True Grit: Sections 4–5

I think his first loyalty is to his country and not to “the infallible Pope of Rome.”

Bess married one of the two beaus and he turned out to be mean and thoughtless.

He was a nice-looking man around thirty years of age with a “cowlick” at the crown of his head.

His manner was stuck-up and he had a smug grin that made you nervous when he turned it on you.

He forgot to take off his spurs before sitting down at the table and Mrs. Floyd chided him, saying she did not want her chair legs scratched up any more than they were, which was considerable.

The belt was thick and wide and bedecked with cartridges and the handles on his pistols were white.

I must own too that he made me worry a little about my straggly hair and red nose.

He said, “Your mother has also identified him. Now I will give you some news. His real name is Theron Chelmsford. He shot and killed a state senator named Bibbs down in Waco, Texas, and I have been on his trail the best part of four months. He dallied in Monroe, Louisiana, and Pine Bluff, Arkansas, before turning up at your father’s place.”

“I think your mother would not approve of your getting mixed up in this kind of enterprise. She thinks you are seeing about a horse. Criminal investigation is sordid and dangerous and is best left in the hands of men who know the work.”

I am not scolding you but I am saying that your headstrong ways will lead you into a tight corner one day.

That said, I shall concede that you seem to have driven a fair bargain with the good colonel.

I know nothing of the man, of his probity or lack of same, but I should not give him this release until I had the money in hand.

I know Mr. Hardy is not much esteemed for his social qualities but he is a good man in his way and no one can say he is not a diligent student of the Scriptures.

I should like to get Frank’s estate through probate without delay and there are important matters to be discussed with you.

He wanted to write me a check and I know that it would have been all right but I did not wish to take the affair this far and risk being rooked, so I insisted on cash money.

LaBoeuf the Texan was at the table, shaved and clean. I supposed he could do nothing with the “cowlick.” It is likely that he cultivated it.

He was a vain and cocky devil.

“It would be a shame to destroy such spirited horseflesh and render it into soap.”

“It is set for January but Lawyer Goudy is going to Washington city to see if President Hayes will not commute the sentence. The boy’s mother, Minnie Wharton, has got some property and Goudy will not let up till he has got it all.”

“How do you propose to do it from that hog wallow you are sunk in? I would be ashamed of myself living in this filth. If I smelled as bad as you I would not live in a city, I would go live on top of Magazine Mountain where I would offend no one but rabbits and salamanders.”

He came up out of the bunk and spilt his coffee and sent the cat squalling. He reached for me but I moved quickly out of his grasp and got behind the stove.

What he called his “vouchers” were scribbled notes, mostly undated. They ran such as this: “Rations for Cecil $1.25,” and “Important words with Red .65 cts.”

“Cogburn?” said he. “How did you light on that greasy vagabond?”
“They say he has grit,” said I. “I wanted a man with grit.”

“Cogburn?” said he. “How did you light on that greasy vagabond?”
“They say he has grit,” said I. “I wanted a man with grit.”

“Yes, I suppose he has that. He is a notorious thumper. He is not a man I should care to share a bed with.”

“Yes, a splendid inducement. Well, perhaps it will all work out to your satisfaction. I shall pray that you return safely, your efforts crowned with success. It may prove to be a hard journey.”

“The good Christian does not flinch from difficulties.”
“Neither does he rashly court them. The good Christian is not willful or presumptuous.”

“The good Christian does not flinch from difficulties.”
“Neither does he rashly court them. The good Christian is not willful or presumptuous.”

He took hold of the reins near the pony’s mouth and coaxed him to walk.

Then he said, “Well, it sounds good but I have tried to collect bounties from states and railroads too. They will lie to you quicker than a man will. You do good to get half what they say they will pay. Sometimes you get nothing. Anyhow, it sounds queer. Five hundred dollars is mightly little for a man that killed a senator.”

I had Mrs. Floyd prepare some bacon and biscuits and make little sandwiches of them. But not so little as all that, as one of her biscuits would have made two of Mama’s. Very flat though, she skimped on baking powder.

I led Little Blackie from his stall and mounted him. He was a little nervous and jumpy but he did not pitch. Toby tightened the girth again after I was aboard.

Rooster was wearing a deerskin jacket over his black suit coat. He carried only one revolver on his belt, an ordinary-looking piece with grips of cedar or some reddish wood. On the other side, the right side, he wore a dirk knife.

His gun belt was not fancy like LaBoeuf’s but only a plain and narrow belt with no cartridge loops. He carried his cartridges in a sack in his pocket. But he also had two more revolvers in saddle scabbards at his thighs.

He and Rooster had a parley.

Little Blackie had a hard gait, a painful trot, and I made him speed up and slow down until he had achieved a pace, a kind of lope, that was not so jarring.

Little Blackie had a hard gait, a painful trot, and I made him speed up and slow down until he had achieved a pace, a kind of lope, that was not so jarring.

I will own I was somewhat afraid of them although they were not, as you may imagine, wild Comanches with painted faces and outlandish garb but rather civilized Creeks and Cherokees and Choctaws from Mississippi and Alabama who had owned slaves and fought for the Confederacy and wore store clothes. Neither were they sullen and grave.

I will own I was somewhat afraid of them although they were not, as you may imagine, wild Comanches with painted faces and outlandish garb but rather civilized Creeks and Cherokees and Choctaws from Mississippi and Alabama who had owned slaves and fought for the Confederacy and wore store clothes. Neither were they sullen and grave.

I will own I was somewhat afraid of them although they were not, as you may imagine, wild Comanches with painted faces and outlandish garb but rather civilized Creeks and Cherokees and Choctaws from Mississippi and Alabama who had owned slaves and fought for the Confederacy and wore store clothes. Neither were they sullen and grave. I thought them on the cheerful side as they nodded and spoke greetings.