“There you go, Mr. Bodine,” Archie said as he placed the mug in front of Matt.
“I see Sam’s not back yet.”
Archie smiled. “Amelia’s a mighty inventive gal when she wants to be. She can come up with all sorts of pleasant ways for a gent to pass some time.”
“I’ll bet.” Matt took a drink of the cool beer. “What’s the best place around here to get something to eat?”
“Got a jar of pickled eggs down at the end of the bar,” Archie suggested.
Matt frowned and shook his head. “I was thinkin’ of something a little more substantial, like a steak maybe.”
“Try Hernando’s, right down the street.”
“Mexican place?”
“Hernando’s a Mex, but he cooks American. Good, too. You got to watch him, though, ’cause every now and then he’ll slip in some chili peppers.” Archie rubbed a palm over his aproned chest. “Can’t take ’em myself. They make me feel like I’m on fire inside.”
“I like spicy food myself. We’ll give it a try when Sam gets back.”
Archie chuckled. “He’ll probably have worked up an appetite by then, that’s for sure.”
Matt just smiled, shook his head, and sipped his beer. From the corner of his eye, he saw a man push the batwings aside and enter the saloon.
It was a matter of habit for Matt to watch everything that went on around him. A matter of survival, too, because there were varmints in the world who held grudges against him and Sam, as well as ambitious hombres who might want to make a name for themselves as the man who killed Matt Bodine…even if it took shooting him in the back.
Didn’t take him but a second, though, to size up this newcomer to the Ten Grand and realize that the old-timer was no threat.
He was a scarecrow of a man, scrawny and dressed in ragged, dirty clothes and a shapeless old felt hat. When he came up to the bar, Matt got a look at his face and saw that one eye had some sort of film over it. He felt a twinge of pity for the old man.
Archie Cochran didn’t look all that sympathetic as he went over to the newcomer and asked curtly, “What’ll it be, Ed?”
“Can I…can I have a beer?”
“You got any money?”
“I do.” The man reached into the pocket of his stained, torn corduroy trousers and pulled out a coin. “I got enough, see?”
Archie took the coin and said, “All right. That’ll buy you a beer. One beer.”
He drew it and set the mug in front of the old-timer called Ed, who licked his lips in anticipation.
Archie’s mood seemed to grow a bit more friendly as he said, “Haven’t seen you around for a while.”
“I been busy. Lookin’ for gold, you know.”
“Yeah, I know. Doesn’t look like you’ve hit a bonanza yet.”
“Oh, you never know, you never know,” Ed said. He picked up the mug and drained half of the beer, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down in his turkey neck as he swallowed.
When he lowered the mug, foam covered his upper lip. He set the mug on the bar and gave a long sigh of satisfaction.
Then he glanced over at Matt, nodded, and said, “Howdy.”
“Howdy yourself, old-timer,” Matt replied. He didn’t introduce himself.
Ed turned back to the bartender. “Anythin’ interestin’ goin’ on here in town, Archie?”
“Not much. We had a little excitement earlier this afternoon when Matt there and his partner rode into town. Cyrus Flagg saw ’em coming and got worried they might be part of Joshua Shade’s gang, scouting the town for that bunch of owlhoots. Turned out they weren’t, though.”
Ed glanced at Matt. “Is that so? The sheriff’s worried about Shade, is he?”
“Wouldn’t you be?” Archie asked with a snort. “After all the hell those varmints have raised, anybody with any sense
“What sort o’ precautions?”
“Oh, you know, like watching out for strangers and posting lookouts.”
“Lookouts?” Ed repeated.
This was the first Matt had heard of that, too.
“Yeah, he just decided on that a little while ago, after Matt and Sam rode in. Figured it might be a good idea to post some fellas on the roof of the hotel and the bank so they can keep a watch around the town all the time. That way, we’ll spot anybody who’s headed this direction.”
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, all right,” Ed said as he nodded. “Already got guards up there, does he?”
“You bet. One man on top of the bank, one on the hotel. Nobody’s gonna sneak up on us now.”
