Mudminnow River you're not better than me, damn you

"well, then i might ask if yew lookin' to run with a gang fer said job or if yer stayin' solo." colt trotted after her, keeping a distance between them and drifting to her far right. 
he doubted that she was on her own, being a woman and all. usually they needed protection. and quite often a man who offered it was repaid in a certain kinda way. a prairie marriage, he'd heard it called. 
and colt was a bigamist from here all the way back to silver valley. he ended the agreement when children came along. that wasn't part of his contract because once a woman was slow and round, her ability to pursue jobs with him also went away. and that was the foundation for these pairings: work of a dirtier kind.
suppose miz may was seeking the same sort of arrangement.