"I—Bobby! Where did you come from?"
"Please lie down!"
"I—Oh! I know now!"
Her arm remained about him as he rose to shaky feet, swayed and recovered his balance. He reached up with one hand to push the bandage a little farther up his head and looked wonderingly at the blood on his fingers. He said, as though that were an astonishing thing,
"They nicked me!"
Emma and Martha Winterson hovered anxiously about, and Joe said, "Better stay down, Ellis."
"I—I'm all right now. Bobby, my rifle!"
She choked back a sob. "Ellis, no!"
"I'm all right now. I'll watch the south wall."
She said determinedly, "We'll both watch the south wall," and she stood very close beside him in the event that he needed her suddenly.