Page:Max Brand--The Seventh Man.djvu/138

124 “Lee Haines!” he murmured. “That was Jim Silent's man. They say he was as fast with a gun as Jim himself.” He sighed again. “They's nothing like a big man, Vic, to fill your sights.”

“Daniels and Haines, suppose you count them off agin' the rest of your gang, Pete. That leaves Barry for you.” He grinned maliciously. “D'you know what Barry it is?”

“It's a kind of common name, Vic.”

“Pete, have you heard of Whistlin' Dan?”

No doubt about it, he had burst the confidence of the sheriff into fragments. The little man began to pant and even in the dim light Vic could see that his face was working.

“Him!” he said at length. And then: “I might of knowed! Him!” He leaned closer. “Keep it to yourself, Vic, or you'll have the rest of the boys runnin' for cover before the fun begins.”

He snuggled a little closer to his rock and turned his head towards the house.

“Him!” he said again.

Columbus, when he saw the land of his dream wavering blue in the distance, might have hailed it with such a heart-filling whisper, and Vic knew that when these two met, these two slender, small men—with the uneasy hands, there would be a battle whose fame would ring from range to range.

“If they was only a bit more light,” muttered the