Dawnlark Plains moments

colt's fight went out of him; he relaxed his proverbial fists.
but there was tension in all lines of him, tension as he stepped away from marston and stared at nothing in particular.
"think she's dyin'," and finally he understood why he had struck the boy. not for her, not for anything wrong, but for the sheer ugliness of not knowing how to handle the potential of sadey's death.
a sob rose in his throat, rough and manful; he tried to shove it down. "don't mind me, kid." not an apology but it was the closest thing to it that marston would get. "leader o'the gang afore reno, well, he boxed my ears good for any reason." thought he was doing well only giving the kid what-for a third so often.