Page:The Untamed.djvu/56

 Steady, boy. Here you, Bart, come over here an' keep your face shut!"

The dog, after a glance at his master, moved reluctantly away, keeping his eyes upon Morgan. Satan backed away with a snort. He stopped at the command of Dan, but when Morgan laid a hand on the bridle and spoke to him he trembled with fear and anger. The saloon-keeper turned away.

"Thankin' you jest the same, Dan," he said, "I think I c'n walk back.I'd as soon ride a tame tornado as that hoss."

He limped on down the road with Dan riding beside him. Black Bart slunk at his heels, sniffing.

"Dan, I'm goin' to ask you a favour—an' a big one; will you do it for me?"

"Sure," said Whistling Dan. "Anything I can."

"There's a skunk down there with a bad eye an' a gun that jumps out of its leather like it had a mind of its own. He picked me for fifty bucks by nailing a dollar I tossed up at twenty yards. Then he gets a hundred because I couldn't ride this hoss of his. Which he's made a plumb fool of me, Dan. Now I was tellin' him about you—maybe I was sort of exaggeratin'—an' I said you could have your back turned when the coins was tossed