Page:MacLeod Raine - The Sheriff's Son.djvu/173

 evidence against you and me! Did n't he creep into your house so as to sell you out when he got the goods? Has n't he lied from start to finish?"

"Maybe so. But he has no proof against us yet. We 'll kick him out of the park. I'm not going to have his blood on my conscience. That's flat, Jess."

The eyes in the bloodless face of the other man glittered, but he put a curb on his passion. "What about me, Hal? I 've waited half a lifetime and now my chance has come. Have you forgot who made me the misshaped thing I am? I have n't. I 'll go through hell to fix Beaudry's cub the way he did me." His voice shook from the bitter intensity of his feeling.

Rutherford paced up and down the room in a stress of sentiency. "No, Jess. I know just how you feel, but I'm going to give this kid his chance. We gunned Beaudry because he would n't let us alone. Either he or a lot of us had to go. But I 'll say this. I never was satisfied with the way we did it. When Jack Beaudry shot you up, he was fighting for his life. We attacked him. You got no right to hold it against his son."

"I don't ask you to come in. I 'll fix his clock all right."