"Yes," was Huntingdon's answer, still putting everything up to his enemy.
"Well then, Huntington, since you'll deal with Thursby now, I thought we might as well ask each other a few questions, and give straight answers."
"Thank you. First, did you drive that bunch of cattle off the cliff?"
"No. But did you scatter those twenty head of mine?"
"No. Both mere accidents undoubtedly. Second, did you advise setting an ambush for me?"
"No. That was--no matter who. I talked them out of it, and was sorry for it afterwards."
"But you did say you'd drive me out of the Park."
"Yes, and I'd have done it any way short of--"
"Sending me out in a coffin! But we all lost our tempers, of course."
"And with good reason on our side," retorted Huntington stoutly.
"Perhaps. But I'll ask you to remember that everything I did was open and aboveboard. If any of your cattle strayed, if any of _your_ fences were cut, I had nothing to do with it."
"I believe you--now, after what Thursby's told me."
"Thank you. We make progress. But there are two things more. Who cut the fence of my winter pasture?"
For a moment Huntington was silent, his face reddening.
"I did that," he replied at length, half defiantly, but in great confusion.
"But why? There was nothing to be gained by that. There were no cattle in the pasture or near it."
Huntington hesitated, shifting his weight uneasily from his left foot to his right, and back again to the left. Then he looked at Marion, saw the appeal in her eyes, and plunged.
Haig studied him, and saw that he was dealing with a man who was in some respects, and for all his physical strength, a boy--a child. He felt his anger rising, but put it down resolutely.
"That was very foolish, Huntington!" he said, with some sharpness. "It certainly made me furious, as you saw later at the post-office."
"But you were wrong to call me a liar and a thief. And that's something you've got to--"
Huntington did not answer at once. Claire's face, already as pale as it could well be, became drawn and ashen, while Marion, seeing the danger, unconsciously took a step forward, as if to throw herself between the two men. For some tense seconds Huntington and Haig faced each other belligerently.
"Got to what, Huntington?" repeated Haig. "There's nothing I've _got_ to do."