Obed Pence snorted softly, but did not add more fuel to an argument along this line.
"Me an' the kid was packin' a sack o' salt on a burro down toward the river," Adam observed, approaching the cave, "an' thought we'd belly up an' have a little smile. Cows need salt. Hello there, Chuck!"—as the round, boyish face of Allegan shone like a small moon from the dark interior.
"Hello, Old Man!" replied the youth. He was apprehensive over Pence's glowering silence, and, to hide his feelings, quickly opened the spigot over a glass and passed the water-white drink to his chief.
Adam Selden sat down with it, and Bolar came into the cave and was also given a drink by Chuck.
"How early you gonta start the drive for the mountains this year, Old Man?" asked the self-appointed host, nervously filling glasses for himself and the glowering Pence, who stood with arms folded Napoleonlike across his breast, scowlingly regarding the newcomers.
"Well, grass's holdin' out muy bueno," said Selden thoughtfully. "Late rains done it. I don't think we'll have cause to move 'em any earlier than common. The filaree down in the river bottom is—"
But here Napoleon broke his moody silence. "I got somethin' to talk about outside o' grass," snapped Obed Pence.
A tense stillness ensued, during which Old
Man Selden deliberately drained his glass and passed it back to Chuck to be refilled.
"Well, Obed," he drawled lazily, "got anything important to say, just say her."