The cowboy's brow was beaded with sweat from his efforts in
intercepting all sorts of raids. He turned in despair to Scully. "What
are you goin' to do now?"
A change had come over the Celtic visage of the old man. He now
seemed all eagerness; his eyes glowed.
"We'll let them fight," he answered stalwartly. "I can't put up with
it any longer. I've stood this damned Swede till I'm sick. We'll let
them fight."
VI
The men prepared to go out of doors. The Easterner was so nervous
that he had great difficulty in getting his arms into the sleeves of
his new leather-coat. As the cowboy drew his fur-cap down over his
ears his hands trembled. In fact, Johnnie and old Scully were the only
ones who displayed no agitation. These preliminaries were conducted
without words.
Scully threw open the door. "Well, come on," he said. Instantly a
terrific wind caused the flame of the lamp to struggle at its wick,
while a puff of black smoke sprang from the chimney-top. The stove was
in midcurrent of the blast, and its voice swelled to equal the roar of
the storm. Some of the scarred and bedabbled cards were caught up from
the floor and dashed helplessly against the further wall. The men
lowered their heads and plunged into the tempest as into a sea.
No snow was falling, but great whirls and clouds of flakes, swept up
from the ground by the frantic winds, were streaming southward with
the speed of bullets.
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