human
It won't be snow. Look like a blizzard to you, Hillas?
gpt
Blizzard?
human
Yes, Dan drawled in willing contribution to his uneasiness,
gpt
No man in his senses would ever have deliberately come here to live.
human
Wouldn't, eh?
gpt
No.
human
You're American?
gpt
Yes.
human
Why?
gpt
I was born here. It's my country.
human
Ever read about your Pilgrim Fathers?
gpt
Why, of course.
human
Frontiersmen, same as us. You're living on what they did. We're getting this frontier ready for those who come after. Want our children to have a better chance than we had. Our reason's same as theirs. Hillas told you the truth. Country's all right if we had a railroad.
gpt
Humph! With a contemptuous look across the desert.
human
Where's your freight, your grain, cattle----
gpt
One-sided bargain. Road that hauls empties one way doesn't pay. No Company would risk a line through here.
human
Maybe. Ever get a chance to pay your debt to those Pilgrim pioneers? Ever take it? Think the stock was worth saving?
gpt
Donovan lives over there and Mis' Donovan. We call them 'old folks' now; their hair has turned white as these drifts in two years. All they've got is here. He's a real farmer and a lot of help to the country, but they won't last long like this.
human
Mis' Clark lives there, a mile back from the stage road. Clark's down in Yankton earning money to keep them going. She's alone with her baby holding down the claim. Dan's arm sagged.
gpt
We've had women go crazy out here.
human
Mis' Carson died in the Spring. Carson stayed until he was too poor to get away. There's three children--oldest's Katy, just eleven. Dan's words failed, but his eyes told.
gpt
Somebody will brag of them as ancestors some day. They'll deserve it if they live through this.
human
I've answered your questions, now you answer mine! We know your opinion of the country--you're not traveling for pleasure or your health. What are you here for?
gpt
Business. My own!
human
There's two kinds of business out here this time of year. 'Tain't healthy for either of them. Dan's words were measured and clipped.
gpt
You've damned the West and all that's in it good and plenty. Now I say, damn the people anywhere in the whole country that won't pay their debts from pioneer to pioneer; that lets us fight the wilderness barehanded and die fighting; that won't risk----