unt of him I got to leave this place."

His voice rose to a ringing pitch.

"D'you think it's easy for me to go? D'you think it ain't like tearing a
finger-nail off'n the flesh for me to go away from Kate? God knows what
she means to me! God knows, but if He does, He's forgotten me!"

Anguish of spirit set Buck Daniels shaking, and the doctor looked on in
amazement. He was like one who reaches in his pocket for a copper coin
and brings out a handful of gold-pieces.

"Kind feelin's don't come easy to me," went on Buck Daniels. "I been
raised to fight. I been raised to hard ridin' and dust in the throat. I
been raised on whiskey and hate. And then I met Dan Barry, and his voice
was softer'n a girl's voice, and his eyes didn't hold no doubt of me. Me
that had sneaked in on him at night and was goin' to kill him in his
sleep--because my chief had told me to! That was the Dan Barry what I
first knew. He give me his hand and give me the trust of his eyes, and
after he left me I sat down and took my head between my hands and my
heart was like to bust inside me. It was like the clouds had blowed away
from the sun and let it shine on me for the first time in my life. And I
swore that if the time come I'd repay him. For every cent he give me I'd
pay him back in gold. I'd foller to the end of the world to do what he
bid me do."

His voice dropped suddenly, choked with emotion.

"Oh, doc, they was tears come in my eyes; and I felt sort of clean
inside, and I wasn't ashamed of them tears! That was what Dan Barry done
for me!

"And I _did_ pay him back, as much as I could. I met Kate Cumberland and
she was to me among girls what Dan Barry was to me among men. I ain't
ashamed of sayin' it. I loved her till they was a dryness like ashes
inside me, but I wouldn't even lift up my eyes to her, because she
belonged to him. I follered her around like a dog. I done her bidding. I
asked no questions. What she wanted--that was law to me, and all the law
I wanted. All that I done for the sake of Dan Barry. And then I took my
life in my hands for him--not once, but day after day.

"Then he rode off and left her and I stayed behind. D'you think it's
been easy to stay here? Man, man, I've had to hear her talkin' about Dan
Barry day after day, and never a word for me. And I had to tell her
stories about Dan and what he'd used to do, and she' sit with her eyes
miles away from me, listenin' an smilin' and me there hungerin' for just
one look