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He called Dakota's attention to the seventh chapter of Revelation, verse one: "And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree." Several times Sheila heard Dakota laugh, mockingly; he was skeptical, caustic even, and he took issue with the parson.
But it was plain to Moulin as it must have been plain to everybody who watched Blanca that a shadow crossed his face at Dakota's words. Evidently he had entertained a hope that his duplicity had not been discovered. "Calves?" he said.
A sob shook her, and her hands went to her face, covering her eyes. She sat there for a time, shuddering, and watching her closely, Dakota's face grew slowly pale, and grim, hard lines came into his lips. "I know what Duncan's friendship amounts to," he said harshly. "But isn't your stepfather your friend?" "My friend?"
A man came out of the door of the saloon in front of which Blanca's body lay, looking down at it curiously. Other men were running toward the spot; there were shouts, oaths. For the first time in her life Sheila had seen a man killed murdered and there came to her a recollection of Dakota's words that night in the cabin: "Have you ever seen a man die?"
The latter looked at him with one, long, intense gaze, and then with a dry sob which caught in his throat and seemed to choke him, he covered his face with his hands, shuddered convulsively, and without a sound pitched forward, face down, at Dakota's feet. After a time Sheila rose from the bunk on which she had been sitting and stood in the center of the floor, looking down at her father.
"I reckon we don't make any deal," laughed Dakota shortly. "We'll arrange it this way," suggested Langford. "Doubler is not the only man I want to get rid of. I want your land, too. But" he added as he saw Dakota's lips harden "I don't purpose to proceed against you in the manner I am dealing with Doubler. I flatter myself that I know men quite well. I'd like to buy your land.
He found time, too, in spite of his fear of his enemy, to sneer over the evidences of prosperity which were on every hand. He was congratulating himself on his good fortune in reaching Dakota's cabin during a time when the latter was absent, when he heard a slight sound behind him.
That fellow settin' sideways to us is Texas Blanca." "What's he callin' himself 'Texas' for?" queried the bartender. "He looks more like a greaser." "Breed, I reckon," offered the proprietor. "Claims to have punched cows in Texas before he come here." "What's he allowin' to be now?" "Nobody knows. Used to own the Star Dakota's brand. Sold out to Dakota five years ago.
A slow, amused gleam filled Dakota's eyes. But plainly he did not intend to set the parson right he was enjoying Sheila's confusion. The color fled from her face as suddenly as it had come and was succeeded by the pallor of a cold indignation. "I'm not married," she said instantly to the parson; "this gentleman is not my husband." "Not?" questioned the parson.
She did not dwell long on the latter, for she could not prevent her mind reviewing Dakota's words and actions his satanic cleverness in pretending to be on the verge of taking her into his confidence, his prediction that she would understand when this "business" was over. She did not need to wait, she understood now!
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