"Don't try nothing till you see me put my hand into my beard, boys. He don't mean much so long as he's come alone."
Marvin drew back the door. Terry saw a man with shoulders of martial squareness enter. And there was a touch of the military in his brisk step and the curt nod he sent at Marvin as he passed the latter. He had not taken off his sombrero. It cast a heavy shadow across the upper part of his worn, sad face.
"Evening, sheriff," came from Pollard, and a muttered chorus from the others repeated the greeting. The sheriff cast his glance over them like a schoolteacher about to deliver a lecture.
"Evening, boys."
"Sit down, McGuire."
"I'm only staying a minute. I'll talk standing." It was a declaration of war.
"I guess this is the first time I been up here, Pollard?"
"The very first, sheriff."
"Well, if I been kind of neglectful, it ain't that I'm not interested in you-all a heap!"
He brought it out with a faint smile; there was no response to that mirth.