The Attempted Murder of Kate Muldoon at the Roily Inn is the turning point that brings Del Delaney into Kate’s fight for survival. Del is already travelling with men whose criminal records leave little room for an easy return to ordinary life, but when he hears a scream across the hotel hall, he chooses to intervene. He stops the immediate attack, and Kate’s appeal for protection makes the rescue the beginning of a lasting bond rather than a single act of help.

Causes and Background

Before the hotel incident, Del had crossed from Montana into Wyoming while fleeing the threat of imprisonment. He avoided large towns and county seats, living at times on game and otherwise buying supplies at country stores. The freedom of the road did not resolve his uncertainty about the future, but it placed him beyond the immediate reach of the lawmen he feared.

By the time he reaches Roily, Del is travelling with the Kid and John Smith. Their different circumstances sharpen the danger surrounding the group. The Kid admits to having killed three men and participated in six bank holdups; he argues that there is no practical way back and urges Del to accept the outlaw course. John says he has helped rob a bank and faces a first-degree murder charge at home, though Del believes the killing could be regarded as justifiable homicide. The hotel attack interrupts this conversation about criminal histories and possible futures with a threat that demands immediate action.

The assailant’s identity is not established in the encounter. Kate says she has never seen him before, but connects the attack to Max Landon: in her view, Max can hire more men like this one and will continue trying to kill her. Her explanation gives Del a reason to understand the attempted murder as part of a continuing danger, while leaving the attacker’s identity and the full grounds for Max’s hostility unresolved in this scene.

The Attack and Rescue

After spending the evening around town, Del returns to the hotel in the dark. He is opening the door to his room, which faces Main Street, when he hears a woman scream from across the hall. The abrupt cut-off troubles him. He pauses, then crosses to the other room and finds its door locked. Rather than retreat to his own room, he backs up and forces the door open.

Inside, an unfamiliar man is standing over the bed and pressing a pillow against the face of a struggling woman. Del realizes that the woman is being smothered and acts before the attacker can respond. He reaches the bed in a few strides, pulls the man away by the shoulders, and hits him, knocking him down and dislodging the pillow. When the attacker tries to draw a gun, Del kicks it away from the immediate danger and takes control of the weapon, throwing it under the bed. Only then does he turn to the woman.

At first Del thinks she may be dead, but sees that she is breathing. He pulls the covers over her and waits until she stirs and opens her eyes. She is frightened and shaken, and asks who he is. Del identifies himself as the man staying across the hall, explains that he heard her scream, and tells her that the stranger had been trying to kill her. The rescue changes the room’s immediate balance: the attacker is unconscious, his weapon is out of reach, and Kate is alive, though still in danger.

Kate’s Warning and Del’s Commitment

Kate identifies the rescued woman as someone who expects further attempts on her life. She says Max can employ many men like the one Del stopped and insists that she has to get out of the hotel. Del initially proposes getting the sheriff, while also recognizing that Kate is in no condition to leave. Her fear is so great that she cannot speak for a moment; she is only beginning to recall what led to the attack.

Del’s first inclination is to remove the unconscious attacker from her room and leave Kate to manage her own problems. He has already saved her, he reasons, and does not know who Max is or what local conflict lies behind the assault. But as he starts to close the door, Kate tells him that because he saved her life, she belongs to him and he must protect what belongs to him. Del finds the claim preposterous, yet understands that she may be helpless if another assailant comes. He does not accept ownership of her, but decides he cannot simply walk away. Before he can ask what he would be taking on, Kate asks him to shut the door so she can dress and explain.

Consequences and Significance

The incident turns a chance intervention into a relationship of mutual obligation. Kate’s language frames the rescue as a binding debt; Del’s decision to stay involved does not rest on accepting her claim as literal ownership. Instead, he acts on the immediate fact that she has been targeted and may face another attack. The distinction matters: her insistence gives their alliance its charged beginning, while Del’s choice supplies the protection she needs.

The bond is recalled later in the same terms, but no longer as Kate’s claim alone. When she presses Reverend Nathrop to act without delay, she again says that she belongs to Del. This time Del answers that the belonging runs both ways and agrees that they should not wait. In the same exchange, John Smith says he intends to return home and face the consequences rather than keep running. The hotel rescue thus stands at the start of two different responses to outlaw life: Del accepts a new responsibility formed in the face of danger, while John considers confronting the charge that has followed him. The attack does not settle the conflict with Max, but it establishes why Del becomes involved in it.