heard I'd be there with him! And he'd be'n hangin'
around me, every time he struck town, jest to
make Mr. Fear mad--the fresh thing! You see he
wanted to make my husband start something again,
this Mr. Cory did, and he was fixed for it."

"I don't understand," said Ariel.

"It's this way: if Mr. Fear attacted Mr. Cory,
why, Mr. Cory could shoot him down and claim self-
defence. You see, it would be easy for Mr. Cory,
because Mr Fear nearly killed him when they had
their first trouble, and that would give Mr. Cory a
good excuse to shoot if Mr. Fear jest only pushed
him. That's the way it is with the law. Mr. Cory
could wipe out their old score and git off scot-free."

"Surely not!"

"Yes, ma'am, that's the way it would be. And
when Mike told me that Mr. Cory had got me out
there jest to provoke my husband I went straight
up to him and begun to give him a piece of my mind.
I didn't talk loud, because I never was one to make
a disturbance and start trouble the way SOME do;
and right while I was talkin' we both see my husband
pass the window. Mr. Cory give a kind of
yelling laugh and put his arm round me jest as Mr.
Fear come in the door. And then it all happened
so quick that you could hardly tell what WAS goin'