“Why?”
“You ain’t swore once.”
“Guess I’m gittin’ old.”
“We both are—too dam’ old to be foolish. I looked for yuh to kill Billy DuMond.”
“I didn’t. He’s a coward, Chuckwalla. I used to be a gunman. But I’m old now. They don’t realize I’m old. Most any man in the valley could beat me to a gun, but they don’t know it.”
“Do yuh think that’s too sore to use horse-liniment on? Mebby it is. Skin’s busted. Funny about Lila comin’ to warn yuh, Rance.”
“Funny?”
“Queer, I meant.”
“Queer—yeah.”
“Wish you’d saved that letter, Rance.”