In "That Strange Gaucho Who Fancied Himself as a Writer," what causes China Iron to want to hit the Colonel with a stick?

As the Colonel tells the story of his theft from Martin, China Iron understands for the first time what it feels like to own something--because Martin's poetry is selling books, the profits of which should belong to her husband, her, and their children. But before she even knew about Martin's poetry, the Colonel had already stolen it, and so she find herself wanting some kind of justice.