MacAllister

The other three cells were empty.

“Whoowee, you sure got that right, Sheriff,” Dillard said. “Didn’t I just tell you this mornin’ I didn’ want you to turn me loose ’till after I et? Come on in here, sonny, me’n you will have dinner together.” He laughed a high- pitched, cackling laugh, slapping his knee in glee.

“In there,” Sheriff Cody said.

“Sheriff, you ain’t goin’ to put me in jail with that old coot, are you?” Stripland asked.

“No, sir, you get your very own cell,” Sheriff Cody said, putting his hand on the prisoner’s arm and escorting him to the back. There, he pushed Stripland into an empty cell, closed the door, and locked it behind him.

“Well, if you have that blaggard well in hand, we’ll be goin’,” Duff said.

“Not so fast,” Sheriff Cody said. Sitting down at his desk, he pulled out a book and began writing. Tearing the page out, he blew on the ink to dry it, then handed it to Duff. “Here is a draft for two hundred and fifty dollars, reward for bringing in George Stripland. You can take it to the bank and they will cash it for you.”

“Two hundred and fifty dollars? Just for bringing the blaggard in?”

“Sorry it isn’t more,” Sheriff Cody said.

Duff smiled broadly. “’Tis plenty enough, and you have my thanks.”

“It’s about dinnertime,” Falcon said as they left the bank a few minutes later. “Shall we find a place to eat?”

“Dinner? My word, what time is it? I know the time changes as one travels west, but is it evening already?”

Falcon chuckled. “Out here it is breakfast, dinner, and supper,” he said. “This is our noon meal.”

“Noon meal. Aye, I am a bit hungry. But I’ll be buyin’ if you don’t mind.”

Falcon laughed. “Just because you’ve got all that money, there’s no need for you to be spending it all that quickly. I thought Scots were thrifty.”

“Och, lad, we’re beyond thrifty, we’re cheap,” Duff said. “But it’s thankful I am to you, and to your brother and sister for takin’ in one who is so distant in kin that it can barely be traced. So I would appreciate it if you would let me buy the lunch.”

“All right, and I thank you for it,” Falcon said.

“This is your town, what do you recommend?”

“I would suggest the City Pig.”

“Sure’n I hope there is something on the fare other than fried ham and potatoes,” Duff said.

“I know what you mean,” Falcon said. “I’ve taken several trips to New York. On the trains east of Kansas City they have dining cars so you have a little more choice, but on all the restaurant stops west of Kansas City the food can get pretty tiresome. But, the City Pig is a good restaurant, the best in town, I believe, and I think you’ll like it.”

“I don’t suppose they’d have haggis and neeps,” Duff said.

Falcon laughed and waved his hand dismissively. “Lord, I would hope not,” he said. “I may be Scottish, but if I have to prove it by eating that, I’ll turn Irish, or English, or even French.”

“So you know what it is?”

“Oh, yes. I know what it is. I tell you what, suppose you let me order for the two of us.”

“Aye, that might be the best way.”

Norman “Hog Jaw” Landers was standing behind the counter when Falcon and Duff stepped in through the door.

“Gracious, Falcon, who’s that fella with you?” Landers asked. “He’s as big as you are. I swear, the two of you together could block out the sun.”

“Hello, Hog Jaw. This is my cousin, Duff, fresh from Scotland,” Falcon said. “And he just got off the train, so I hope you have a lot of food back in your kitchen, because we are going to make a run on it.”

“Oh, I think we can handle it,” Hog Jaw said. “We’ve got a big joint of beef we’ve been cookin’ since before daylight. I tasted a bit of it a while back and it melted in my mouth.”

“All right, we’ll have roast beef, mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits, and lots of gravy,” Falcon said.

“I’ll get them started,” Hog Jaw said as he walked into the back.

There were about a dozen other diners in the restaurant, and all of them greeted Falcon as he led Duff to a table in the corner at the extreme back of the room.

“Sit there,” Falcon said, pointing to one of the chairs. “I’ll sit here, and because we are in the corner of the room, we will each have a wall to our back.”

“Is it your habit to always have a wall at your back?” Duff asked.

Falcon nodded. “Yeah. Wouldn’t be a bad thing for you to follow, either.”

“But everyone in town seems to know you. You have a lot of friends.”

“I also have a lot of enemies. And even when you are with friends, you never know who might come up behind you. Bill Hickock told me that, once, and if he had paid attention to his own advice, he might still be alive.”

“You knew Wild Bill Hickock?”

“I knew him,” Falcon said.