Page:Morley roberts--Painted Rock.djvu/133

 White, "it's as black as the inside of blackness."

"By God, it's black for me," said Bailey's mind. "I wonder whether White has a gun to lend?" He heard himself say there would be a thunderstorm. He heard White deny it. He heard Crowle's teeth grinding like a madman's, and underneath, and yet above all things, he heard the rolling of the cars and the click of the wheels as they passed the joints of the rails. He said to himself that the road-beds of the railroads of the United States were very bad. "Especially in the West."

Then they heard the locomotive go "hoot, hoot," and White went out.

"We're coming to Jatan, you dog," said Crowle, "and I'll get out there, and you'll follow me or I'll come back and drag you out."

"What for?" said Bailey.

"Because I say it. I'll have you on your knees, swearin' you'll not go to the court agin', and not come back to Painted Rock."