“And you broke your promise?”
“Yes, sir.”
Still the judge studied him. “Well,” said he, after a pause, “I don’t think you’re a bad sort of a boy. I think you just saw that deer and couldn’t refrain from shooting him. I think you felt like Buffalo Bill, now didn’t you?”
“I—yes—I—I don’t know how Buffalo Bill felt,” said Westy.
“And if Mr. Sands hadn’t got in touch with Mr. Terry and found that deer, you would have gone back home thinking you’d done a fine, heroic thing, eh?”
Westy did think he had done a good thing but he didn’t say so.
“But you had the honesty to confess when you saw that an innocent man was about to be arrested. And that’s what makes me think that you’re a not half-bad sort of a youngster.”
Westy shifted from one foot to the other but said nothing.
“You just forgot your promise when you saw that deer.”
“I didn’t forget it, I just broke it,” said Westy