than sense, if you ask me. Right fancy lookin’ things. Think I got ’em here somewhere.”
He continued talking as he rummaged through one of the wood cabinets behind the counter_ Scott picked the rig up and examined it, then took off his coat to try it on.
“Anyway,” Bailey continued. Still looking through the cabinet, “he puts on that there rig, sticks his fancy Colts in it, and goes straight down to the Oriental_ God only knows what the damn fool had in mind. And who does he run into but Doc Holliday. Didn’t know who Doc was, though. Like I said, a real greenhorn. Anyways, Doc sees the guns beneath his open coat and asks him if he knows that there’s an ordinance against going armed in Tombstone. And the greenhorn opens up his coat to show off those fancy gun’ of his and says to Doc, so help me. ‘Mister, I’d feel plumb naked without my shootin’ irons.’ Well, Doc just stares at him with his mouth open for a second and then commences laughin’. Pretty soon, the whole damn place is laughin’ too and everybody’s repeatin’ what the greenhorn said. ‘Mister. I’d feel plumb naked without my shootin’ irons.’ The greenhorn gets real hot under the collar and says to Doc. ‘Mister, I don’t take too kindly to been’ sported with.’ Well, this only makes Doc start laughin’ even harder. He just about split his sides. Ah, here they are..
Bailey straightened up, holding a wood gun case in his hands. He set it down on the counter.
“So the greenhorn says to Doc, real mad now, ‘Mister, you stop that laughin’ right now or I’ll drill you so full of holes you’ll look like a fountain every time you take a drink.’ Well. as you might imagine, that only made things worse. Doc was laughin’ so hard, he had tears cumin’ from his eyes. He’s leanin’ up against the bar and slappin’ it with his hand and the whole place is in an uproar. So the greenhorn, God help him, goes to jerk his pistols. Only as he tries to cock and draw them both at the same time, the butts knock into each other and the guns go off, both of ’em. One bullet goes into the floor, the other one goes right into the greenhorn’s foot. He screams and falls down, grabbin’ his foot, and Doc falls down too. ’cause he’s laughin’ so hard he starts himself to coughin’. They had to get a couple of the boys to carry the greenhorn to Doc Warren’s to get his foot fixed up and as soon as he was able to get up and about, he took the next stage out of town. Don’t think he stopped till he got clear back to New York City. Sold me back the rig and fancy guns before he left. I paid maybe one-tenth what they were worth. Don’t know what you’d think of them. They’re right fine guns, but you might find them a bit gaudy..
He opened up the case and Scott almost gasped
The silk-lined case held a matched pair of Colt Single Action Army. 45s with four-and-three-quarter-inch barrels. They were silver-plated and profusely engraved, with scrollwork even on the barrels and the hammers. The grips were finely engraved pearl. They were the most beautiful guns Scott had ever seen. Not so much weapons as works of art.
“Good Lord.” he said.
“Yeah. like I said, they’re a bit gaudy.” Bailey said, “but I could make you a good deal on ’em. Figure seventy-five dollars, for the whole kit and kaboodle. Guns and holster rig. I’ll even throw in a couple boxes of cartridges.”
Seventy-five dollars! Scott held his breath. The holster rig would have some curious collector value, but the guns would be almost priceless. He could retire from the service a rich man from what he could get from a collector for just one of them.
“Well. I don’t know.” he said, picking up one of the guns and examining it critically “They certainly are a little on the showy side, aren’t they?”
“Well, anybody else might get a little ribbing with a rig like that.” said Bailey, “but I figure a serious shootist like yourself could carry them off without much trouble. And they’d be something that could add to your reputation. you know, like Bill Hickok and his brace of Navys. Tell you what. I’ll let you have the whole thing for sixty dollars and it’s a steal at that.”
“All right.” said Scott, barely able to hide his excitement.
“Hear tell you’re a good hand with a knife, as well.” said Bailey. “Don’t know as you’d be interested, but if you’d step over to this display case over here. I’ve got a few that I made up. Be anxious to see what you might think of ’em.”
Scott walked over to the other ease and once again, he caught his breath. The case held a number of Green River-style knives, popular among Buckskinners, as well as several large Bowies with staghorn grips, all extremely well-crafted specimens, but the blade that caught his eye was one forged of Damascus steel. It was a seven-inch stiletto with a rib running down the length of the entire blade, giving it strength. It had a narrow wood handle, flaring slightly at the middle and tapering at the ends and toward the guard. It was completely useless for skinning or any other task but one. Killing. Except for being forged of Damascus rather than stainless steel, it was an exact copy of the famed Fairburn-Sykes commando knife used in World War II.
He was suddenly aware that Zeke Bailey was watching him carefully from behind his wire-rimmed spectacles.
“What do you think?” he asked.
That one in the middle.”-Scott said. “I’ve never seen a knife like that before.”
Bailey took it out of the display case and handed it over to him. “Don’t know that I have either.” he said, in a neutral tone. He shrugged. “The idea just sorta came to me one day. George, he took one look at it and said he couldn’t see what use a knife like that would be. Said it would make a lousy skinner and thought it might break likely as not, but I made it pretty strong.”
“I don’t guess you’d use a knife like this for skinning.” said Scott. feeling the perfect balance of the blade.
“Though it might make a nice boot knife for a gambler.” Bailey said,” or somebody who might want a knife like that for serious business.”
“It looks serious, all right,” said Scott.
“It’s balanced so as you can throw it.” Bailey said, he pointed to a wood target mounted on the wall across the room. “Go ahead. Give it a try.”
Scott grabbed the knife by the blade, holding it not by its point, but so that his hand was along the side of it, fingers on the central rib. He threw it in a smooth, practiced motion. The knife struck the target dead center.
“Guess you are a good hand with a knife at that.” said Bailey.
Scott went over to the target and pulled the knife out “How much do you want for this?” he asked.
“Well, it’s a one-of-a-kind,” said Bailey. “Twenty dollars.”
“That’s a lot of money for a knife.” said Scott.
“It’s a lot of knife. And I’ve got a leather sheath goes with it.”
All right.” said Scott “I’ll take it. What do you call a knife like this?”
“I figured I’d call it a Bailey fighting knife.” He shrugged. “Rezin Bowie made a knife up for his brother Jim and now everybody knows it as a Bowie knife. Maybe someday everyone will know that kind of knife as a Bailey. You never know.”
“You never know,” said Scott. “There might be a fair chance of that.”
Bailey showed no reaction to his use of the word “fair.” as in Fairburn. Scott paid for his purchases.
“Gunsmithing, knifemaking-you’re a talented man. Mr. Bailey.”
“Just tryin’ to make a livin’.” Bailey said. “And call me Zeke.”
“Where you from, Zeke?”
“Oh. here and there, I’ve traveled some. Grew up back East, on a horse farm in Pennsylvania. Ever been there?”
“Can’t say as I have,” Scott replied. “Never been back East. You been in Tombstone long?”
“Not too long.” Bailey replied. “But I kind of like it here. Lots of opportunities for a man in a boomtown like this. What brings you to Tombstone?”
“I came to look up some friends of mine,” said Scott, “but all three of them were killed out at their claim.”
“Heard about it.” Bailey said, nodding. “Damn shame.”
“Yeah.”
“You lookin’ to find who did it?”
“You have any ideas’?”
“Could’ve been anyone. I guess. Maybe somebody only passin’ through.”
“Maybe,” Scott said, “but somehow. I don’t think so. I have a feeling that whoever killed them is still around.” He casually inspected some of the guns in the display cases. “I figured I’d stick around a bit and see what I can turn
