“Who did he tell that to?”
“Oh, the camp is backin' her. The camp has explained that to him several times, you bet! And what's more, she has got the upper hand of him herself. She has him beat.”
“How beat?”
“She has downed him with her eye. Just by endurin' him peacefully; and with her eye. I've saw it. Things changed some after yu' pulled out. We had a good crowd still, and it was pleasant, and not too lively nor yet too slow. And Willomene, she come more among us. She'd not stay shut in-doors, like she done at first. I'd have like to've showed her how to punish Hank.”
“Afteh she had downed yu' with her eye?” inquired the Virginian.
Young McLean reddened, and threw a furtive look upon me, the stranger, the outsider. “Oh, well,” he said, “I done nothing onusual. But that's all different now. All of us likes her and respects her, and makes allowances for her bein' Dutch. Yu' can't help but respect her. And she shows she knows.”
“I reckon maybe she knows how to deal with Hank,” said the Virginian.
“Shucks!” said McLean, scornfully. “And her so big and him so puny! She'd ought to lift him off the earth with one arm and lam him with a baste or two with the other, and he'd improve.”
“Maybe that's why she don't,” mused the Virginian, slowly; “because she is so big. Big in the spirit, I mean. She'd not stoop to his level. Don't yu' see she is kind o' way up above him and camp and everything—just her and her crucifix?”
“Her and her crucifix!” repeated young Lin McLean, staring at this interpretation, which was beyond his lively understanding. “Her and her crucifix. Turruble lonesome company! Well, them are things yu' don't know about. I kind o' laughed myself the first time I seen her at it. Hank, he says to me soft, 'Come here, Lin,' and I peeped in where she was a-prayin'. She seen us two, but she didn't quit. So I quit, and Hank came with me, sayin' tough words about it. Yes, them are things yu' sure don't know about. What's the matter with you camping with us boys tonight?”