The Night Horseman

us; the sound was like daylight-it drove the terror from the room. Joe Cumberland asked them to leave him

nder a faint light from the wall-lamp, and they tal

him sooner or later, but I didn't dream it would be

wpuncher. "Just wait, I s'po

rfully in that mo

on the girl, "but afterwards-when he reali

egan to pat them softly as a

y. "Are you going to stand it, Kate? Is it going

and anything. But when I see Dad it breaks my heart-and you-oh, Buck, it hurts, it hurts!" She dr

aniels

im? Kate, you're all tired out. Go to bed, honey

om him and passed

tairs when Byrne hurried after him and

cessary that I speak with you, alone. Wil

my feed and I don't feel a pile like ta

Mr. Daniels," said the doctor. "What I have to

Buck Daniels. "

ctor lighted the lamp a

Daniels, and with a gesture he refused the prof

ght, found a speck upon them, polished it carefully away, replaced t

the window, and then, as one who accepts the inevitable, he sank int

the cause of his illness is a state of nervous expectancy on the part of the sufferer. It being obviously necessary to know the nature of the dis

you up as a gent with brains. I got one piece of advice for you: get

hed and his lea

to whom physical fear is an unknown, yet I wish to assure you, si

I say is: this mess ain't one that you can straighten out-nor no other man can. Give it up, was

that difficulty in the essential problem would deter me from the analysis is an hypothesis which I

thinking better of it he shrugged h

u out here. Maybe she has a reaso

doctor, "have wild geese wit

se and a man and a dog-and wild gees

, sir, I have ascertained that Mr. Cumberland, his daughter, and you, sir, are all waiting

castically, "there ain't no do

ers which is both unworthy and barren and does not in this case advanc

who he is. What is he? I'll tell you easy: He's a gent that looks like

gnitude has, perhaps, cut off this unfortunate fellow from

. "Doc, tell me this: Ca

ol the rational, it may be granted that the acts of the lower animals lie outside of categories framed according

aniels

d gravely, "that you remi

of learning, "is it p

e nature of a

e, and the only way he can get to the top of a hill is to keep trottin' around and

est, though I fail to perceive the relation between me and such a creature, unless,

l gravity. "But you can lay to this, Doc; this gent we're w

or, "a man so near the brute t

ler man in the mountain-desert than him. He's got a voice softer than Kate Cumberland's, which is some soft

throat of Daniels as he re

have him than the ten best doctors in the world; if I wanted a pal that would die for them that done him go

niels was speaking seriously, hunting for words, and

reer and in all of his scientific investigations he had found occasion to use so strong a term not more than half a dozen times at th

uddered and his

orrow mornin', and beat it. Don't even wait for breakfast. Because, if you do wait, you may get a hand in this little hell of ours. You may be w

for the f

enough. I know." And he turned towards the door. "Unlock,"

octor did

in. There is something further which you

at the door; his f

on from her. The exact nature of that information I cannot state, but it is reasonable to deduce that you could,

mped heavily into it, staring at the little doctor. And Byrne re

ill go in person to the place where you know this ma

ied away. He smiled, and at l

as a gun, would that make you want to put

of this man may save the life of Mr. Cumberland, a thought, to be sure, which might not be accepted by the medic

. I know where Whistling Dan is-just about. But if I was to go to him and bring him here I'd bust the heart of Kate Cumberland. D'you understa

air, polished his glasses, and pe

rn of this man, this strange wanderer, m

e's sure wrapped up

elations; what makes him so od

and show life. Sometimes Dan sits with him and tells him what he's been doin'-maybe it ain't any more than how the sky looks that day, or about the feel of the wind-but Joe sits with his eyes dreamin', like a little kid hear

"but this seems to be an odd place and an odd set of

d: "Maybe you'd better ask Dan's black hoss or hi

been doing since he le

nt that's rid into a town on a black hoss, p

harm to nobody. But once in a while somebody sicks a dog on Bart, and Bart jest nacherally chaw

m?" cried the doctor, hunching his

ay Dan does. Nope, he jest wings 'em. Plants a chunk of lead in a shoulder,

el

ets of Dan is about troubles he's had. But sometimes we hear of gents he's helped out when they wa

ctor s

he girl and this man-Whistling Dan, as you call

ly. "She loves the ground he walks

own reasoning that the return of the man,

as near as any man can know him. I tell you, he thinks no more of her than-than the wild geese think of her. If old Joe dies because Dan is away-well, Cumberland is an old man anyway. But how could I stand to see

doctor, "that if she never sees the ma

she'll be able to stand thinkin' about him. She'll get used to the hurt. She'll be able to talk an

as with her?" c

ls caught

nal soul, doc!"

o; for he tried to visualise the man whose presence had been food to old Joe Cumberland, and whose absence had taken the oil from the lamp so that the flame now flickered dimly, nearly out. But he could build no such picture

ch. Now, between the doctor and the cowpuncher, such a silence began. Buck Daniels wanted nothing more in the world than to be out of that room, but the eye of the doctor held him, unwilling. And there began once more that eternal waiting, waiting, waiting, which was the horror of the place, until the faint creakings through the windshaken house took on the meanin

n!" he

ed the doctor, but his v

ommanded Da

s chair; that half-mad, half-listening look was still in his eyes-behind his eyes. Staring at him the doctor understood, intimately, how men can throw their lives away gloriously in battle, fighting for an idea; or how they can commi

ke a snake. Buck Daniels straightened and moved away from the door. He began to laugh, guarding it so that not a whisper could break outside the room, and his s

onger. I'm going out and try to get hi

an at the following point: "The physical fact is not; only the immaterial is." But before he had carried very far his deductions from this premise, he caught the neighing of a horse near the house; so he wen