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The Night Horseman by Max Brand, CHAPTER IX. BATTLE LIGHT

CHAPTER IX. BATTLE LIGHT

O'Brien pressed close to Barry. "Partner," he said rapidly, "you're clear now—you're clear of more hell that you ever dream. Now climb that hoss of yours and feed him leather till you get clear of Brownsville—and if I was you I'd never come within a day's ride of the Three B's again." The mild, brown eyes widened.

"I don't like crowds," murmured Barry. "You're wise, kid," grinned the bartender—"a hell of a lot wiser than you know right now. On your way!" And he turned to follow the crowd into the saloon. But Jerry Strann stood at the swinging doors, watching, and he saw Barry linger behind.

"Are you coming?" he called.

"I got an engagement," answered the meek voice. "You got another engagement here," mocked Strann. "Understand?" The other hesitated for an instant, and then sighed deeply. "I suppose I'll stay," he murmured, and walked into the bar. Jerry Strann was smiling in the way that showed his teeth. As Barry passed he said softly: "I see we ain't going to have no trouble, you and me!" and he moved to clap his strong hand on the shoulder of the smaller man. Oddly enough, the hand missed, for Barry swerved from beneath it as a wolf swerves from the shadow of a falling branch. No perceptible effort—no sudden start of tensed muscles, but a movement so smooth that it was almost unnoticeable. But the hand of Strann fell through thin air.

"You're quick," he said. "If you was as quick with your hands as you are with your feet——" Barry paused and the melancholy brown eyes dwelt on the face of Strann.

"Oh, hell!" snorted the other, and turned on his heel to the bar. "Drink up!" he commanded.

A shout and a snarl from the further end of the room.

"A wolf, by God!" yelled one of the men.

The owner of the animal made his way with unobtrusive swiftness the length of the room and stood between the dog and a man who fingered the butt of his gun nervously.

"He won't hurt you none," murmured that softly assuring voice. "The hell he won't!" responded the other. "He took a pass at my leg just now and dam' near took it off. Got teeth like the blades of a pocket-knife!" "You're on a cold trail, Sam," broke in one of the others. "That ain't any wolf. Look at him now!" The big, shaggy animal had slunk to the feet of his master and with head abased stared furtively up into Barry's face. A gesture served as sufficient command, and he slipped shadow-like into the corner and crouched with his head on his paws and the incandescent green of his eyes glimmering; Barry sat down in a chair nearby.

O'Brien was happily spinning bottles and glasses the length of the bar; there was the chiming of glass and the rumble of contented voices. "Red-eye all 'round," said the loud voice of Jerry Strann, "but there's one out. Who's out? Oh, it's him . Hey O'Brien, lemonade for the lady." It brought a laugh, a deep, good-natured laugh, and then a chorus of mockery; but Barry stepped unconfused to the bar, accepted the glass of lemonade, and when the others downed their fire-water, he sipped his drink thoughtfully. Outside, the wind had risen, and it shook the hotel and carried a score of faint voices as it whirred around corners and through cracks. Perhaps it was one of those voices which made the big dog lift its head from its paws and whine softly! surely it was something he heard which caused Barry to straighten at the bar and cant his head slightly to one side—but, as certainly, no one else in the barroom heard it. Barry set down his glass.

"Mr. Strann?" he called.

And the gentle voice carried faintly down through the uproar of the bar.

"Sister wants to speak to you," suggested O'Brien to Strann. "Well?" roared the latter, "what d'you want?" The others were silent to listen; and they smiled in anticipation.

"If you don't mind, much," said the musical voice, "I think I'll be moving along." There is an obscure little devil living in all of us. It makes the child break his own toys; it makes the husband strike the helpless wife; it makes the man beat the cringing, whining dog. The greatest of American writers has called it the Imp of the Perverse. And that devil came in Jerry Strann and made his heart small and cold. If he had been by nature the bully and the ruffian there would have been no point in all that followed, but the heart of Jerry Strann was ordinarily as warm as the yellow sunshine itself; and it was a common saying in the Three B's that Jerry Strann would take from a child what he would not endure from a mountain-lion. Women loved Jerry Strann, and children would crowd about his knees, but this day the small demon was in him.

