What was he going to do? Oh, if he could take this wretch by the throat and say: "She's mine—my wife, my wife!"
Ladd waited, then added: "Why, if you try to keep her, we'll wipe you out of existence—you and your ranch."
"That sounds like a threat."
"We'll make it good. Now you and McShay and your crowd have been getting busy at Washington! You have been trying to get me removed, haven't you?"
"We have."
"And you haven't done it, have you?"
"Not yet, but we have hopes; we have hopes, Brother Ladd."
"It didn't take you long to discover that I had a few friends in Washington myself, did it?"
"No, we found that you were a patriot who had all his life sacrificed his own interests to the good of his country. We found it was first Washington, then Lincoln, and now Ladd."
"Your only excuse is that you're a kid. You make it hard for me to keep my temper. You make it hard for me to let you out of the hole you've put yourself in."