“Did he fight?”
“He had to.”
“How did it come out?”
“I shot him through the heart,” said the man from Pike County fiercely. “His bones are bleaching in the valley where he fell.”
“Sho!” said Joshua.
The Pike County man looked from one to the other to see what effect had been produced by his blood-curdling narration. Joshua looked rather perplexed, as if he didn’t quite know what to think, but Joe seemed tranquil.
“I think you said it happened last week,” said Joe.
“If I said so, it is so,” said the Pike man, who in truth did not remember what time he had mentioned.
“I don’t question that. I was only wondering how his bones could begin to bleach so soon after he was killed.”
“Just so,” said Joshua, to whom this difficulty had not presented itself before.