Page:Morley roberts--Painted Rock.djvu/178

 and like a derned silly galoot I let on I'd seen Remington. And under pressure I revealed all I'd said; and she was tearin' mad with me, and she revealed the fact that Pillsbury told her Dad that now Ben Williams is deceased Remington is the quickest on the trigger of any man to Painted Rock."

"Pillsbury allowed that?" asked Jerome in obvious alarm.

"Pillsbury took his oath to it," said Jack; "and, moreover, it seems that Remington is from Alabammer, not from the East. It 'pears to me I've bin wildly foolish this day, and I regret it on your account; all the more because Mary wrote a letter to Mamie, and I've got it burnin' like mustard in my left-side pocket. And she swore me to give it her. And I feel meaner than a trapped coyoot, and I a'most wish I'd died in my youth."

And Jerome swore viciously.

"So do I," he yelled. "Jack, you are the biggest interferin' fool in Scurry County."

"Speak up," said Jack; "say it again, rub it in, I allow you're right, I'm the biggest