After his first day courting Deborah Simmons, Emerson decides Paw treats him like a field hand, a slave, or one his draft animals. He decides he isn’t those things. He will go visit beautiful buxom Candace Barlow. She’s flirted with him. If he has to marry Deborah at least he will have one night with a woman of his own choosing.
The night with her on a blanket in the Barlow apple orchard is heaven on earth, but the next day, Candace’s brothers find out about his dalliance with their sister. They come looking for Emerson.
Emerson didn’t know the baptism names of the Barlow brothers, but everybody called them Big and Tiny. Big was six foot two and weighed two hundred pounds. Tiny was six four and weighed two fifty. Big was strong, but Tiny was stronger by a fair amount.
Folks said, “Them two Barlows got the strength of five men.” And someone else would say, “And the brain of half a man.” Which of course they never said in earshot of Big. He was the one with half a brain.
Tiny drooled. Once in a saloon in Terre Haute, a fellow laughed at Tiny. Big said, “Hit ’im.” Tiny did. Sent the man flying and crashing into a post holding up the second story of the building. Broke the man’s jaw. He wound up simple in the head and drooling more than Tiny ever had.
Big and Tiny came looking, and Emerson climbed on Horse and skedaddled heading west. Horse was mostly Maw’s buggy puller, and not much of a riding animal. But Horse was what he had.