On the mountain desert one does not draw out a narrator with questions.
"There was a feller come along early this mornin' on a lame hoss," the story began.

"He was a sure enough tenderfoot--leastways he looked it an' he talked it, but he wasn't." The familiarity of this description made Steve sit up a trifle straighter.
"Was he a ringer ?" "Maybe.

I dunno.

Pa meets him at the door and asks him in.

What d'you think this feller comes back with ?" The boy paused to remember and then with twinkling eyes he mimicked: "'That's very good of you, sir, but I'll only stop to make a trade with you--this horse and some cash to boot for a durable mount out of your corral.