Too utterly amazed either for speech or action, I stood stock-still and watched the pistol smoke curl slowly up above the tree; while Tubal Ammon, shooting forth his ugly head until it hung out like a green-framed gargoyle, surveyed me with a hideous leer. Thus for a moment there was a tense silence as we stared at one another. "Well met!" said I at last. "And badly aimed," quoth he, grinning as though the thing were but a jest. "Quite well enough for me," I answered, folding my arms and frowning on him. "Another inch or so and----" "Aye, that is true," he broke in quickly. "Yet doth an inch make all the difference betwixt a good shot and a bad one. But, verily, the leaves were in my way, nor, to tell the truth, was I very steady on this branch." "Make no excuses," I replied: "you did your best to kill me; that is quite sufficient." "Nay, ’twas a chancy accident," said he, bringing his monkey head a little farther out. "Look you, when you walked away just now I took a thoughtless aim--’twas habit--nothing more. Then when you swung round suddenly I started on this perch of mine and fired by accident." "That is a lie!" I thundered. "Nay, friend, ’tis gospel truth. If I had wished to kill you should I not have done it while you lurked beneath this tree?" "No; for you could not see me then, by reason of the leaves." "Ah, there you err most grievously. I saw you well. You made a lovely mark. I could have shot you easily." "Enough!" I answered sharply. "We shall gain naught by arguing the matter. Listen, friend Tubal Ammon, this is our second meeting. Three nights ago you would have killed me on the road----" "Nay, wrong again," he put in eagerly. "’Twas but an empty threat; and greatly did I suffer for it. Yea, verily, I still can feel the kick you gave me. Yet do I not complain," he added with a snivel. "’Twas well deserved." "It was, indeed," said I; "and a pistol bullet had been more so. But let that pass. Say, what brought you lurking round our house just now?" "My conscience!" "Ho! ho!" I mocked. "The conscience of one Tubal Ammon, eh? A groat for it!" "Nay, ’tis above all price," he whined, shutting his eyes and drawing down the corners of his ugly mouth. "A fortune would not buy it." "Quite so," said I. "You cannot buy a shadow. Again, what brought you spying on us from the tree?"