Miss Miller glanced sharply at Harp, whose ears immediately assumed a scarlet tint.
“Half-breed,” nodded Brick. “Married woman, too. Her husband was shootin’ mad, too.”
Harp shoved back his chair and got to his feet.
“That’s all a danged lie!” he wailed. “I—I”
“I can’t understand this risin’ generation,” interrupted Mrs. Wesson seriously. “They do the darndest things. Why, when I was young, if a man monkeyed around a married woman”
Harp whirled around, picked up his hat and stamped out of the house, while Brick put his head on his arms and cried tears. Mrs. Wesson hammered Cale on the back until the poor man slid sideways out of his chair; but Miss Miller failed to see the humor of the situation.
“It’s a shame,” declared Cale. “Don’tcha believe a danged thing that either of these critters try to make yuh believe, Miss Miller. That’s their idea of fun.”
“O-o-o-oh, that was good!” wailed Mrs. Wesson. “The look on his face! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Brick, he’ll hate us both for life.”
“I fail to see anything funny about it,” stated Miss Miller. “Why accuse a man of something that isn’t true, Mr. Davidson?”
“It was true,” choked Brick. “But not the way it sounded. He did get knifed by a woman. Anyway, I think it was a woman. And her husband was shootin’ mad, too. Me and Harp caught ’em stealing cattle—butcherin’ at night and burnin’ the hides.”