Thus she caught a free instant for thought; thus also she grasped all that he had to say and to insinuate. And at the end she answered him with a baffling, feminine:
"I've got to talk fast!" growled Taggart. "He's in there, I know. Is he hurt?"
"I don't mean that shot at Gallup's ... that you gave him...."
"I did not shoot him!" she cried out hotly, sick of accusation.
Taggart sneered at her, muttering threateningly:
"You did! For I saw you! I was right there, close by...."
Within the cabin Bruce Standing, sitting very tense and straight, nearly choking his big dog into silence, grew tenser and harder. So, Taggart claimed to have seen her.... Taggart was "_right there, close by_...."
"You say you saw me!" gasped Lynette. "_You!_"
"I tell you this is no time for palaver," said Taggart impatiently. "What do you care, so long as I agree to let you go free? And to let Deveril go free along with you! I guess that means something to you, don't it? If it don't mean enough, let me show you: I can grab you right now; me, I'm not afraid of any gun any woman ever waved! And I can put you across for a good little vacation in jail. But I'm letting that go by, wanting to get my hooks in one Bruce Standing, good and deep. And I got just that! Seeing as Deveril told me what happened; how Standing swooped down on you, how he beat Deveril up, how he put a chain on you and dragged you away after him! If you'll step into court and swear to that.... Why, kid, I got him! Got him right! Any jury in this country will land on him _hard_ for doing to a woman like that. And you can tell the other things he's done to you by now, you and him all alone up here, him a brutal devil...."
Illogically enough it swept over her that it was she herself, Lynette, whom the man was insulting, and her finger trembled so upon the trigger that all unknowing Jim Taggart stood for the instant close upon the verge of the great final blackness. But, steadying herself, she managed to say:
"Babe Deveril told you that? That Bruce Standing had put a chain about me? How did he know? That was after he had gone!"
"But," muttered Taggart harshly, "he did not go so fast! He went up over a ridge and he stopped and rested, and in the dark he came back a bit and he hid and saw! Anyway, it's the truth, ain't it? And I know? So he must have come back to see!"
