the talkin' kind, an' he's damn dangerous when he's thet way. Bland
asked me some questions right from the shoulder. I was ready for them,
an' I swore the moon was green cheese. He was satisfied. Bland always
trusted me, an' liked me, too, I reckon. I hated to lie black thet
way. But he's a hard man with bad intentions toward Jennie, an' I'd
double-cross him any day.

"Then we went into the house. Jennie had gone to her little room,
an' Bland called her to come out. She said she was undressin'. An' he
ordered her to put her clothes back on. Then, Buck, his next move was
some surprisin'. He deliberately thronged a gun on Kate. Yes sir, he
pointed his big blue Colt right at her, an' he says:

"'I've a mind to blow out your brains.'

"'Go ahead,' says Kate, cool as could be.

"'You lied to me,' he roars.

"Kate laughed in his face. Bland slammed the gun down an' made a grab
fer her. She fought him, but wasn't a match fer him, an' he got her by
the throat. He choked her till I thought she was strangled. Alloway made
him stop. She flopped down on the bed an' gasped fer a while. When she
come to them hardshelled cusses went after her, trying to make her give
herself away. I think Bland was jealous. He suspected she'd got thick
with you an' was foolin' him. I reckon thet's a sore feelin' fer a man
to have--to guess pretty nice, but not to BE sure. Bland gave it up
after a while. An' then he cussed an' raved at her. One sayin' of his is
worth pinnin' in your sombrero: 'It ain't nuthin' to kill a man. I don't
need much fer thet. But I want to KNOW, you hussy!'

"Then he went in an' dragged poor Jen out. She'd had time to dress. He
was so mad he hurt her sore leg. You know Jen got thet injury fightin'
off one of them devils in the dark. An' when I seen Bland twist
her--hurt her--I had a queer hot feelin' deep down in me, an' fer the
only time in my life I wished I was a gun-fighter.

"Wal, Jen amazed me. She was whiter'n a sheet, an' her eyes were big and
stary, but she had nerve. Fust time I ever seen her show any.

"'Jennie,' he said, 'my wife said Duane came here to see you. I believe
she's lyin'. I think she's been carryin' on with him, an' I want to
KNOW. If she's been an' you tell me the truth I'll let you go. I'll send
you out to Huntsville, where you can communicate with your friends. I'll
give you money.'

"Thet must hev been a hell of a minnit fer Kate Bland. If evet I seen
death in a man's eye I seen it in B