"You want to be moving along" mimicked the devil in Jerry Strann. "Well, you wait a while. I ain't through with you yet. Maybe—" he paused and searched his mind. "You've given me a fall, and maybe you can give the rest of us—a laugh!" The chuckle of appreciation went up the bar and down it again.

"I want to ask you," went on the devil in Jerry Strann, "where you got your hoss?" "He was running wild," came the gentle answer. "So I took a walk, one day, and brought him in." A pause.

"Maybe," grinned the big man, "you creased him?" For it is one of the most difficult things in the world to capture a wild horse, and some hunters, in their desperation at seeing the wonderful animals escape, have tried to "crease" them. That is, they strive to shoot so that the bullet will barely graze the top of the animal's vertebrae, just behind the ears, stunning the horse and making it helpless for the capture. But necessarily such shots are made from a distance, and little short of a miracle is needed to make the bullet strike true—for a fraction of an inch too low means death. So another laugh of appreciation ran around the barroom at the mention of creasing.

"No," answered Barry, "I went out with a halter and after a while Satan got used to me and followed me home." They waited only long enough to draw deep breath; then came a long yell of delight. But the obscure devil was growing stronger and stronger in Strann. He beat on the bar until he got silence. Then he leaned over to meet the eyes of Barry.

"That," he remarked through his teeth, "is a damned—lie!" There is only one way of answering that word in the mountain-desert, and Barry did not take it. The melancholy brown eyes widened; he sighed, and raising his glass of lemonade sipped it slowly. Came a sick silence in the barroom. Men turned their eyes towards each other and then flashed them away again. It is not good that one who has the eyes and the tongue of a man should take water from another—even from a Jerry Strann. And even Jerry Strann withdrew his eyes slowly from his prey, and shuddered; the sight of the most grisly death is not so horrible as cowardice.

And the devil which was still strong in Strann made him look about for a new target; Barry was removed from all danger by an incredible barrier. He found that new target at once, for his glance reached to the corner of the room and found there the greenish, glimmering eyes of the dog. He smote upon the bar.

"Is this a damned kennel?" he shouted. "Do I got to drink in a barnyard? What's the dog doin' here?" And he caught up the heavy little whiskey glass and hurled it at the crouching dog. It thudded heavily, but it brought no yelp of pain; instead, a black thunderbolt leaped from the corner and lunged down the room. It was the silence of the attack that made it terrible, and Strann cursed and pulled his gun. He could never have used it. He was a whole half second too late, but before the dog sprang a voice cut in: "Bart!" It checked the animal in its very leap; it landed on the floor and slid on stiffly extended legs to the feet of Strann.

"Bart!" rang the voice again.

And the beast, flattening to the floor, crawled backwards, inch by inch; it was slavering, and there was a ravening madness in its eyes.

"Look at it!" cried Strann. "By God, it's mad!" And he raised his gun to draw the bead.

"Wait!" called the same voice which had checked the spring of the dog. Surely it could not have come from the lips of Barry. It held a resonance of chiming metal; it was not loud, but it carried like a brazen bell. "Don't do it, Strann!" And it came to every man in the barroom that it was unhealthy to stand between the two men at that instant; a sudden path opened from Barry to Strann.

"Bart!" came the command again. "Heel!" The dog obeyed with a slinking swiftness; Jerry Strann put up his gun and smiled.

"I don't take a start on no man," he announced quite pleasantly. "I don't need to. But—you yaller hearted houn'—get out from between. When I make my draw I'm goin' to kill that damn wolf." Now, the fighting face of Jerry Strann was well known in the Three B's, and it was something for men to remember until they died in a peaceful bed. Yet there was not a glance, from the bystanders, for Strann. They stood back against the wall, flattening themselves, and they stared, fascinated, at the slender stranger. Not that his face had grown ugly by a sudden metamorphosis. It was more beautiful than ever, for the man was smiling. It was his eyes which held them. Behind the brown a light was growing, a yellow and unearthly glimmer which one felt might be seen on the darkest night.

