Like a flash she took advantage of their admission. “Then I’ve got more against him than you have, and I say turn him over to the law.”
“He’d get a good lawyer and wiggle out,” Dutch objected.
She whirled on the little puncher. “You know how that is, do you?”
Somebody laughed. It was known that Dutch had once been tried for stealing a sheep and had been acquitted.
Kite pushed forward, rough and overbearing. “Now see here. We know what we’re doing and we know why we’re doing it. This ain’t any business for a girl to mix in. You go back to the house and nurse your father that this man shot.”
“So it isn’t the kind of business for a girl,” she answered scornfully. “It’s work for a man, isn’t it? No, not for one. For nine—eleven—thirteen—seventeen big brave strong men to hang one poor wounded boy.”
Again that amused laugh rippled out. It came from Maloney. He was leaning against the door jamb with his hands in his pockets. Nobody had noticed him before. He had come in after the girl. When Curly came to think it over later, if he had been given three guesses as to who had told Kate Cullison what was on the program he would have guessed Maloney each time.
“Now that you’ve relieved your mind proper, Miss Cullison, I expect any of the boys will be glad to escort you back to the house,” Kite suggested with an acid smile.
“What have you got to do with this?” she flamed. “Our boys took him. They brought him here as their prisoner. Do you think we’ll let you come over into this county and dictate everything we do?”
“I’ve got a notion tucked away that you’re trying to do the dictating your own self,” the Bar Double M man contradicted.