Aikennoddedcoolly。Duane，whohadseenmanymeninperfectcontrolofthemselvesundercircumstanceslikethese，recognizedthespiritthatdominatedAiken。Hewaswhite，cold，passionless。Therewerelinesofbittergriefdeeproundhislips。IfDuaneeverfeltthemeaningofdeathhefeltitthen。
\"Surethis’syourgame，Aiken，\"saidSibert。\"Buthearmeaminute。Reckonthere’snodoubtaboutthismanbein’BuckDuane。Heseentheplacardoutatthecross—roads。HeridesintoShirley。Hesayshe’sBuckDuanean’he’slookin’forJeffAiken。That’sallclearenough。Youknowhowthesegunfightersgolookin’fortrouble。Buthere’swhatstumpsme。DuanesitsdownthereonthebenchandletsoldAbeStricklandgrabhisgunantgetthedroponhim。More’nthat，hegivesmesomestrangetalkabouthow，ifhecouldn’tmakeyoubelievehe’sinnocent，he’dbetterbedead。YouseeforyourselfDuaneain’tdrunkorcrazyorlocoed。Hedoesn’tstrikemeasamanwhorodeinherehuntin’blood。SoIreckonyou’dbetterholdontillyouhearwhathehastosay。\"
Thenforthefirsttimethedrawn—faced，hungry—eyedgiantturnedhisgazeuponDuane。Hehadintelligencewhichwasnotyetsubservienttopassion。Moreover，heseemedthekindofmanDuanewouldcaretohavejudgehiminacriticalmomentlikethis。
\"Listen，\"saidDuane，gravely，withhiseyessteadyonAiken’s，\"I’mBuckDuane。Ineverliedtoanymaninmylife。Iwasforcedintooutlawry。I’veneverhadachancetoleavethecountry。I’vekilledmentosavemyownlife。Ineverintentionallyharmedanywoman。Irodethirtymilesto—day——deliberatelytoseewhatthisrewardwas，whomadeit，whatfor。WhenIreadtheplacardIwentsicktothebottomofmysoul。SoIrodeinheretofindyou——totellyouthis:I
neversawShirleybeforeto—day。Itwasimpossibleformetohave——killedyourwife。LastSeptemberIwastwohundredmilesnorthofhereontheupperNueces。Icanprovethat。MenwhoknowmewilltellyouIcouldn’tmurderawoman。Ihaven’tanyideawhysuchadeedshouldbelaidatmyhands。It’sjustthatwildbordergossip。Ihavenoideawhatreasonsyouhaveforholdingmeresponsible。Ionlyknow——you’rewrong。You’vebeendeceived。Andseehere，Aiken。YouunderstandI’mamiserableman。I’maboutbroken，Iguess。Idon’tcareanymoreforlife，foranything。Ifyoucan’tlookmeintheeyes，mantoman，andbelievewhatIsay——why，byGod！youcankillme！\"