This was not what Cairness wanted either. He persisted in the silence. A prolonged silence will sometimes have much the same effect as solitary confinement. It will force speech against the speaker's own will. Mrs. Lawton gritted her teeth at him as though she would have rejoiced greatly to have had his neck between them. By and by she started once more. "Bill jest told him about it--like a goldarned fool." "That," said Cairness, cheerfully, "is more like it. Go on." "That's all." "Begging your pardon, it's not all." "What the devil do you want to know, then?" He considered. "Let me see. For instance, when did Lawton tell him, and why, and exactly what?" "You don't say!" she mocked. "You want the earth and some sun and moon and stars, don't you, though? Well, then, Bill told him about a week afterward. And he told him because Stone had another hold on him (it ain't any of your business what that was, I reckon), and bullied it out of him (Bill ain't got any more backbone than a rattler), and promised to lend him money to set up for hisself on the Circle K Ranch. Want to know anything else?" she sneered. "Several things, thanks. You haven't told me yet what version of it your husband gave to Stone." Cairness was a little anxious. It was succeed or fail right here. "Told him the truth, more idjit he." "I didn't ask you that," he reminded her calmly. "I asked what he told." "Say!" she apostrophized. "Yes?" "You're English, I reckon, ain't you?" "Yes, and you don't like the English, I know that perfectly." "You're right, I don't. You're as thick-headed as all the rest of them." "Thanks. But you started out to tell me what Lawton told Stone." "He told him the truth, I tell you: that when we heard the Apaches were coming, we lit out and drove out the stock from the corrals. I don't recollect his words." So that was it! It took all the self-command that thirty-five varied years had taught him not to rise up and knock her head against the sharp rocks. But he lay quite still, and presently he said: "That is near enough for my purposes, thank you. But I would be interested to know, if you don't mind, what you had against a helpless woman and those two poor little babies. I wouldn't have supposed that a woman lived who could have been such a fiend as all that." The woman launched off into a torrent of vituperation and vile language that surprised even Cairness, whose ears were well seasoned. "Shut up!" he commanded, jumping to his feet. "You killed her and you ought to be burned at the stake for it, but you shall not talk about her like that, you devilish old crone." She glared at him, but she stopped short nevertheless, and, flinging down the stone she had been holding, stood up also. "All right, then. You've done with me, I reckon. Now suppose you let me go back to the camp."