“You mean—”
“I mean that Joe Mitchell, that's been dead-stuck on Minnie sence she was a little gal, set up to her an' proposed marriage. They got engaged, an' then every old snaggle-toothed busybody in these mountains set in to try to bust it up by totin' tales about Floyd an' others to 'im. As fast as one would come, Minnie'd kill it, an' show Joe what a foolish thing it was to listen to gossip, an' Joe finally told 'em all to go to hell, an' they was married, an' moved on his farm in Texas. From all accounts, they are doin' well an' are happy, but, la me! they wouldn't be that away long ef you'd 'a' shot Nelson Floyd this mornin'.”
“You say they wouldn't, Pole?”
“Huh, I reckon you wouldn't dance a jig an' sing hallelujah ef you was to pick up a newspaper this mornin' an' read in type a foot long that yore wife's brother, in another state, had laid a man out stiff as a board fer some'n' that had tuck place sometime back betwixt the man an' her.”
“Huh!” Wade's glance was now on Pole's face. “Huh, I reckon you are right, Pole. I reckon you are right. I wasn't thinkin' about that.”
“Thar was another duty you wasn't a-thinkin' about, too,” Pole said. “An' that is yore duty to yore wife an' childern that would be throwed helpless on the world ef this thing had 'a' tuck place to-day.”
“Well, I don't see that, anyway,” said Wade, dejectedly.
“Well, I do, Jeff. You see, ef you'd 'a' gone on an' killed Floyd, after I halted you, I'd 'a' been a witness agin you, an' I'd 'a' had to testify that I told you, in so many words, whar the rale blame laid, an' no jury alive would 'a' spared yore neck.”
“I reckon that's so,” Wade admitted. “Well, I guess I'll go back, Pole; I won't go any furder with it. I promise you not to molest that scamp. I'll not trade any more at his shebang, an' I'll avoid 'im all I kin, but I'll not kill 'im as I intended.”
“Now you're a-talkin' with a clear head an' a clean tongue.” Pole drew a breath of relief, and stood silent as Wade pulled his horse around, put his foot into the heavy, wooden stirrup, and mounted. Pole said nothing until Wade had slowly ridden several paces homeward, then he called out to him and beckoned him back, going to meet him, leading his horse.