PAINTED ROCK
started to pull on him, and was as slow gettin' out his gun as a mud-turtle on dry land. And Walker pulled down on him and shot him threw three times before he teched the ground. The poor old man is dead, Jeff. Don't grieve, Jeff."
But Jeff swallowed his tears.
"I ain't grievin' now, Bill Davies. I'll find time to mourn for the ole man when Walker's dead," he said in a choking voice.
But Bill Davies shook his head.
"’Twas self-defence, Jeff; it was, sure. For las' night they had a sort of difficulty, and we held yur old man down, and he said he'd shoot Walker on sight. And Walker laffed. And we got yur Dad out o' town fightin' somethin' awful. And he pulled his gun first. There's four to take the stand and say so. There won't be no trouble for Walker. He says he'll do the thing handsome and bury the old man in style."
Jeff threw up his head.
"You ain't defendin' Walker none, are you, Bill Davies?"
The cowboy shrugged his shoulders.
42
