"I killed Chavis, Randerson," she said, looking up at him with a pitiful smile. "I have learned what it means to--to take--human life. I killed him, Rex! I shot him down just as he was about to spring upon me! But I had to do it--didn't I?" she pleaded. "I--I couldn't help it. I kept him off as long as I could--and nobody came--and he looked so terrible--" "I reckon you've got things mixed, ma'am." Randerson met her puzzled look at him with a grave smile. "It was me, ma'am, killed him." She drew a sharp breath, her cheeks suddenly flooded with color; she shook Hagar's arm from around her waist, seized Randerson's shoulders, gripping the sleeves of his shirt hard and staring at him, searching his eyes with eager, anxious intensity. "Don't lie to me, Randerson," she pleaded. "Oh," she went on, reddening as she thought of another occasion when she had accused him, "I know you wouldn't--I know you _never_ did! But I killed him; I know I did! For I shot him, Randerson, just as he started to leap at me. And I shall never forget the look of awful surprise and horror in his eyes! I shall never get over it--I will never forgive myself!" "Shucks, ma'am, you're plumb excited. An' I reckon you was more excited then, or you'd know better than to say you did it. Me an' Hagar was just gettin' off our horses here at the door--after comin' from the Flyin' W. An' I saw Tom Chavis in the cabin. He was facin' the door, ma'am," he said at a venture, and his eyes gleamed when he saw her start, "an' I saw what he was up to. An' I perforated him, ma'am. From outside, here. Your gun went off at the same time. But you ain't learned to shoot extra good yet, an' your bullet didn't hit him. I'll show you where it's stuck, in the wall." He led her inside and showed her the bullet. And for a short space she leaned her head against the wall and cried softly. And then, her eyes filled with dread and doubt, she looked up at him. "Are you sure that is my bullet?" she asked, slowly. She held her breath while awaiting his answer. It was accompanied by a short laugh, rich in grave humor: "I reckon you wouldn't compare your shootin' with _mine_, ma'am. Me havin' so much experience, an' you not bein' able to hit a soap-box proper?" She bowed her head and murmured a fervent: "Thank God!" Randerson caught Hagar's gaze and looked significantly from Ruth to the door. The girl accepted the hint, and coaxed Ruth to accompany her to the door and thence across the porch to the clearing. Randerson watched them until, still walking, they vanished among the trees. Then he took Chavis' body out. Later, when Ruth and Hagar returned, he was sitting on the edge of the porch, smoking a cigarette. To Ruth's insistence that Hagar come with her to the house, the girl shook her head firmly. "Dad will be back, most any time. He'll feel a heap bad, I reckon. An' I've got to be here."