“Good. You can hand it over.” And his voice was almost friendly.
Eve went into her bedroom and returned with a pile of bills. Will held out his hand for them, but she ignored it, and laid them on the table. He seized upon them greedily, glancing queerly at her as he pocketed them.
“Good,” he said thoughtfully, “now I can get busy.” He lifted his eyes to his wife’s face again, and stared at her malevolently, and the woman shivered under his scrutiny. She had shrunk from coming into contact with 318 the hand that had shot down one of the boys, and now she was thinking of this man as the murderer.
“You best go,” she said, vainly trying to keep her voice steady.
But the man made no move. His malevolent stare had become more intense. Suddenly he laughed, his teeth baring, but his eyes remaining unchanged.
“So that’s it, eh?” he said. Then the malevolence of his eyes changed to an angry fire. “I’m going sure, but not till I’ve done what I came to do. Y’see, there’s no great hurry. Folks aren’t chasin’ me here. Here, I’m a respectable, hard-working gold prospector. An’ I’ve been down at the saloon an’ talked with the folks. Bluff, eh? Gold prospector. Gee! We know differently, eh? Don’t we? Oh, yes, I’m goin’––when it suits me. Not when it suits you. Guess you’d be glad to be rid of me, eh? So it would leave room for Jim Thorpe. Oh, I’ve heard. All the folks are talking.”
The girl started. An angry flush slowly mounted to her cheeks, and a sudden sparkle lit her eyes.
“But he don’t cut any ice with me,” the man went on with a laugh. “You won’t get him. Nor will any other woman. They’re goin’ to hang him. Say, what was his price for riding out to me? Did you pay it beforehand, or do you reckon to pay it before they hang him? Ha, ha! guess you ain’t paid it yet. Men don’t work for women after they get their pay. I’d say you’re shrewd enough someways.”
Eve’s fury at the man’s loathsome suggestion drove her beyond all caution. And she flung her answer at him with a hatred that was wholly infuriating to the man.
“You best go. Remember, I know the truth of you,” 319 she cried. “We’ve saved you from the rope, once. I still have it in my power to–––”