“Me? I never didn’t. My gun only shoots oncet. Two shoots come, right at Miss Taisie’s tent. So help me on my Bible, Mr. Jim, I never did shoot not none. No, sah!”
“Who was it, Taisie?” He used her as a child now, but his voice was sad. “The shots was right at this place. Who was it—one of our men?”
“No, Jim, no!”
“Who was he? Tell me now! You’re hiding him? You know who he was?”
A very long silence. The man’s face was fronting her, streaked with the dust. He was a loyal man.
At last, “Yes!”
And now she faced him. Nabours guessed.
“McMasters! You know why he came? Ah, Taisie, girl!”
“I don’t know! I think it was the trunk. He said something about it—I don’t know.”
“It’s the scrip, Taisie! He’s following that still? What did he say? Ask where it was?”