There was none of the coward in Jerry Strann. He looked full into that yellow, glimmering, changing light—he looked steadily—and a strange feeling swept over him. No, it was not fear. Long experience had taught him that there was not another man in the Three B's, with the exception of his own terrible brother, who could get a gun out of the leather faster than he, but now it seemed to Jerry Strann that he was facing something more than mortal speed and human strength and surety. He could not tell in what the feeling was based. But it was a giant, dim foreboding holding dominion over other men's lives, and it sent a train of chilly-weakness through his blood. "It's a habit of mine," said Jerry Strann, "to kill mad dogs when I see 'em." And he smiled again.

They stood for another long instant, facing each other. It was plain that every muscle in Strann's body was growing tense; the very smile was frozen on his lips. When he moved, at last, it was a convulsive jerk of his arm, and it was said, afterward, that his gun was all clear of the leather before the calm stranger stirred. No eye followed what happened. Can the eye follow such speed as the cracking lash of a whip?

There was only one report. The forefinger of Strann did not touch his trigger, but the gun slipped down and dangled loosely from his hand. He made a pace forward with his smile grown to an idiotic thing and a patch of red sprang out in the centre of his breast. Then he lurched headlong to the floor.

CHAPTER IX. BATTLE LIGHT CAPITOLO IX. LUCE DI BATTAGLIA CAPÍTULO IX. LUZ DE BATALHA

O'Brien pressed close to Barry. O'Brien se aproximou de Barry. "Partner," he said rapidly, "you're clear now—you're clear of more hell that you ever dream. "Parceiro", ele disse rapidamente, "você está livre agora - você está livre de mais inferno do que jamais sonhou. Now climb that hoss of yours and feed him leather till you get clear of Brownsville—and if I was you I'd never come within a day's ride of the Three B's again." Agora suba nesse seu cavalo e alimente-o com couro até sair de Brownsville - e se eu fosse você, nunca mais chegaria a um dia de viagem dos Três B's novamente. The mild, brown eyes widened. Os olhos castanhos suaves se arregalaram.

"I don't like crowds," murmured Barry. "You're wise, kid," grinned the bartender—"a hell of a lot wiser than you know right now. "Você é sábio, garoto," sorriu o barman - "muito mais sábio do que você sabe agora. On your way!" No seu caminho!" And he turned to follow the crowd into the saloon. But Jerry Strann stood at the swinging doors, watching, and he saw Barry linger behind. Mas Jerry Strann estava nas portas de vaivém, observando, e viu Barry ficar atrás.

"Are you coming?" he called.

"I got an engagement," answered the meek voice. "Eu tenho um noivado", respondeu a voz mansa. "You got another engagement here," mocked Strann. "Você tem outro compromisso aqui", zombou Strann. "Understand?" The other hesitated for an instant, and then sighed deeply. O outro hesitou por um instante e depois suspirou profundamente. "I suppose I'll stay," he murmured, and walked into the bar. Jerry Strann was smiling in the way that showed his teeth. As Barry passed he said softly: "I see we ain't going to have no trouble, you and me!" and he moved to clap his strong hand on the shoulder of the smaller man. e ele se moveu para bater a mão forte no ombro do homem menor. Oddly enough, the hand missed, for Barry swerved from beneath it as a wolf swerves from the shadow of a falling branch. Curiosamente, a mão errou, pois Barry desviou de baixo dela como um lobo desvia da sombra de um galho caindo. No perceptible effort—no sudden start of tensed muscles, but a movement so smooth that it was almost unnoticeable. Nenhum esforço perceptível - nenhum começo súbito de músculos tensos, mas um movimento tão suave que era quase imperceptível. But the hand of Strann fell through thin air. Mas a mão de Strann caiu no ar.

"You're quick," he said. "If you was as quick with your hands as you are with your feet——" Barry paused and the melancholy brown eyes dwelt on the face of Strann. Barry fez uma pausa e os melancólicos olhos castanhos fixaram-se no rosto de Strann.

"Oh, hell!" snorted the other, and turned on his heel to the bar. bufou o outro, e virou-se para o bar. "Drink up!" "Beber!" he commanded. ele ordenou.

A shout and a snarl from the further end of the room.

"A wolf, by God!" yelled one of the men.

