She ain't as big a fool--" He did not want to fight, although he was aching to lick every man of them.

But for one thing, he was too sore and lame, and then, the widow would not like it.
With his neck very stiff, Casey limped down to the house and tried to tell the widow.

But the widow was a woman, and she was hurt because Casey, since he was alive and not in the crevice, had not come straight to comfort her, but had lingered up there talking and laughing with the men.
The widow had taken Casey's part when the others said he must have been drunk.

She had maintained, red-lidded and trembly of voice, that something had gone wrong with Casey's car so that he couldn't steer it.

Such things happened, she knew.
Well, Casey told the widow the truth, and the widow's face hardened while she listened.