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 and Joyce before he pulled out for the Rock. So it ain't my fault, thar!"

"I don' care the snap of my finger for your Paw and his gun," said Billy. "If you says you love me I'll merry you right off, and he cayn't shoot his son-in-law 'thout bein' reckoned a mean man. An' he won't neither; for I kin take care o' myself, and he knows it."

Amandy fired up.

"I suppose you reckons if he came arter you, then, you'd shoot him?" she asked.

"I'd hev to, maybe," declared Billy.

"What, shoot my ole Paw?"

"Not 'less he pulled on me, Amandy."

"The idee o' my merryin' a man that allows he'd shoot my Paw," said Amandy. "The idee's rediklus, Billy Prentiss, and you knows it. I ain't a-goin' to expose my Paw to danger. Not but that the danger 'ud be of bein' tried for killin' you, for he's deadly with weepons."

"Deadly be—consarned," said Prentiss. "The ole galoot cayn't shoot for sour apples. The only gun he's any good with is his mouth."

"That lets me out," said Amandy furi-