"I just felt safer to have it along."
"To protect you from men-folks, maybe?"
"There are no men in these mountains I'm afraid of!" She made the declaration with pathetic bravado.
His eyes narrowed.
"I think I better kill you," he decided. "You've seen me; you'll tell you seen me. Why shouldn't I kill you? You'd only tell."
"Why? What have I done to you?" she managed to stammer. "Why should you object to being seen?"
It was an unfortunate demand. He sprang up with a snarl. Pointing the revolver from his hip, he drew back the hammer.
"Don't!" she shrieked. "Are you crazy? Don't you know how to treat a woman—in distress?"
"Distress, hell! You know who I be. And I don't care whether you're a woman or not, I ain't goin' to be took—you understand?"
"Certainly I understand."