Page:The Cross Pull.pdf/41

 run for his horse, with Flash lunging for him and jerking Moran along.

The loss of blood, and the long fight to break the chain had weakened Flash by half, or Moran could not have stayed with him for a single jump. The wolf dragged him past a hitch-post in the yard, and with his right hand gripped in the collar Moran reached out his left, and made two quick turns of the chain and snubbed him to the post.

The horse flinched away from the smell of blood, but Brent seized the reins and swung to the saddle. He wheeled to run, but pulled up and stopped when he saw that Moran had snubbed the wolf.

“That slobbering fiend damn near scalped me,” he raged. “I’ll kill him for that, Moran.”

Moran waved his arm down the gulch.

“Get started, Brent, before I change my mind and turn him loose on you,” he said, “And don’t come back.”

After the two had watched Brent out of sight, Moran took the wolf’s great head between his hands.

“I’m half-way sorry I held you back,” he said. “Next time you can have him, Flash.”