would know 'at such a bein' would be cruel an' treacherous an' thievin'
an' everything else 'at was bad--but yet the' come a good streak into
Monody some way or other. All in the world I had ever done for him was
to beat him over the head when he acted like a beast, an' then to treat
hint like a human when he acted like one. The' wasn't nothin'
especially kind nor thoughtful in it, just simple justice as you might
say, an' yet in spite of his treacherous mixture he wasn't askin' no
favors; all he wanted was a square deal, an' when he got it he was
square clear to the finish. It's a funny thing, life.

In spite of all he'd done to kill it the' was a mother streak in him
which made him fair hungry for somethin' to pet an' fondle. He was
allus good to any kind of an animal, an' though I didn't notice it at
the time, he was allus motherin' me; an' look at the way he had soothed
little Barbie with a touch that night in the cook shack! O' course I
ain't questioning the judgment o' the Almighty, but for the life o' me
the I can't see why it was necessary to make a woman as big an' as tall
as ol' Monody was, an' yet perhaps if I just knew the story from the
beginnin', I 'd see it was a mercy, after all.

Anyhow, it made it easy enough for him to work out his scheme.

The' ain't no rules for women anyhow, 'cause their hearts won't never
surrender to their heads; when they do, they ain't all woman. Well,
yes, there is one rule 'at 's safe for a man to foller In dealin with
woman, an' that is that when a woman's in love, she 's in love all
over. Sometimes a man's in love up to his pocket-book, sometimes up to
his appetite, an' sometimes up to his heart, but he's mighty seldom in
love all over. If nothin' else stays dry he's generally able to take
care of his head, but with a woman everything goes; so I'm purty
tol'able sure that away back at the beginnin' it was love 'at drove ol'
Monody out of her own sex down into ours.

When the news spread abroad 'at the man who had killed Bill Brophy
without a weapon had cashed in, the neighbors gathered from ninety
miles around, and we sure gave Monody the rip-snortin'est funeral ever
seen in those parts. We didn't say nothin' about him not really bein' a
man, an' though I reckon 'at every feller there knew of it, the' wasn't
a single one of 'em spoke of it--so we didn't have no trouble at all.

He lies on a little knoll about a mile to the north of the ranch house.
Up back of him ol' M