"Reckon I'll be treated more like a man." Then the event Ellen had been expecting all morning took place.

Simm Bruce and Lorenzo rode around the slope of the Knoll and trotted toward the cabin.

Interest in Ellen was relegated to the background.
"Shore they're bustin' with news," declared Daggs.
"They been ridin' some, you bet," remarked another.
"Huh!" exclaimed Jorth.

"Bruce shore looks queer to me." "Red liquor," said Tad Jorth, sententiously.

"You-all know the brand Greaves hands out." "Naw, Simm ain't drunk," said Jackson Jorth.