“Huh!” Pole ejaculated; “no, you hain’t a-goin’ to see him, nuther; that is, not till me’n you’ve had a talk, Jeff Wade. You seem in a hurry, but thar’s a matter betwixt me an’ you that’s got to be attended to.”
“What the hell do you mean?” Wade demanded, a stare of irritated astonishment dawning in his eyes.
“Why, I mean that Nelson Floyd is a friend o’ mine, an’ he ain’t a-goin’ to be shot down like a dog by a man that could hit a nickel a hundred yards away nine times out o’ ten. You an’ me’s close together, an’ I reckon chances ’ud be somewhar about equal. I hain’t a brag shot, but I could hit a pouch as big as yourn is about as easy as you could me.”
“You—you—by God, do you mean to take this matter up?”
Jeff Wade slid off his horse and stood facing Pole.
“Yes, I do, Jeff; that is, unless you’ll listen to common sense. That’s what I’m here fer. I’m a-goin’ to stuff reason into you ef I have to make a new hole to put it in at. You are a-goin’ entirely too fast to live in an enlightened Christian age, an’ I’m here to call a halt. I’ve got some things to tell you. They are a-goin’ to hurt like pullin’ eye-teeth, an’ you may draw yore gun before I’m through, but I’m goin’ to make a try at it.”
“What the——?”
“Hold on, hold on, hold on, Jeff!” Pole raised a warning hand. “Keep that paw off’n that cannon in yore belt or thar’ll be a war right here before you hear my proclamation of the terms we kin both live by. Jeff, I am yore neighbor an’ friend. I love you mighty nigh like a brother, an’ I’m here to tell you that, with all yore grit an’ good qualities, you are makin’ a bellowin’ jackass o’ yoreself. An’ ef I let you put through yore present plans, you’ll weep in repentance fer it till you are let down in yore soggy grave. Thar’s two sides to every question, an’ you are lookin’ only at yore side o’ this un. You cayn’t tell how sorry I am about havin’ to take this step. I’ve been a friend to yore entire family—to yore brothers, an’ yore old daddy when he was alive. I mighty nigh swore a lie down in Atlanta to keep him out o’ limbo when he was arrested fer moonshinin’.”
“I know all that!” growled Wade; “but God——”
“Hold yore taters now, an’ listen! You mought as well take yore mind off’n that spring. You hain’t a-goin’ to git at Nelson Floyd without you walk over my dead body—an’ thar’s no efs an’ ands about that. You try to mount that hoss, an’ I’ll kill you ef it’s in my power. I say I’ve got some’n to tell you that you’ll wish you’d listened to. I know some’n about Minnie that will put a new color on this whole nasty business; an’ when you know it, ef you kill Nelson Floyd in cold blood, the law will jerk that stiff neck o’ yourn—jerk it till it’s limber.”