He took his orders with the smiling submission of the man who knows his mistress.
Kate spoke to Curly. “Father wants me to tell you that we don’t blame you for shooting at him. We understand just how it was. Your friend got excited and shot as soon as he saw he was surrounded. We are both very sorry he was killed. Father could not stop the boys in time. Perhaps you remember that he tried to get you to surrender.”
The rustler nodded. “Yes, I heard him holler to me to put my gun down, but the others blazed away at me.”
“And so you naturally defended yourself. That’s how we understand it. Father wants it made clear that he feels you could have done nothing else.”
“Much obliged. I’ve been sorry ever since I hit him, and not only on my own account.”
“Then none of us need to hold hard feelings.” The girl looked at her father, who answered her appeal with a grim nod, and then she turned again to the young rustler a little timidly. “I wonder if you would mind if I asked you a question.”
“You’ve earned the right to ask as many as you like.”
“It’s about—— We have been told you know the man they call Soapy Stone. Is that true?”
Flandrau’s eyes took on a stony look. It was as if something had sponged all the boyishness from his face. Still trying to get him to give away his partners in the rustling, were they? Well, he would show them he could take his medicine without squealing.
“Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t.”