"Nope. He left tuh tomcat around some more an' maybe find a woman tuh raise Becky's kids. He ain't come back yet." "Where have the other men gone?" "They moseyed out soon after the buryin'. I dunno where they went. Vince an' some o' them are in the front room o' the house." "Who is with Vince?" "Sawtell an' Lombard an' the man that talked with Bryant t'other night--Lonergan. They been chewin' the rag in there ever since Bryant took Mort away." Gimlet turned to the huge stove and shoved a pan back from the heat. "Yuh sure yuh won't eat?" he asked. Penny felt that food would choke her. She wondered if there were anyone in the world to whom she might turn in confidence and trust. The door swung open suddenly, and Yuma stood in the opening. The big blond cowboy's face was grim. He glanced at Gimlet, then the girl. "Saw yer hoss in the corral," he explained. "I got tuh ask yuh jest one thing, Miss Penny." Penny nodded without speaking. She noticed that Yuma wore two guns, both tied low. His hat was well down on his forehead and he had a leather jacket over his shirt. He seemed to be dressed for a considerable ride. "Jest one thing," he repeated ponderously. "Well, what is it?" "I'm fixin' tuh pull stakes," the cowboy said. "Yuh don't know me very well, an' yuh got no reason tuh trust me exceptin' that I tell yuh I'm on the level. I know what I'm sayin' will sound crazy loco an' yuh won't pay no attention tuh it, but I'm wantin' tuh take you intuh Red Oak an' see yuh outen this Hell Basin. They's folks there that'd make yuh right tuh home. You c'd teach school if yuh wanted tuh. Will you leave right now?" "Of course not!" retorted Penny. Yuma nodded slowly. "That's what I figgered. I'll be there, though, if ever yuh need me." Penny could never know how Yuma had steeled himself to make the extravagant suggestion. The cowboy knew there wasn't a one-in-a-thousand chance that Penny would agree, and when he saw the scornful look, he had no more to say, no argument to put forth. He had made his request and it had been turned down. His simple and straightforward way of thinking hadn't grasped the thing in the same way that Penny did. He knew the girl was in a dangerous place and wanted to take her from it, make her safe. She refused to go. That was all there was to it. The door closed, and Penny was about to voice her indignation, but Gimlet spoke first. The old man said, more soberly than he'd spoken before, "Miss Penny, yuh should o' gone." "Why, the nerve of that crazy cowboy! I don't even know his name. He's been here only a short time; he's fought twice with Uncle Bryant, and told me what he thought of the only man in the world I ever cared for, my uncle. And now he expects me to leave home and go off to Red Oak teaching school! Leave here tonight! With him! It's the most ridiculous outlandish nonsense I--" Penny stopped for breath. Gimlet said again, "Yuh should o' gone."