"'Kase I be dead sure, Litt, ez ye wouldn't do no harm knowin' it," he replied, precipitately. "I wish I hed faith in Heaven like I hev in you-uns. I war jes' feared Mis' Yates an' them war foolin' ye 'bout'n it, an' hed tangled ye up in suthin' ez ye didn't onderstand the rights of." He looked down eagerly at her, but her face was inscrutable.
"I ain't so easily fooled," she observed, succinctly.
He glanced about him, evidently on the eve of reluctant departure, but still lingering. The infantile mocking-bird at intervals piped his strident vibrant "C-a-a-ant! c-a-a-ant! c-a-a-ant!" The parent bird's keen, clear call rang out, so full of meaning that it seemed strange that it should be inarticulate, and ever and anon his white wing feathers, as he whirled in the air, shone dazzlingly in the sunshine. Moses continued to experiment with the possibilities of flax for food, sometimes constrained to sputter by his misdirected ardor. Guthrie would fain prolong the pleasant peaceful time.
"I mus' be a-joggin'," he said, however. "I feel powerful foolish ridin' another man's horse. An' I be a-goin' ter turn him over ter the constable o' the deestric', an' tell how I got him by accident, so flustered by the fight."
For the first time she recognized Cheever's horse at the gate.
"War thar a fight?" she said.
He nodded.
"Ye didn't take a hand in it? Waal, I be s'prised—ye, ez hev sot out ter be a saint o' the Lord!"
"That don't make no diff'unce," he said, hastily defending his piety. "The reason thar ain't no mo' fightin' 'mongst the saints an' disciples the Bible tells about air 'kase thar warn't no fire-arms in them days; I hev hearn pa'son say thar warn't none. An' that's why peace war so preached up then, fur mighty few men like ter kem ter close quarters with a knife."
His own wounds ached anew with the suggestion, but with a savage pride in his prowess he said naught of them; he would not have admitted their existence to the man who had dealt them; Cheever might take only what testimony he could from the blood on his knife.