The owner of the animal made his way with unobtrusive swiftness the length of the room and stood between the dog and a man who fingered the butt of his gun nervously. O dono do animal percorreu com discreta rapidez o comprimento da sala e se colocou entre o cachorro e um homem que tocava nervosamente a coronha de sua arma.

"He won't hurt you none," murmured that softly assuring voice. "Ele não vai te machucar nada," murmurou aquela voz suave e tranquilizadora. "The hell he won't!" "O inferno que ele não vai!" responded the other. "He took a pass at my leg just now and dam' near took it off. "Ele deu um passe na minha perna agora e dam' quase o tirou. Got teeth like the blades of a pocket-knife!" Tem dentes como as lâminas de um canivete!" "You're on a cold trail, Sam," broke in one of the others. "Você está em uma pista fria, Sam," interrompeu um dos outros. "That ain't any wolf. "Isso não é qualquer lobo. Look at him now!" The big, shaggy animal had slunk to the feet of his master and with head abased stared furtively up into Barry's face. O grande e peludo animal se agachou aos pés de seu mestre e com a cabeça baixa olhou furtivamente para o rosto de Barry. A gesture served as sufficient command, and he slipped shadow-like into the corner and crouched with his head on his paws and the incandescent green of his eyes glimmering; Barry sat down in a chair nearby. Um gesto serviu como comando suficiente, e ele deslizou como uma sombra para o canto e se agachou com a cabeça nas patas e o verde incandescente de seus olhos brilhando; Barry sentou-se em uma cadeira próxima.

O'Brien was happily spinning bottles and glasses the length of the bar; there was the chiming of glass and the rumble of contented voices. O'Brien girava alegremente garrafas e copos ao longo do bar; houve o retinir de vidros e o murmúrio de vozes satisfeitas. "Red-eye all 'round," said the loud voice of Jerry Strann, "but there's one out. "Olhos vermelhos por toda parte", disse a voz alta de Jerry Strann, "mas há um fora. Who's out? Oh, it's him . Hey O'Brien, lemonade for the lady." Ei O'Brien, limonada para a senhora." It brought a laugh, a deep, good-natured laugh, and then a chorus of mockery; but Barry stepped unconfused to the bar, accepted the glass of lemonade, and when the others downed their fire-water, he sipped his drink thoughtfully. Trouxe uma risada, uma risada profunda e bem-humorada, e depois um coro de zombaria; mas Barry caminhou até o bar sem se confundir, aceitou o copo de limonada e, quando os outros beberam sua aguardente, ele tomou um gole de sua bebida pensativo. Outside, the wind had risen, and it shook the hotel and carried a score of faint voices as it whirred around corners and through cracks. Do lado de fora, o vento havia aumentado e sacudiu o hotel e carregou uma vintena de vozes fracas enquanto zumbia pelas esquinas e pelas rachaduras. Perhaps it was one of those voices which made the big dog lift its head from its paws and whine softly! Talvez fosse uma daquelas vozes que faziam o grande cão levantar a cabeça de suas patas e ganir baixinho! surely it was something he heard which caused Barry to straighten at the bar and cant his head slightly to one side—but, as certainly, no one else in the barroom heard it. certamente foi algo que ele ouviu que fez Barry se endireitar no bar e inclinar a cabeça ligeiramente para o lado - mas, com certeza, ninguém mais no bar ouviu. Barry set down his glass. Barry pousou o copo.

"Mr. Strann?" he called.

And the gentle voice carried faintly down through the uproar of the bar. E a voz suave desceu fracamente pelo alvoroço do bar.

"Sister wants to speak to you," suggested O'Brien to Strann. "A irmã quer falar com você", sugeriu O'Brien a Strann. "Well?" roared the latter, "what d'you want?" rugiu o último, "o que você quer?" The others were silent to listen; and they smiled in anticipation. Os outros ficaram em silêncio para ouvir; e eles sorriram em antecipação.

