human
I may further deduct, said the doctor,
gpt
Doc, he said,
human
Because you are aware, Mr. Daniels, that the presence of this man may save the life of Mr. Cumberland, a thought, to be sure, which might not be accepted by the medical fraternity, but which may without undue exaggeration devolve from the psychological situation in this house.
gpt
Doc, said Daniels huskily,
human
His voice lowered with an intense emotion.
gpt
I've thought it out sideways and backwards. It's Kate or old Joe. Which is the most important?
human
You are quite sure, also, that the return of this man, this strange wanderer, might help Mr. Cumberland back to health?
gpt
I am, all right. He's sure wrapped up in Whistlin' Dan.
human
What is the nature of their relations; what makes him so oddly dependent upon the other?
gpt
I dunno, doc. It's got us all fooled. When Dan is here it seems like old Cumberland jest nacherally lives on the things Dan does and hears and sees. We've seen Cumberland prick up his ears the minute Dan comes into the room, and show life. Sometimes Dan sits with him and tells him what he's been doin'--maybe it ain't any more than how the sky looks that day, or about the feel of the wind--but Joe sits with his eyes dreamin', like a little kid hearin' fairy stories. Kate says it's been that way since her dad first brought Dan in off'n the range. He's been sort of necessary to old Joe--almost like air to breathe. I tell you, it's jest a picture to see them two together.
human
Very odd, very odd, brooded the doctor, frowning,
gpt
Ask the wild geese, said Buck bitterly. He added:
human
Maybe you'd better ask Dan's black hoss or his dog, Bart. They'd know better'n anything else.
gpt
But what has the man been doing since he left? Have you any idea?
human
It's all pretty much the same, what news we get. Mostly I guess he jest wanders around doin' no harm to nobody. But once in a while somebody sicks a dog on Bart, and Bart jest nacherally chaws that dog in two. Then the owner of the dog may start a fight, and Dan drops him and rides on.
gpt
With a trail of dead men behind him?
human
Dead? Nope. You don't have to shoot to kill when you can handle a gun the way Dan does. Nope, he jest wings 'em. Plants a chunk of lead in a shoulder, or an arm, or a leg. That's all. They ain't no love of blood in Dan--except-----
gpt
Well?
human
Doc, said Buck with a shudder,
gpt
I ain't goin' to talk about the exceptions. Mostly the news we gets of Dan is about troubles he's had. But sometimes we hear of gents he's helped out when they was sick, and things like that. They ain't nobody like Dan when a gent is down sick, I'll tell a man!
human
And do I understand you to say that the girl and this man--Whistling Dan, as you call him--are intimately and sentimentally related?
gpt
She loves him, said Daniels slowly.
human
She loves the ground he walks on and the places where he's been.
gpt
But, sir, it would seem probable from your own reasoning that the return of the man, in this case, will not be unwelcome to her.
human
Reason? broke out Daniels bitterly.
gpt
What the hell has reason got to do with Whistling Dan? Man, man! if Barry was to come back d'you suppose he'd remember that he'd once told Kate he loved her? Doc, I know him as near as any man can know him. I tell you, he thinks no more of her than--than the wild geese think of her. If old Joe dies because Dan is away--well, Cumberland is an old man anyway. But how could I stand to see Barry pass Kate by with an empty eye, the way he'd do if he come back? I'd want to kill him, and I'd get bumped off tryin' it, like as not. And what would it do to Kate? It'd kill her, Doc, as sure as you're born.
human
Your assumption being, murmured the doctor,
gpt
D'you forget a knife that's sticking into you? No, she won't forget him. But maybe after a while she'll be able to stand thinkin' about him. She'll get used to the hurt. She'll be able to talk and laugh the way she used to. Oh, doc, if you could of seen her as I've seen her in the old days----
human
When the man was with her?
gpt
Damn your eternal soul, doc!