"I didn't ask you that," he reminded her calmly. "I asked what he told."
"Say!" she apostrophized.
"Yes?"
"You're English, I reckon, ain't you?"
"Yes, and you don't like the English, I know that perfectly."
"You're right, I don't. You're as thick-headed as all the rest of them."
"Thanks. But you started out to tell me what Lawton told Stone."
"He told him the truth, I tell you: that when we heard the Apaches were coming, we lit out and drove out the stock from the corrals. I don't recollect his words."
So that was it! It took all the self-command that thirty-five varied years had taught him not to rise up and knock her head against the sharp rocks. But he lay quite still, and presently he said: "That is near enough for my purposes, thank you. But I would be interested to know, if you don't mind, what you had against a helpless woman and those two poor little babies. I wouldn't have supposed that a woman lived who could have been such a fiend as all that."
The woman launched off into a torrent of vituperation and vile language that surprised even Cairness, whose ears were well seasoned.