Matt visited with the other saloon patrons while he killed time until noon.
“Say, young fella, you’ve got the name Jensen,” one of the other patrons said. “Would you happen to know a man by the name of Smoke Jensen?”
Matt took a swallow of his beer and studied the questioner for a moment before he answered. Smoke Jensen was better known than Matt, and over the years, Smoke had made a lot of friends by doing the right thing, even when doing the right thing was hard, or unpopular.
But, like Matt, Smoke had also made a lot of enemies, probably even more enemies than Matt had made, primarily because Smoke was older and had been around a lot longer.
Matt lowered the beer and wiped some foam away from his lip. There was nothing in the tone of the questioner’s voice, or the expression on his face, to indicate that he might be an enemy.
“Yeah, I know Smoke Jensen,” he said. He didn’t offer any more information.
The man smiled and nodded. “Uh, huh. I thought so. Well, let me tell you this, son. Smoke Jensen is as fine a man as ever drew a breath, and if you are anything like him, then I’m damn pleased to make your acquaintance.”
The man offered his hand, and Matt took it. “Thanks,” he said. “I share your opinion of Smoke.” Looking over at the clock Matt saw that it was nearly noon. He finished his beer. “I have to be going,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed my visit.”
“That has to be either the most courageous, or the most foolish man I have ever met,” Charley said after Matt left. “And I swear I don’t know which it is.”
Chapter Twenty-three
“That’s him,” Scraggs said to Clay Sherman, pointing to Matt as he left the saloon. “That’s the son of a bitch that kilt Poke.”
Scraggs and Clay were standing at the front window in the lobby of the Del Rey Hotel.
Sherman stepped up closer to the window to look at the man Scraggs had pointed out.
“So, that’s the famous Matt Jensen, is it?” Sherman asked.
“Yeah. I don’t mind tellin’ you, Colonel. He worries me,” Scraggs said.
“He’s only one man,” Sherman said.
“Yeah, well, he was only one man in the saloon too,” Scraggs said.
Sherman made a tsking sound as he shook his head, slowly. “You know, Scraggs, if I were you, I don’t think I would be all that anxious to tell how one man faced down four of you.”
“I told you how it happened. There weren’t none of us in position to get to our guns. He had the drop on us.”
“Oh? He had his gun in his hand when he braced the four of you?”
“Well, no, not exactly,” Scraggs said. “But it was near ’bout the same thing, I mean what with him standin’ there where he could get to his gun, and us sittin’ where we couldn’t. And then, when I stuck my head back in, well, he did have the gun in his hand. Almost like he know’d I was goin’ to stick my head back in like I done.”
“And here I thought I had rounded up the finest men in the territory to be members of the posse,” Sherman said. “Maybe I need to raise the standards for recruiting.”
“Here, now, Colonel, you got no call to say somethin’ like that,” Scraggs complained. “I told you how it happened. When it comes down to it, you know you can depend on me and ever’ one else in the posse.”
“I hope so, Scraggs,” Sherman said. “We’re sort of in a poker game here. And it’s a high stakes poker game.”
“He went into the cafe,” Scraggs said.
“It’s about noon, isn’t it?” Sherman asked.
Scraggs looked over toward the front desk of the hotel and saw a clock hanging on the wall behind the desk.
“It lacks five minutes of twelve,” Scraggs said.
“I think I’ll drop in over at the Railroad Cafe and have some lunch,” Sherman said.
“Want me to come with you?” Scraggs asked.
“No,” Sherman said resolutely as he headed for the door.
When Matt stepped into the restaurant he saw that Kitty had already taken a table near the back.
“I’ll be right with you, sir,” a waiter said as he started toward a table carrying an order.
“I’ll be joining Mrs. Wellington,” Matt said, pointing toward Kitty.
“Very good, sir.”
Matt sat at the table across from Kitty, and she greeted him with a smile.
“Did you have a pleasant morning?” she asked.
“Made some new friends,” Matt said. He chuckled. “And probably a few enemies.”
“Oh? What happened?”
