And I did not go out to see.
"Oh, how I wish I had! But Ben didn't put the Double A cattle in the corral, for Ben was in the house all the time.

He went to bed when I did, and I saw him, sleeping in his bunk, when the noise awakened me!" The girl stepped closer to Dale, her voice vibrating with scorn and loathing.
"If you didn't put the steers in our corral, you know who did, Alva Dale," she went on.

"And you know why they were put there! You didn't do it because you wanted Ben's land--as I've heard you have said; you did it to get Ben out of the way so that you could punish me! "If I had told Ben how you have hounded me--how you have insulted me, Ben would have killed you long ago.

Oh, I ought to have told him, but I was afraid--afraid to bring more trouble to Ben!" Dale laughed sneeringly as he watched the young man writhe futilely in the hands of his captors.
"Sounds reasonable--an' dramatic," he said.

"It'd do some good, mebbe, if they was any soft-headed ninnies around that would believe it.