II-X

Gordon found Meta Beggs on the outskirt
of the throng; she was pale but otherwise
unshaken. "I was sure you were going to
shoot Buckley," she told him.

"So was I," he returned grimly.

"Will he die?"

"It looks bad -- his head's cracked. You didn't
see anybody throw that stone!" His voice had
more the accent of a command than an inquiry.

"I really didn't; the men were standing so closely
...nobody saw."

"That's good. You'll drive home with me, for
certain."

"I'm glad you didn't kill him," she confided to
Gordon in the buggy. She was sitting very close to
him. "It would have -- upset things."

"I don't believe you were a scrap frightened," he
asserted admiringly.

"I wasn't. I thought how foolish you would be
to spoil everything for yourself."

"I would have gone into the mountains," he explained;
"a hundred men would have kept the law

[[199]]

p198 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p199w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p200

v?