There was a murmur from Kate: "Dan, my dear, my dear!" Then he heard a padding footfall, hardly louder than the light, light step of the wolf.

The knob of the door turned slowly, without a sound; it opened, and a man stepped in.

He was not larger than the doctor; a slender fellow, almost dapper in his dress, with hardly a sign of travel about him, except that the brim of his sombrero was folded back from his face as if from continual pressure of wind.

These things Randall Byrne noted vaguely; what he was sharply aware of were the eyes of the man.

He had the feeling that he had seen them before; he remembered the yellow light that had swirled in the eyes of the wolf at the window.
The newcomer flashed a glance about the room, yet for all its speed it seemed to linger an instant on each face, and when it crossed the stare of Byrne the doctor shrank.
"Where is Buck ?" asked the man.