Cinnabar stared at her: "Tex huntin' Purdy!" he cried, "well, if he is, it's good-night Purdy! An' I'm right now on my way to help him. It means I'll do time, but I'll back up Tex's play, an' between the two of us we'll git him." Jennie shook her head: "No, Joe--not that way." "What do you mean 'not that way'?" "It's like--murder----" "Murder!" exclaimed Cinnabar, "it ain't no murder to kill a skunk like him! He's got us right where he wants us. This is only the beginnin' of what he'll do to us. If I don't come acrost with whatever he says--up I go. An' if I do come acrost, up I go anyhow--he'll double-cross me jest to git me out of the way--an' where'll you be?" "Listen, Joe," the woman had risen and stood facing him, "it ain't right to go huntin' him that way. I don't know if I c'n make you see it--like I do. You ain't a coward, Joe--you've always come through like a man. Everyone knows that. But if you go huntin' Purdy it would be because you was afraid of him----" "Afraid of him! I'll show you how much I'm----" "I don't mean that way, Joe! I know you ain't afraid to shoot it out with him. What I mean is, you're afraid to have him runnin' around loose--afraid that if he squeals, you'll do time. Now, it would be pretty clost to murder if you killed a man, no matter how ornery he is, jest to save your own hide----" "But it ain't my own hide--it's you!" "Now you're gittin' down to it. An' it ain't so much me right now, as it is that poor girl in there. There's two of us here that it's up to you to protect, an' the way to do it is to stay right here on the ranch till he comes for her----" "But that'll be a week! In the meantime Purdy might tip me off." "No chanct fer that. With Tex on his trail he ain't goin' to have no time for no tippin' off, an' he wouldn't anyway--not till he'd squeezed you dry. It's like you said, this is only the beginin'! When he's got everything he thinks he can git out of you, then he'll tip you off--an' not before. An' he's liable to show up here any minute--after her. When Tex begins to crowd him, he's goin' to try to make a git-away, with her. An' when he comes you make him wade through lead to git to the house! There's two guns in there, an' we'll keep one loaded while you're keepin' the other one hot!" "What if he gits away? If Tex don't git him--an' he don't come back here?"