THE STEADFAST HEART
“There… I wanted to get a look at that bulge of skull behind your ears. Just to kind of chirk me up. If the back of your head was flat, I calc’late I’d turn the job over to the state…. Now, about that head behind your ears—do you guess there’s brains in it?”
Angus comprehended as little of this as if it had been spoken in Scandinavian. His eyes dwelt steadily on Dave, neither staring nor scrutinizing—they simply remained there vacuously, as if one place to look was as good as another. “I dunno,” he said.
“Naturally…. Now let’s twit on facts. You’re fresh out of relatives, and plumb, jam alone in the world. And you’ve killed a sheriff. You’re an undesirable character, especially in Rainbow. If we were to auction you off this afternoon, you’d go cheap—with few bidders at the price…. Now, what’s to do?”
Angus attempted no reply.
“You're ten years old.”
“Goin’ on ’leven,” said Angus, showing his first spark of interest.
“Going on eleven,” conceded Dave. “That’s a bit early in life to go it alone. Can you read and write?”
“I kin read some, but I can’t write nor figger.”
“Better than I hoped for…. Like to learn? Like to go to school?”
57
