"I know she ain't much of a ranch now," admitted Jack Harpe. "But everything has to have a beginning. I'm figuring on a right smart growth for the Rafter H within the next year or two."
"Figuring on opposition maybe?" probed Racey Dawson.
"You never can tell."
"You can if you go to cutting any of Baldy Barbee's corners. Haley's little bunch never bothers Baldy none, but a man-size outfit so close to the south thataway would shore give him something to think about. Then there's the Anvil ranch east of the B bar B. They'll begin to scratch their heads, you bet. Hall, too, maybe, although he is a good ways to the east."
"She's all free range," said Jack Harpe. "I guess I got as good a right here as the next gent."
"Providing you can make the next gent see yore side of the case," suggested Racey.
"Most folks are willing to listen to reason," stated Jack Harpe.
"I ain't so shore," doubted Racey. "You ain't looked at the whole of the layout yet. How about the 88 ranch?"
"'The 88?'" repeated Jack Harpe in a tone of surprise. "What'll I have to do with the 88, I'd like to know?"
"I dunno," said Racey, his eyes more stupid than ever. "I was just a-wonderin'."