“By gum, the boy’s right,” Jenks declared. “Will you go back to Benton if we take you?” he queried of her. “Are you ’feared of Montoyo? Can he shoot still, or is he laid out?”
“I’ll not go back to Benton, and I’m not afraid of that bully,” said she. “Yes, he can shoot, still; but next time I should kill him. I hope never to see him again, or Benton either.”
The men murmured.
“You’ve got spunk, anyhow,” said they. And by further impulse: “Let her stay the night, Cap’n. It’ll be plumb dark soon. She won’t harm ye. Some o’ the woman folks can take care of her.”
Captain Adams had been frowning sternly, his heavy face unsoftened.
“Who are you, woman?”
“I am the wife of a gambler named Montoyo.”
“Why come you here, then?”
“He has been abusing me, and I shot him.”
“There is blood on your hands? Are you a murderess as well as a harlot?” 176