As soon as Wilfred had finished the letter,not without a wry smile over the query concerning himself,Bill Atkins exclaimed:
THEN!Ho!And so she's no more kin to you,Brick,than to me;and her name's no more Willock than Atkins--and being but a stepdaughter to old Sneak,neither is it Gledware.Yet you have everlastingly had your own say about Lahoma,from claiming to be a cousin!I want you to know from this on that I claim as big a share in Lahoma as anybody else on this green and living earth.
Wilfred looked up,expecting Brick to consent to this on the ground that in all likelihood Bill's claim would last but a few years,anyway.It seemed too good an opening for Brick to lose;but instead of refreshing himself with his customary gibe,the huge fellow sat dark and glowering,his eyes staring upward at the crevice in the rock roof,the lantern-light showing his forehead deeply rutted in a threatening scowl.
Another point needs clearing up,Bill said sharply.What about Red Kimball's charge?DID you belong to his gang?ARE you a highwayman?Brick waved impatiently toward the letter that still gleamed in the young man's hand.We goes on document'ry evidence,he said.I takes a bold and open stand on the general plea of 'Not guilty'to nothing.That's technical,and it's arbitrary.Should you be asked had I ever expressed an opinion as to being a highwayman,or a lowwayman,you can report me as saying 'Not guilty,'according.
Brick,interposed Wilfred,returning him the letter,you're making a mistake not to trust us with the whole truth.If you wait for Lahoma's letters and only admit what she discovers,Bill and I can't form any plan of protecting you.While her information is coming,bit by bit,the man who wants you hanged is liable to show up--
Let 'im come!growled Brick.He can't get no closer to me than I'll be to him.I'm not going to air my past history.What Lahoma finds out,I admits frank and open;otherwise I stands firm as not guilty,being on safe ground,technical and arbitrary.
But if Red Kimball brings the sheriff--it's only a matter of time--your plea of not guilty won't save you from arrest.And he'll have any number of rascals to prove what he pleases,whether it's the truth or not.If Gledware comes as a witness,his position will give him great influence against you--and the fact that he'd testify after you'd saved his life,would make a pretty hard hit with the jury.
Jury nothing!retorted Brick.This case ain't never going to a jury.Such things is settled man to man,in these parts.
But as surely as the sheriff serves his writ,you'll be landed in jail.And I happen to know the sheriff;he's a man that couldn't be turned from his duty--good friend of mine,too.
Is,eh?Then you'd better advise with him for his good.
Think of Lahoma.If you killed a man--whether the sheriff,or this Red Kimball--Lahoma could never feel toward you as she does today.
And how would she feel toward me if I was hanged,uh?I guess she'd druther I laid my man low than that I swung high.Willock started up impatiently.We're wasting words,he said,roughly.There is but the two alternatives:I'm one of 'em,and Red Kimball is the other.It's simply a question of which gets which.I tries to make it plain,for there's no going back.Now are you with me,or not?If not,I'll fight it out along as I always done in times past and gone--and bedinged to 'em!I'm sorry my young days was as they was,and for Lahoma's sake I'd cut off this right arm--he held it out,rigidly--if that'd change the past.But the past--and bedinged TO it--can't be changed.It's there,right over your shoulder,out of reach.This mountain might as well say,'I don't like being a big chunk of granite where all the rest of the country is a smooth prairie;I'm sorry I erupted;and I guess I'll go back into the heart of the earth where I come from.'A mountain that's erupted is erupted till kingdom come,and a man that's did a deed,has did it till the stars fall.But you CAN imagine this mountain saying,with some sense,too,'Now,since I HAS erupted,I'll do my best to cover my nakedness with pretty cedars for to stay green in season and out of season,and I'll embroider myself with flowers and grasses,and send little mountain-streams down to make soft water in people's wells so they won't all-time be fretting because I takes up so much of good plowing-land,'says the mountain.I may not be a mountain,but I've got a good top to me which reasons against the future and forgets the past.I know Red Kimball--and now that he's learned where I live,one of us is too many,considering the hard times.I mean to keep hiding,not to be took by surprise;but I 'lows to come forth one of these days and walk about free and disposed,all danger having been removed.
