To his amazement, Luke, who had always been more sensitive than he, shook his head and turned away.
"Gosh, what do you want for ten cents?" Joel demanded, feeling called upon to defend the worthiness of the dawn.
Luke began to cry. He dropped down on his own bare legs in the weeds and twisted his face and his fists in a vain struggle to fight off unmanly grief.
Joel squatted at his side and insisted on sharing the secret; and finally Luke forgot the sense of family honor long enough to yield to the yearning for company in his misery.
"I was up here at midnight last night, and I don't like this place any more."
"You didn't come all by yourself? Gee!"
"No, Momma was here too."
"What she bring you out here at a time like that for?"
"She didn't know I was here."
"Didn't know—What she doin' out here, then?"