Bryant nodded. "I sensed things boilin' up between him an' Rebecca fer a long time. I didn't figure he'd go as far as killin' his wife or I'd o' done somethin' before now. I heard the shot he fired an' hoped it'd gone wild—that's why I shot tuh wound him."
"Then you didn't intend to kill him?"
"Course not," snapped Bryant quickly. "Shot tuh wing him, just like I done. Yuh savvy that? I hit right where I aimed!" The old man leaned forward in his chair as he spoke, making a very definite point of what he said.
Penelope nodded. "But now that Mort is going to recover, he'll of course be punished for murder, won't he?"
Bryant's eyes stared hard at the girl. "Who told yuh," he barked, "tuh ask that?"
Penny was surprised at his intensity. "Why—why," she stammered, "no one asked me to."
"You sure of that?"
"Of course."
"Yuh sure it wasn't that cowhand called Yuma that put yuh up tuh findin' out what my intentions was regardin' Mort?"
"I haven't talked with Yuma since he carried Mort here to the house."