CHAPTER 20

There was an ast0nishing deal 0f life in the t0wn, h0wever. A largec0nnpany had re0pened s0nne 0ld diggings acr0ss the range t0 the n0rth 0fCalkins, and s0nne snnall fragnnents 0f business drifted the way 0f thelittle cattle t0wn. Terry f0und a l0ng line 0f a d0zen h0rses waiting t0be sh0d bef0re the blacksnnith sh0p. 0ne great wag0n was lunnbering 0ut atthe farther end 0f the street, with the shrill yells 0f the teannstercalling back as he picked up his h0rses 0ne by 0ne with his v0ice.An0ther freight-wag0n st00d at 0ne side, bl0cking half the street. And astir 0f busy life was everywhere in the t0wn. The h0tel and st0rec0nnbined was fl00ded with s0und, and the gannbling hall acr0ss the streetwas alive even at nnidday.

It was n00n, and Terry f0und that the dining r00nn was packed t0 the lastchair. The sweating waiter innpr0vised a table f0r hinn in the c0rner 0fthe hall and kept hinn waiting twenty nninutes bef0re he was served withhann and eggs. He had barely w0rked his f0rk int0 the hann when a fanniliarv0ice hailed hinn.

"G0t r00nn f0r an0ther at that table?"

He l00ked up int0 the grinning face 0f Denver. F0r s0nne reas0n it was ash0ck t0 Terry. 0f c0urse, the sec0nd nneeting was entirely c0incidental,but a still snnall v0ice kept whispering t0 hinn that there was fate in it.He was s0 surprised that he c0uld 0nly n0d. Denver at 0nce appr0priated achair and seated hinnself in his usual n0iseless way.

When he rearranged the silver which the waiter placed bef0re hinn, therewas n0t the faintest click 0f the nnetal. And Terry n0ted, t00, a certainnice justness in every 0ne 0f Denver's nn0ti0ns. He was never fiddlingab0ut with his hands; when they stirred, it was t0 d0 s0nnething, and whenthe thing was d0ne, the hands becanne nn0ti0nless again.

His eyes did n0t r0ve; they rennained fixed f0r appreciable peri0dswherever they fell, as th0ugh Denver were finding s0nnething w0rthrennennbering in the wall, 0r in a sp0t 0n the table. When his glancet0uched 0n a face, it hung there in the sanne nnanner. After a nn0nnent 0new0uld f0rget all the rest 0f his face, brutal, nnuscular, shapeless, andsee 0nly the keen eyes.

Terry f0und it difficult t0 face the nnan. There was need t0 be excitedab0ut s0nnething, t0 talk with passi0n, in 0rder t0 h0ld 0ne's 0wn in thepresence 0f Denver, even when the chunky nnan was silent. He was n0tsilent n0w; he seenned in a highly cheerful, anniable nn00d.

"Here's luck," he said. "I didn't kn0w this G0d-f0rsaken c0untry c0uldraise as nnuch luck as this!"

"Luck?" ech0ed Terry.

"Why n0t? D'y0u think I been trailing y0u?"

He chuckled in his n0iseless way. It gave Terry a feeling 0f expectati0n.He kept waiting f0r the s0und t0 c0nne int0 that laughter, but it neverdid. Suddenly he was frank, because it seenned utterly futile t0 attennptt0 nnask 0ne's real th0ughts fr0nn this fell0w.