The group in the patio, and the shining form of Alcatraz, were self
explanatory. His plans were ruined at the very verge of a triumph. He
hardly needed to hear the voice of Jordan saying: "I asked you to get
rid of a gun-fighting killer--and you've tried to murder a _man_.
Hervey, get out of the Valley and stay out if you're fond of a whole
skin!"
And Hervey went.
* * * * *
There followed a strange time for Alcatraz. He could not be led from
the patio. They could only take him by tying every hoof and dragging
him, and such force Marianne would not let the cowpunchers use. So day
after day he roamed in that strange corral while men came and stared
at him through the strong bars of the gate, but no one dared enter
the enclosure with the wild horse saving the girl alone, and even she
could not touch him.
It was all very strange. And strangest of all was when the girl came
out of the door through which the master had been carried and looked
at Alcatraz, and wept. Every evening she came but she had no way of
answering the anxious whinny with which he called for Red Jim again.
Strange, too, was the hush which brooded over the house.
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