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Show Si "Just a few swigs from the bottle-hard to keep track that way. I coulda walked a tight-rope though." "Could you? George says here you were staggering." "No sir, I wasn't staggerin'. I mighta been a little wobbly after Verne hit me, but not before. No sir." "All right then, but if you were so wobbly from Verne hitting-" "Jesus, he c'n hit." "Yeah, how come you could knock him cold then?" Buck looked surprised. "Why, I just hit 'im back." "Umm, yes. Well now, Buck, what about this fight? Verne daims you started it." "No sir, Judge, he hit me first. Ever'body knows that; George c'n tell you that. I didn't start no fight that night." George confirmed that Veme had struck first. "When I wasn't even lookin'," said Buck in an aggrieved tone. "Yes, but Verne daims you provoked the fight. Used obscene language on him and then laughed at him." "Aw, that stupe. I wasn't talkin' 'bout him, Judge. He was so drunk he didn't know the difference. I was talkin' 'bout this other guy that wasn't even there and Verne thought I meant him and slugged me. You ask me though, I think he was just lookin'. I'd been dancin' with his sister and he'd tol' me to stop." "And you didn't." "Just because he tol' me to? By god no, Judge. I tol' 'im to go to hell. So'd his sister, but we didn't rigger he was mad; we just figgered he was drunk. And this other thing was a long time after anyhow; I'd forgot all about it." "Had you, Buck?" The J.P. looked down to find something with his finger on the paper before him. "Verne says here you'd been out riding with his sister, says you'd just got back. Is that right?" "Yeah, he's right there." "And you didn't suppose he'd object?" "Don't see why he should. If Sue wants to go ridin' with me, I reckon that's her business and nobody else's." "And you weren't expecting Verne to start anything?" "Hell no. Like I said, I just figgered he was drunk." "Well, you say you weren't talking about Verne, but he thought you were and-" "I guess he did." "So, how am I gonna know whether you were or not?" "That's easy, Judge. I'd never call a man a son of a bitch and not be ready for him. 'Specially Verne; he's too much bigger'n me." The J.P. scratched his cheek. "So you say it was Verne's fault?" "No, I can't rightly say that. He just didn't hear good, that'sall." "Well, there was a good fight, no doubt about that, and if it wasn't your fault and it wasn't Verne's, who'm I gonna find guilty?" 220 |