THE THREE The whistling came from behind the hotel, and although it ended as soon as he reached the veranda of the building, Buck Daniels hurried to the rear of the place.

There were the long, low sheds of the barn, and behind these, he knew, must be the corrals.

He raced around the corner of the shed and there came to a halt, for he saw a thing that turned his blood to ice.
One of those rare rains of the mountain-desert had recently fallen and the corrals behind the barn were carpeted with a short, thick grass.

In the small corral nearest him he beheld, rolling on that carpet of grass, a great wolf--or a dog as large and as rough-coated as a wolf, and a man; and they were engaged in a desperate and silent struggle for mastery.

Their movements were so lightning fast that Buck Daniels could not make out distinct forms from the tangle.