“Begun what?” Curly asked, having nothing better to say.
“You know what. But never mind that. I don’t ask you to convict yourself. I sent for you to tell you I don’t blame you for this.” He touched the wound in his side.
“Different with your boys, sir.”
“So the boys are a little excited, are they?”
“They were last night anyhow,” Curly answered, with a glimmer of a smile.
Cullison looked quickly at Maloney and then at his daughter.
“I’ll listen to what you’ve been hiding from me,” he told them.
“Oh, the boys had notions. Miss Kate argued with them and they saw things different,” the Bar Double M rider explained.
But Cullison would not let it go at that. He made them tell him the whole story. When Curly and Maloney had finished he buried his daughter’s little hand in his big brown fist. His eyes were dancing with pride, but he gave her not a word of spoken praise.
Kate, somewhat embarrassed, changed the subject briskly. “Now you’re talking too much, Dad. Doctor Brown said you might see him for just a few minutes. But you’re not to tire yourself, so I’ll do the talking for you.”