun with a gesture of contempt.

But Kate slipped in front of him, white and anguish.

“It was the girl you told me about, Vic?” she said. “You did it to get back to her?”

He dropped his head.

“Dan, let him go!”

“I got no thought of usin' him.”

“Why not?” cried Vic suddenly. “I'll do the way Haines said. Or else let me stay here and fight 'em off with you. Dan, for God's sake give me one chance to make good.”

It was like talking to a face of stone.

“The door's open for you, and waitin'. One thing before you go. That's the same gang you told me about before? Ronicky Joe, Harry Fisher, Gus Reeve, Mat Henshaw, Sliver Waldron and Pete Glass?”

“Harry Fisher's dead, Dan, if you'll give me one fightin' chance to play square now”

“Tell 'em that I know 'em. Tell 'em one thing more. I thought Grey Molly was worth only one man. But I was wrong. They've done me dirt and played crooked. They come huntin' me—with a decoy. Now tell 'em from me that Grey Molly is worth seven men, and she's goin' to be paid for in full.”