Dan touched his lips. "He hit me with his fist."
He paused, and spoke again with a drawling voice that gave his words an uncanny effect.
"My blood went down from my mouth to my chin. I tasted it. Till I get him there ain't no way of me forgettin' him."
His eyes lighted with that ominous gleam.
"That's why no other man c'n put a hand on him. He's laid out all for me. Understand?"
The ring of the question echoed for a moment through Calder's mind.
"I certainly do," he said with profound conviction, "and I'll never forget it." He decided on a change of tactics. "But there are other men with Jim Silent and those men will fight to keep you from getting to him."
"I'm sorry for 'em," said Dan gently. "I ain't got nothin' agin any one except the big man."
Calder took a long breath.
"Don't you see," he explained carefully, "if you shoot one of these men you are simply a murderer who must be apprehended by the law and punished."