Page:Max Brand--The Seventh Man.djvu/87



“You can trust Grey Molly to me, Vic,” said Dan, standing at the head of the gray mare. “I'll keep her as safe as if she was Satan.”

Gregg watched her almost sadly. He had always taken a rather childish pride in her fierceness. She knew him as a dog knows its master and he had always been the only one who could handle her readily in the saddle. But one who knew nothing of horses and their ways could see the entente which had been instantly established between Barry and Grey Molly. When he spoke her ears pricked. When he raised his hand she stretched her nose inquisitively.

There was no pitch in her when Barry swung into the saddle and that was a thing without precedent in Molly's history. She tried none of her usual catlike side-steps and throwing of the head. Altogether, Vic was troubled even as he would have been at the sight of Betty Neal in the arms of another man. It was desertion.

“Dan,” he said, “I know what you've done for me and I know what you're doin' now.” He took the slender hand of the other in his big paw. “If the time comes when I can pay you back, so help me God” 73