Beyond a faint curiosity, the girl exhibited no interest in his arrival, but her companion planted himself in front of Johnson, with his feet wide apart, and made a strong effort to look threatening.
"Well, I'll be doggoned," he said. "Who're you, anyway? What do you think you're doing, butting into my private affairs this way? Ain't a man boss of his own wife? Ain't I got any rights? You get out now, before I throw you out."
"This here party," Lafe said to her in a confidential aside, "is fixing to throw me into the road. He sure will, too. You can see that sticking out all over him. What do you want that I should do?"
"You don't look very scared."
"No, ma'am. I always try to hide my feelings. Do you reckon you can handle him yourself, or will I take him along?"
"Say, you! You pay attention to—"
"Where'll you take him?" she asked.
"Look a-here, you two—"
"We've got a nice, peaceful lockup, where the rats is friendly," answered the sheriff. "He won't be lonely. There's a Mexican there right now, drunker'n he is."
She shrugged her shoulders and looked out of the window. "Suit yourself," she said.