"Like a shot, then, Venters told Tull that the friendship between
you an' him was all over, an' he was leaving your place. He said
you'd both of you broken off in the hope of propitiatin' your
people, but you hadn't changed your mind otherwise, an' never
would.
"Next he spoke up for you. I ain't goin' to tell you what he
said. Only--no other woman who ever lived ever had such tribute!
You had a champion, Jane, an' never fear that those thick-skulled
men don't know you now. It couldn't be otherwise. He spoke the
ringin', lightnin' truth....Then he accused Tull of the
underhand, miserable robbery of a helpless woman. He told Tull
where the red herd was, of a deal made with Oldrin', that Jerry
Card had made the deal. I thought Tull was goin' to drop, an'
that little frog-legged cuss, he looked some limp an' white. But
Venters's voice would have kept anybody's legs from bucklin'. I
was stiff myself. He went on an' called Tull--called him every
bad name ever known to a rider, an' then some. He cursed Tull. I
never hear a man get such a cursin'. He laughed in scorn at the
idea of Tull bein' a minister. He said Tull an' a few more dogs
of hell builded their empire out of the hearts of such innocent
an' God-fearin' women as Jane Withersteen. He called Tull a
binder of women, a callous beast who hid behind a mock mantle of
righteousness--an' the last an' lowest coward on the face of the
earth.
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