They did not like her brother. He played a little poker and drank more than a little.
‘Talks too much for a single-handed feller,’ declared Red Eller. ‘I wouldn’t talk that much, even with all the Flyin’ M behind me. But that sister of his is a dinger. I wish t’ the Lord somebody would git a knock-down to her; so I could meet her. Some day I’m goin’ to ride right up to that nester’s shack and say howdy.’
‘Howdy, Saint Peter,’ said Ben Leach dryly.
‘Hell, they can’t shoot yuh for sayin’ howdy.’
‘You just think they can’t, Red. Wait’ll yuh lock horns with old man Lane. He done told me things about my family that I never heard before. He’s what you’d call well-read.’
‘Fortune-teller?’ asked Red.
‘Fortune, hell! Disaster, I’d call it. He told me that my grandpappy was a pole-cat. Fact.’
‘Didja ever see yore grandpappy, Ben?’
‘No-o-o, I never did.’
‘Uh-huh. Well, yuh can’t hardly dispute him, can yuh? How soon does Peter Morgan expect to make Lane move out?’