"How long are you going to keep it up?"
"Which up, Duke?"
"Courtin' Alta. You'll have to show off your tricks pretty regular, I think, if you want to hold your own in that ranch."
Taterleg rode along considering it.
"Ye-es, I guess a feller'll have to act if he wants to hold Alta. She's young, and the young like change. 'Specially the girls. A man to keep Alta on the line'll have to marry her and set her to raisin' children. You know, Duke, there's something new to a girl in every man she sees. She likes to have him around till she leans ag'in' him and rubs the paint off, then she's out shootin' eyes at another one."
"Are there others besides Jedlick?"
"That bartender boards there at the ho-tel. He's got four gold teeth, and he picks 'em with a quill. Sounds like somebody slappin' the crick with a fishin'-pole. But them teeth give him a standin' in society; they look like money in the bank. Nothing to his business, though, Duke; no sentiment or romance or anything."
"Not much. Who else is there sitting in this Alta game?"
"Young feller with a neck like a bottle, off of a ranch somewhere back in the hills."
Taterleg mentioned him as with consideration. Lambert concluded that he was a rival to be reckoned with, but gave Taterleg his own way of coming to that.