“I was going to try and do this in a friendly way, but for some reason you boys don’t seem to be very friendly, so I’ll just come out and say it. Move.”
Finally one of them turned toward him. “What did you say, Mister?”
“I said move,” Matt repeated. “You boys have my table. I don’t like it when someone else takes my table.”
There weren’t many other customers in the saloon at the moment, but hearing Matt challenge the four posse members got their attention. All conversation stopped as everyone looked on with shocked surprise at the drama that was beginning to play out before them.
“Your table?” one of the four men replied.
“Yes. So I would appreciate it if you would move.”
The four men looked surprised, then they all began to laugh.
“Your table,” one of them repeated, and the laughter continued.
“Yes,” Matt said again.
“All right, Mister, you’ve given us a good laugh. Now, if you know what is good for you, you will go away and not bother us anymore. There are plenty of other empty tables here.”
“Yeah, I see that,” Matt said, pointedly looking around the room. “But I don’t want any of those tables. You see, this is my personal table, and this is the one I want.”
“Now just what the hell makes you think this is your—
“What’s your name, Mister?” Matt asked.
“My name is Luke Scraggs. Lieutenant Luke Scraggs of the Idaho Auxiliary Peace Officers’ Posse.”
“Lieutenant Luke Scraggs of the Idaho Auxiliary Peace Officers’ Posse,” Matt repeated. “Well now, that’s just really impressive. But I’ll tell you why I think this is my table, Scraggs. You see, this used to be Poke Terrell’s table. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of Poke Terrell, haven’t you? I hear he used to ride with you.”
“Yeah, he did,” Scraggs said. “As a matter of fact, he was a good friend of mine.”
“Was he now? Well then, you should be particularly interested in why I consider this to be my table. You see, it used to be Terrell’s table, but I killed him. Now, that makes this my table.”
“You are the one who killed him?”
“That’s right.”
“You’re Matt Jensen?” Scraggs asked, angrily.
“Oh, good, you already know who I am. That means I don’t have introduce myself. Also, it’s good to get this out in the open, don’t you think? Because I don’t like surprises.”
“What do you mean by surprises?” Scraggs asked.
“What I mean is, if any of you have a bone to pick with me, I don’t want you sneaking around to shoot me in the back.”
“Mister, if we had a bone to pick with you, we wouldn’t have to shoot you in the back. You may have noticed, there are four of us here and only one of you,” Scraggs said.
“Gentlemen, Mr. Scraggs seems to be doing all the talking,” Matt said. “Is he talking for all of you?”
“Yeah,” one of the other men said. “Whatever Lieutenant Scraggs says, we all say.”
“That’s good to know,” Matt said. “Because if any of you do start anything now, the lieutenant, here, will be the first one to die.”
“Mister, we was just sittin’ over here, mindin’ our own business when you come over and started on us,” the second speaker said. “So if somethin’ was to happen, and we was to kill you now, there wouldn’t be no jury anywhere that would say it is our fault.”
“What difference would it make to you what a jury might say?” Matt asked.
“What do you mean, what difference would it make? I wouldn’t want some jury to find me guilty for killing you.”
“That’s not anything you are going to have to worry about. All four of you will be dead, long before a jury trial.”
“Mister, have you gone plumb loco?” Scraggs asked.
“Oh, I don’t think so,” Matt replied in an easy, unstressed voice. “Look at the way you are sitting. Scraggs, you are the only one who can get to your gun right now, so, like I said, I’ll kill you first. But, unfortunately for you, you are sitting down. A man who is standing, can draw and shoot a lot faster than someone who is sitting down. What’s your name?” he asked them sitting on the man sitting next to Scraggs.”
“Burnett,” the man replied.
“Burnett, I’ll kill you second. You are also sitting on the side of the table, so you could probably get your gun out almost as fast as Scraggs, but then you would have to bring your arm across to shoot at me, wouldn’t you? So that’s going to slow you down enough to give me time to kill you second. And you two, sitting behind the table?” Matt chuckled. “From the way you are sitting, it would take you two a week to draw and shoot. I can take as much time as I need to kill you two.”
“Mister, I don’t know who the hell you think—”
“Shut up, Burnett,” Scraggs said.
“Are you going to let him….”
