Casey was out of his blankets long before daylight the next morning and sitting behind a bush on the ridge just back of the cabin, his rifle across his knees.

He hoped that his mention of three other men would discourage those two from the attempt to revenge themselves, much as a lone woman would tempt them.

But he was not going to take any risk whatever.
At sunrise he went back to his camp--which he had moved closer to the cabin, by the way, just barely keeping it out of sight--and cooked a hasty breakfast.

When he returned the little woman was ready to show him her claims, and she seemed to have forgotten those two who had been so ignominiously hauled away and dropped like unwanted cats beside the road.
She inquired again about Casey's partners, and Casey lied once more and said that they had gone on over the range, prospecting.
I don't know why he did not tell the little woman that he had lied to Ole and Joe and let it go at that.

But he seemed to dread having her discover that he had lied at all, and so he kept on lying about those three imaginary men.