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Langford had wheeled and was now facing Dakota, a shallow smile on his face. There was a smile on Dakota's face, too; a mysterious, cold, prepared grin that fascinated Sheila as she watched him. The smile faded a little when he spoke to Langford, his voice vibrating, as though he had been running. "When you're fighting a woman, Langford, you ought to make sure there isn't a man around!"
When she stood erect she saw Allen and his pony silhouetted for an instant on the crest of the ridge on the other side of the river. Then he vanished. Though in a state of anxiety and excitement over the incident of Duncan's attack on Doubler and the subsequent shooting, together with a realization of Dakota's danger, Sheila did not lose her composure.
Dakota supplied him with soda biscuit and cold bacon, and these he munched in contentment, talking meanwhile of his travels. Several times while he sat before the fire Dakota spoke to him, and finally he pulled his chair over near the wall opposite the bunk on which Sheila sat, tilted it back, and dropped into it, stretching out comfortably. After seating himself, Dakota's gaze sought Sheila.
Duncan was not particularly pleased over his errand, and many times while he rode the trail toward Dakota's cabin his lips moved from his teeth in a snarl.
Maybe breaking down Dakota's door is one of them. But we don't want anyone killed if we can help it, and it's a dead sure thing that some one would cash in if we tried any monkey business with that door. If you're wanting to do something that amounts to something to help this game along, swap your cayuse for one of Dakota's and hit the breeze to the Double R for grub.
For behind Dakota's soft voice and gentle, over-polite manner, he felt the deep rancor for whose existence he alone was responsible. So, trying to hold his passions in check, he grinned at Dakota, significantly, insinuatingly, unable finally to keep the bitter hatred and jealousy out of his voice.
Then she realized that he had halted the horses; saw that he had turned in his seat and was watching something to the rear of them intently. "We're out of range," she heard him say, speaking to her father. "What's wrong?" This was her father's voice. "Dakota an' Blanca are havin' a run-in," announced the driver. "Dakota's give Blanca till sundown to get out of town.
Smiling, Langford rode the river trail, satisfied with the result of his visit. Turning once as he reached the rise upon which Sheila had halted that morning after leaving Dakota's cabin, Langford looked back. Dakota was still busy with his saddle. Langford urged his pony down the slope of the rise and vanished from view.
Sheila remembered Dakota's statement that he had told no one of their relations. So he had been talking, after all! She was not surprised, but she was undeniably angry and embarrassed to think that perhaps all the time she had been talking to Doubler he might have been appraising her on the basis of her adventure with Dakota. "What has he been saying?" she demanded coldly. "Nothing, ma'am.
"I'm allowing that. But there's a lot of us get double crossed. I got it and I'm seeing that they don't ring in any cold deck on you." "How do you know Dakota's tryin' to do that?" demanded Doubler. Duncan laughed. "I've kept my eyes open. Also, I've been listening right hard. I wasn't so far away when Langford went to Dakota's shack, and I heard considerable of what they said about you."
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