"If you don't mind, much," said the musical voice, "I think I'll be moving along." "Se você não se importa, muito", disse a voz musical, "acho que vou seguir em frente." There is an obscure little devil living in all of us. Há um diabinho obscuro vivendo em todos nós. It makes the child break his own toys; it makes the husband strike the helpless wife; it makes the man beat the cringing, whining dog. Faz a criança quebrar seus próprios brinquedos; faz o marido bater na esposa indefesa; faz o homem vencer o cão lamuriento e lamuriento. The greatest of American writers has called it the Imp of the Perverse. O maior dos escritores americanos o chamou de Diabrete do Perverso. And that devil came in Jerry Strann and made his heart small and cold. If he had been by nature the bully and the ruffian there would have been no point in all that followed, but the heart of Jerry Strann was ordinarily as warm as the yellow sunshine itself; and it was a common saying in the Three B's that Jerry Strann would take from a child what he would not endure from a mountain-lion. Se ele fosse por natureza o valentão e o rufião, não haveria sentido em tudo o que se seguiu, mas o coração de Jerry Strann era normalmente tão quente quanto o próprio sol amarelo; e era um ditado comum nos Três B's que Jerry Strann tiraria de uma criança o que ele não suportaria de um leão da montanha. Women loved Jerry Strann, and children would crowd about his knees, but this day the small demon was in him. As mulheres adoravam Jerry Strann, e as crianças se amontoavam em torno de seus joelhos, mas naquele dia o pequeno demônio estava nele.

"You want to be moving along" mimicked the devil in Jerry Strann. "Você quer seguir em frente" imitou o diabo em Jerry Strann. "Well, you wait a while. I ain't through with you yet. Ainda não terminei com você. Maybe—" he paused and searched his mind. Talvez-" ele fez uma pausa e procurou sua mente. "You've given me a fall, and maybe you can give the rest of us—a laugh!" "Você me deu uma queda, e talvez você possa dar o resto de nós - uma risada!" The chuckle of appreciation went up the bar and down it again. A risada de apreciação subiu pela barra e desceu novamente.

"I want to ask you," went on the devil in Jerry Strann, "where you got your hoss?" "Eu quero perguntar a você", continuou o diabo em Jerry Strann, "onde você conseguiu seu hoss?" "He was running wild," came the gentle answer. "So I took a walk, one day, and brought him in." "Então eu dei um passeio, um dia, e o trouxe." A pause.

"Maybe," grinned the big man, "you creased him?" "Talvez," sorriu o grandalhão, "você o machucou?" For it is one of the most difficult things in the world to capture a wild horse, and some hunters, in their desperation at seeing the wonderful animals escape, have tried to "crease" them. Pois é uma das coisas mais difíceis do mundo capturar um cavalo selvagem, e alguns caçadores, em seu desespero ao ver os animais maravilhosos escaparem, tentaram "vincá-los". That is, they strive to shoot so that the bullet will barely graze the top of the animal's vertebrae, just behind the ears, stunning the horse and making it helpless for the capture. Ou seja, eles se esforçam para atirar de forma que a bala mal roce o topo das vértebras do animal, logo atrás das orelhas, atordoando o cavalo e tornando-o impotente para a captura. But necessarily such shots are made from a distance, and little short of a miracle is needed to make the bullet strike true—for a fraction of an inch too low means death. Mas, necessariamente, esses tiros são feitos à distância, e pouco menos do que um milagre é necessário para tornar a bala verdadeira - pois uma fração de polegada muito baixa significa morte. So another laugh of appreciation ran around the barroom at the mention of creasing. Então, outra risada de apreciação correu pelo bar com a menção de vincar.

"No," answered Barry, "I went out with a halter and after a while Satan got used to me and followed me home." "Não", respondeu Barry, "eu saí com um cabresto e depois de um tempo Satanás se acostumou comigo e me seguiu para casa." They waited only long enough to draw deep breath; then came a long yell of delight. Eles esperaram apenas o suficiente para respirar fundo; então veio um longo grito de prazer. But the obscure devil was growing stronger and stronger in Strann. He beat on the bar until he got silence. Bateu na barra até ficar em silêncio. Then he leaned over to meet the eyes of Barry. Então ele se inclinou para encontrar os olhos de Barry.

