"We'll change seats every few miles," Bob had promised him when he had insisted that he had just as soon ride there as on the seat.
For the first few miles hardly a word was spoken. Slim had made up his mind that he was not going to take a fancy to "the Eastern dudes," and he hated, above all things, to have to change his opinion. So he had answered "yes" and "no" to their questions and tried his best to be disagreeable. But it was contrary to his nature and little by little he forgot his predetermined role and, as Jack told Bob a little later, began to thaw out. So by the time they were half-way home they were talking freely and Slim had been obliged to acknowledge to himself that they didn't seem so bad after all. Not that he had given over his determination to have nothing more to do with them than he could help, unless it was to make their existence at the ranch so uncomfortable that they would cut short their visit as soon as it could be brought about.
"Are there many rattlesnakes out here?" Bob asked after they had been a little over two hours on the road.
"Some."
"Big ones?"
"Some."
It had just occurred to Slim that he was not living up to his resolve seeing that he had been taking the lead in the conversation for the past few minutes and so he again began to answer in single words.
"How about Indians?" Jack asked.
"Some."
"Are they civilized?"