"Wal, dog-gone me!" he ejaculated.

"Thet's too bad." Columbine left the cowboy and rode up the lane toward Wade's cabin.

She did not analyze her deliberate desire to tell the truth about that fight, but she would have liked to proclaim it to the whole range and to the world.

Once clear of the house she felt free, unburdened, and to talk seemed to relieve some congestion of her thoughts.
The hounds heralded Columbine's approach with a deep and booming chorus.
Sampson and Jim lay upon the porch, unleashed.

The other hounds were chained separately in the aspen grove a few rods distant.