“You didn’t ask me.”
“So you and him are thick, are you?”
“I’ve met him once, if that’s being thick. That time I shot him up.”
“Funny. And then he went bail for you.”
“Yes.”
“Now I wonder why.”
The eyes of the man had narrowed to red slits. His head had shot forward on his shoulders as that of a snake does. Curly would have given a good deal just then for the revolver lying on the bed of his room. For it was plain trouble was in sight. The desperado had been drinking heavily and was ready to do murder.
“That’s easy to explain, Soapy. I shot him because I was driven to it. He’s too much of a man to bear a grudge for what I couldn’t help.”
“That’s it, is it? Does that explain why he dug up good money to turn loose a horse thief?”
“If I told you why, you would not understand.”