“Aren't your witnesses prejudiced a little?”
“Maybe.” The smile on Hilliard's fat face broadened. “Two of them are right here. Suppose we find out.”
He stepped to the door of the inner office, and opened it. From the room emerged Dillon and his daughter. The Texan looked at Arlie in blank amazement.
“This young lady says she was present, lieutenant, and knows who fired the shot that killed Faulkner.”
The ranger saw only Arlie. His gaze was full of deep reproach. “You came down here to save me,” he said, in the manner of one stating a fact.
“Why shouldn't I? Ought I to have let you suffer for me? Did you think I was so base?”
“You oughtn't to have done it. You have brought trouble on yourself.”
Her eyes glowed with deep fires. “I don't care. I have done what was right. Did you think dad and I would sit still and let you pay forfeit for us?”
The lieutenant's spirits rejoiced at the thing she had done, but his mind could not forget what she must go through.
“I'm glad and I'm sorry,” he said simply.