"That," he remarked through his teeth, "is a damned—lie!" "Isso", ele observou entre os dentes, "é uma maldita mentira!" There is only one way of answering that word in the mountain-desert, and Barry did not take it. Há apenas uma maneira de responder a essa palavra no deserto da montanha, e Barry não aceitou. The melancholy brown eyes widened; he sighed, and raising his glass of lemonade sipped it slowly. Os melancólicos olhos castanhos se arregalaram; ele suspirou, e levantando seu copo de limonada bebeu lentamente. Came a sick silence in the barroom. Men turned their eyes towards each other and then flashed them away again. Os homens voltaram os olhos um para o outro e depois os desviaram novamente. It is not good that one who has the eyes and the tongue of a man should take water from another—even from a Jerry Strann. Não é bom que alguém que tem olhos e língua de homem tome água de outro — mesmo de um Jerry Strann. Нехорошо, чтобы тот, у кого глаза и язык человека, брал воду у другого - даже у Джерри Стрэнна. And even Jerry Strann withdrew his eyes slowly from his prey, and shuddered; the sight of the most grisly death is not so horrible as cowardice. E até Jerry Strann afastou os olhos lentamente de sua presa e estremeceu; a visão da morte mais terrível não é tão horrível quanto a covardia.

And the devil which was still strong in Strann made him look about for a new target; Barry was removed from all danger by an incredible barrier. E o diabo que ainda era forte em Strann o fez procurar um novo alvo; Barry foi afastado de todo perigo por uma barreira incrível. He found that new target at once, for his glance reached to the corner of the room and found there the greenish, glimmering eyes of the dog. Ele encontrou aquele novo alvo imediatamente, pois seu olhar alcançou o canto da sala e encontrou ali os olhos esverdeados e brilhantes do cachorro. He smote upon the bar. Ele bateu na barra.

"Is this a damned kennel?" "Isso é um maldito canil?" he shouted. "Do I got to drink in a barnyard? "Eu tenho que beber em um celeiro? What's the dog doin' here?" And he caught up the heavy little whiskey glass and hurled it at the crouching dog. E ele pegou o copinho pesado de uísque e o atirou no cachorro agachado. It thudded heavily, but it brought no yelp of pain; instead, a black thunderbolt leaped from the corner and lunged down the room. Bateu com força, mas não produziu nenhum grito de dor; em vez disso, um raio negro saltou do canto e se lançou pela sala. It was the silence of the attack that made it terrible, and Strann cursed and pulled his gun. Foi o silêncio do ataque que o tornou terrível, e Strann praguejou e puxou sua arma. He could never have used it. Ele nunca poderia tê-lo usado. He was a whole half second too late, but before the dog sprang a voice cut in: "Bart!" Ele estava meio segundo atrasado, mas antes que o cachorro saltasse uma voz interrompeu: "Bart!" It checked the animal in its very leap; it landed on the floor and slid on stiffly extended legs to the feet of Strann.

"Bart!" rang the voice again. tocou a voz novamente.

And the beast, flattening to the floor, crawled backwards, inch by inch; it was slavering, and there was a ravening madness in its eyes. E a fera, achatando-se no chão, rastejou para trás, centímetro por centímetro; estava babando, e havia uma loucura voraz em seus olhos.

"Look at it!" cried Strann. "By God, it's mad!" "Por Deus, é louco!" And he raised his gun to draw the bead. E ele ergueu a arma para sacar a conta.

"Wait!" called the same voice which had checked the spring of the dog. chamou a mesma voz que deteve a mola do cão. Surely it could not have come from the lips of Barry. Certamente não poderia ter vindo dos lábios de Barry. It held a resonance of chiming metal; it was not loud, but it carried like a brazen bell. Mantinha uma ressonância de metal retinindo; não era alto, mas carregava como um sino de bronze. "Don't do it, Strann!" And it came to every man in the barroom that it was unhealthy to stand between the two men at that instant; a sudden path opened from Barry to Strann. E ocorreu a cada homem no bar que não era saudável ficar entre os dois homens naquele instante; um caminho repentino se abriu de Barry a Strann.

"Bart!" came the command again. "Heel!" "Salto!" The dog obeyed with a slinking swiftness; Jerry Strann put up his gun and smiled. O cão obedeceu com uma rapidez furtiva; Jerry Strann largou a arma e sorriu.

