“I have no truck with him; I have never heard one word from him since the day he rode away after saving my father. He told me then that friendship between a girl like myself and a man like him was impossible.”
The girl’s face was flushed. In spite of herself her voice trembled. But her eyes were steady as she looked into Ace’s angry brown ones.
“Darn it, the girl’s in love with the little runt,” Sam Hogg whispered to his brother. He went over and placed an arm about the girl’s shoulder.
“Ace, yuh got Allen wrong,” he said defensively. “When I was in the Rangers and he hung out in Texas, I chased him plenty. And he had the rep then, among bad hombres, of bein’ square. An’ I don’t believe he killed any gent what didn’t need killin’ bad.”
“Only men who fear him hate him,” the girl said softly.
Ace Cutts took a step toward her, but Anderson grasped his arm.
“You fool!” he exclaimed in a whisper.
His back was toward the others. His lips formed a sentence that could be read only by Ace. The young man nodded sullenly and made an effort to recover his composure.
“When he comes,” Snippets said anxiously to Tom Powers, “remember you promised there will be no shooting.”
“Are you scared I’ll drop your hero?” Ace jeeringly asked.