"I'd seed him afore that day a ridin' with a pretty young lady, that
most got her neck broke under a engine, but this time he was by
hisself, a settin' there on his horse, as proud as a king and stirrin'
me up about the rich folks not allowing us poor working classes to
have no streets out here. I suspicioned somethin' right then; says I
to myself, 'he's got a handsome face but his mind is a well of
corruption.' And when I heard he'd shot Sheeley ...Now what in thunder
is the matter with you, Chick?"

During this recital Chick had been sitting in the doorway, his knees
drawn up to his chin, listening intently, but at this point he cried
out in a sputter of protesting sounds.

"It's the shootin', it's done got on his mind," explained Maria,
winding her long thin hair into a yet tighter knot at the back of her
head. "He takes on like that every time he hears us talkin' 'bout it,
and nobody can't make out a word he's sayin'. Fer two or three days I
couldn't scarcely git him to eat nothin'."

"If your cooking ain't any better than it used to be I ain't
surprised," Myrtella said. "How bad was Sheeley shot, Phineas?"

"Oh, he'll be laid up fer a month yit. They say the retinue of his eye
was cracked right across the middle. But that ain't worryin' Sheeley.
He's livin' in style at the hospital, all his bills paid, and the
swells lookin' after him. I hear he ain't even goin' to prosecute.
They've fixed him all right; besides he don't want to git that fly
young gang down on his place. He's countin' on startin' up them
sparrin' matches ag'in, as soon as the police quit noticin' him. Say,