"I don't take a start on no man," he announced quite pleasantly. "Eu não começo com nenhum homem," ele anunciou agradavelmente. "I don't need to. But—you yaller hearted houn'—get out from between. Mas, seu cão de coração mais velho, saia do meio. When I make my draw I'm goin' to kill that damn wolf." Quando eu fizer meu sorteio, vou matar aquele maldito lobo." Now, the fighting face of Jerry Strann was well known in the Three B's, and it was something for men to remember until they died in a peaceful bed. Agora, o rosto de lutador de Jerry Strann era bem conhecido nos Três B's, e era algo para os homens se lembrarem até morrerem em uma cama tranquila. Yet there was not a glance, from the bystanders, for Strann. No entanto, não houve um olhar, dos espectadores, para Strann. They stood back against the wall, flattening themselves, and they stared, fascinated, at the slender stranger. Eles ficaram para trás contra a parede, achatando-se, e eles olharam, fascinados, para o estranho esguio. Not that his face had grown ugly by a sudden metamorphosis. Não que seu rosto tivesse ficado feio por uma metamorfose repentina. It was more beautiful than ever, for the man was smiling. Estava mais bonito do que nunca, pois o homem estava sorrindo. It was his eyes which held them. Foram seus olhos que os prenderam. Behind the brown a light was growing, a yellow and unearthly glimmer which one felt might be seen on the darkest night. Atrás do marrom crescia uma luz, um brilho amarelo e sobrenatural que se sentia poder ser visto na noite mais escura.

There was none of the coward in Jerry Strann. Não havia nada de covarde em Jerry Strann. He looked full into that yellow, glimmering, changing light—he looked steadily—and a strange feeling swept over him. Ele olhou para aquela luz amarela, cintilante e cambiante – ele olhou fixamente – e uma sensação estranha tomou conta dele. No, it was not fear. Long experience had taught him that there was not another man in the Three B's, with the exception of his own terrible brother, who could get a gun out of the leather faster than he, but now it seemed to Jerry Strann that he was facing something more than mortal speed and human strength and surety. A longa experiência lhe ensinara que não havia outro homem nos Três B's, com exceção de seu próprio irmão terrível, que pudesse tirar uma arma do couro mais rápido do que ele, mas agora parecia a Jerry Strann que ele estava enfrentando algo mais do que velocidade mortal e força e segurança humana. He could not tell in what the feeling was based. But it was a giant, dim foreboding holding dominion over other men's lives, and it sent a train of chilly-weakness through his blood. Mas era um presságio gigante e obscuro segurando o domínio sobre a vida de outros homens, e enviou uma onda de frio e fraqueza através de seu sangue. "It's a habit of mine," said Jerry Strann, "to kill mad dogs when I see 'em." And he smiled again.

They stood for another long instant, facing each other. Eles ficaram parados por mais um longo instante, um de frente para o outro. It was plain that every muscle in Strann's body was growing tense; the very smile was frozen on his lips. Estava claro que cada músculo do corpo de Strann estava ficando tenso; o próprio sorriso estava congelado em seus lábios. When he moved, at last, it was a convulsive jerk of his arm, and it was said, afterward, that his gun was all clear of the leather before the calm stranger stirred. Quando ele se moveu, finalmente, foi um puxão convulsivo de seu braço, e foi dito, depois, que sua arma estava completamente livre do couro antes que o calmo estranho se mexesse. No eye followed what happened. Can the eye follow such speed as the cracking lash of a whip? Pode o olho seguir a velocidade do chicote estalar de um chicote?

There was only one report. The forefinger of Strann did not touch his trigger, but the gun slipped down and dangled loosely from his hand. O dedo indicador de Strann não tocou no gatilho, mas a arma escorregou e ficou pendurada em sua mão. He made a pace forward with his smile grown to an idiotic thing and a patch of red sprang out in the centre of his breast. Ele deu um passo à frente com seu sorriso transformado em uma coisa idiota e uma mancha vermelha brotou no centro de seu peito. Then he lurched headlong to the floor. Então ele caiu de cabeça no chão.