Smoke chuckled. “Your hair is beautiful,” he said.
When Smoke and Sally went back out into the street, they saw Cal running toward them.
“Where’s Pearlie?” Smoke asked.
“He and Lenny are down there at the freight warehouse. They have Wilson and a couple of cowboys from the Tumbling Q holed up inside with Mary Lou.”
“Is Mary Lou all right?” Sally asked anxiously.
“Yes, ma’am, I think she is. It’s just that they say that if we try and come in after ’em, they’ll kill her.”
“Let’s go get her out,” Smoke said.
By now, nearly the entire town was out in the street, many of them gathered around Snake Cates’s body, others beginning to come into the livery to see the bodies there.
When Smoke, Sally, and Cal walked down to the other end of town to the warehouse, most of the town followed, until there was a crowd gathered just outside the warehouse.
“Wilson,” Smoke called into the warehouse.
“What do you want?” Wilson called back, his voice muffled.
“Do you have Mary Lou in there?”
“Yeah, we’ve got her.”
“Why?” Smoke asked.
“What? What do you mean, why?”
“I mean, what good is it going to do you?” Smoke asked. “Quentin is dead. Dawson is dead. Cates is dead. That leaves you boys all by yourselves. You’ve got two choices now. Let the girl go and live—or keep her and die.”
“I don’t believe they are dead,” Wilson said.
“Take a look out here. Do you see all these people? You think they would be standing out here in the street if Quentin or Dawson or Cates were still alive?”
“Kelly, Reeves, Jensen is telling the truth. Quentin is dead,” Cole Mathers shouted. He was standing out in the street with others from the town.
“Cole, what are you doing here?” Wilson asked.
“Trying to talk some sense into you,” Cole replied.
“Son of a bitch, Wilson, look out there!” another voice from inside called out. “What are we holdin’ this girl for now? Quentin’s dead. Who is it we are workin’ for? I’m goin’ out.”
“No, you ain’t, Reeves. You’re stayin’ right here with Kelly an’ me.”
“If you stay, you’ll be stayin’ by yourself,” Kelly said. “I don’t plan on gettin’ killed for Quentin, especially when Quentin is dead his ownself.”
“That leaves just you, Wilson,” Smoke said. “Make up your mind. You can die or you can live.”
There was a long moment of silence from inside the warehouse. Then, Mary Lou appeared in the door.
“Mary Lou!” Lenny shouted.
Mary Lou ran toward him and they kissed and embraced.
“We’re comin’ out now,” Wilson said.
A moment later all three came out, holding their hands in the air.
“All right, Juan, hold her, here she comes!” Smoke shouted to his old Mexican hand. Juan was helping a cow give birth.
The heifer bawled, and shuddered; then the calf popped out.
“Look there, it’s a male!” Cal said.
Sally came into the barn then and stood for a moment looking at Smoke, Pearlie, and Cal as they looked down at the new calf. Juan started cleaning it up.
“What do you think, Miss Sally?” Pearlie asked excitedly. “This is number twenty-one from Prince Henry.”
“Look over there at Prince Henry,” Sally said. “He knows this is his calf and he is strutting around just as proud as a peacock.”
Cal laughed. “Miss Sally, do you remember when Smoke said that all we needed from Prince Henry was that he have an eye for the ladies?”
“I remember,” Sally said. “But it turns out, Prince Henry isn’t the only one with an eye for the ladies.”
“What do you mean?”
Smiling, Sally held up a letter. “When I went in to town today, I picked up our mail. We got a letter from Lenny. He and Mary Lou have just had a baby.”
