"Well, Miss Mary," he said, "how does it feel to have a brother again?"
"It's rather satisfying, Dale," smiled the girl. "Won't you get off
your horse?"
The girl's lips were stiff with dread anticipation and dislike. Dale's
manner did not mislead her; his forced geniality, his gruff heartiness,
his huge smile, were all insincere, masking evil. He seemed to her
like a big, tawny, grinning beast, and her heart thumped with
trepidation as she looked at him.
"How's Nyland?" he asked, smiling hugely. "That was a narrow
squeak--now, wasn't it? For I found that Ben Nyland didn't brand them
cattle at all--it was another man, living down the basin. That nester
near Colby's. He done it. But he sloped before we could get a rope on
him. Had a grudge against Nyland, I reckon. Sorry it happened."
Thus he attempted to smooth the matter over. But he saw that Mary did
not believe him, and his grin grew broader.
"Where's brother Will this mornin', Mary?" he said.
Sanderson appeared in the doorway behind Mary.
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