In the excerpt from the novel "Shane," a young narrator observes a calm and composed stranger on horseback approaching their family ranch, who respectfully requests to use the water pump. The narrator feels an unsettling chill despite the stranger's gentle demeanor and discovers that the man is actually addressing his father, who welcomes him to use the water freely.
Write 1-2 sentences to summarize this story.
As this excerpt from the Western novel Shane begins, the narrator has been watching a stranger on horseback approaching on the road to his family's
ranch.
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4 The stranger took it all in, sitting there easily in the saddle. I saw his eyes slow on the flowers mother had planted by the porch steps, then come to rest on our shiny new pump and the trough beside it. They shifted back to me, and again, without knowing why, I felt that sudden chill. But his voice was gentle and he spoke like a
man schooled in patience.
"I'd appreciate a chance at the pump for myself and the horse." I was trying to frame a reply and choking on it, when I realized that he was not speaking to me but past me. Father had come up
behind me and was leaning against the gate to the corral.
"Use all the water you want, stranger."
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