Penny hadn't known Bryant to leave the Basin in years. Yet she knew Gimlet must be telling the truth. "Didn't he say when he was coming back?" she asked.
"Not a damn word."
Penny had counted on a heart-to-heart talk with her uncle. Now that the talk was out of the question, at least for the time being, she felt a hopelessness that made her aware of how much she had counted on that talk.
"How long ago," she said, "did Uncle Bryant leave?"
"Jest a little while after the argyment."
"Argument? What argument?"
"Him an' that cowboy callin' himself Yuma had another set-to."
"Yuma?" In her confusion of emotions Penny could do little more than echo what Gimlet said.
"I tell yuh, they's been things goin' on, but nothin' I c'n lay a finger on. Bryant an' Yuma talked low fer a time, then both got tuh howlin'. I c'd hear some o' what 'uz said. Yuma was callin' on Bryant tuh see to it that Mort got what he deserved, an' got told tuh go tuh hell."
"That's what Uncle Bryant would tell him."