Cletus’s eyes were flashing, and his face was twisted into a mask of rage, but nobody was looking at his face. What everyone was looking at was the double-barrel 12-gauge Greener shotgun he had thrust out in front of him.
“Look out!” Corey shouted.
There were other shouts of alarm as everyone in the saloon hurried to get out of the way.
Those who had kept their eyes glued on Clinton were surprised when they suddenly saw Falcon smash the cowboy in the forehead with the club he was holding.
For a long moment, everyone remained quiet and still, shocked into silence by what they had just witnessed.
“Son of a bitch,” someone finally said, the words almost reverent.
Then all began talking at the same time, the voices rising louder and louder in their nervous excitement.
Deke and Lou looked at the prostrate form of their boss as he lay on his back on the saloon floor.
“Is he dead?” Deke asked.
“No,” Falcon said. “Now, get him out of here.”
“Mister, I hope you know what you done. Cletus has a bad temper. He ain’t likely to forget this.”
“I don’t intend for him to forget it,” Falcon said. “Now, get his sorry carcass out of here.”
At that moment, Marshal Calhoun pushed his way through the batwing doors and, seeing Cletus on the floor, looked around the smoke-filled room.
“Son of bitch, is that Cletus Clinton?” he asked.
“Hello, Marshal Calhoun. Yes, that’s him, all right,” Prentiss said.
Deke and Lou started to pick up Cletus. “Leave him be for the moment,” Calhoun said. “Is he dead?”
“No such luck,” Corey said. “Falcon just laid him out, is all.”
Calhoun saw the shotgun lying on the floor, then looked up at Falcon. “You the one he was coming after, Falcon?”
“I was,” Falcon replied.
“Why didn’t you save us all a peck of trouble and kill the son of a bitch? If he came after you with a shotgun, you certainly had cause.”
“I guess I was just feeling generous,” Falcon said.
Marshal Calhoun chuckled. “Falcon MacCallister feeling generous,” he said. “I like that.”
“Marshal, what are you going to do about this fella hittin’ Cletus right between the eyes, like he done?” Lou asked. “He could’a kilt him.”
“He should’ve killed him,” Calhoun replied.
“Can we take Cletus home now?” Deke asked.
“No, but you can take him down to the jail,” Calhoun replied.
“What? The hell you say. You ain’t goin’ to put ’im in jail,” Deke said angrily.
“That’s where you are wrong, because that is exactly what I am going to do,” Marshal Calhoun said.
“It ain’t in no way right for you to put him in jail,” Deke insisted. “Cletus is the one that got hit. Right between the eyes, it was, and with a club as big around as your wrist. Ike ain’t goin’ to like this. He ain’t goin’ to like this none a’tall.”
“Take him down there and put him in jail now,” Calhoun ordered, pointing toward the jailhouse, “or I’ll throw the two of you in there with him.”
Struggling with the deadweight of the unconscious form, Deke and Lou left the saloon carrying Cletus.
“All right, folks, all the excitement is over,” Prentiss said to the saloon patrons, who were still gathered around watching the proceedings with intense curiosity. “Go on back to your tables now and enjoy your time with us. The next beer is on the house.”
“Good!”
“Thanks!”
“Good man.”
As the patrons crowded the bar for their free beers, Rachael, after a nod from Corey, returned to the piano and began playing.
“I’ve been here at least a half-dozen times,” Falcon said. “I’ve heard of Ike Clinton, but I don’t think I’ve ever met him.”
“That’s because until there was talk of a railroad, Clinton pretty much stayed to himself,” Calhoun said.
“Where did he come from?”
“Some say he rode with Doc Jennison and the Kansas Jayhawkers; others say he rode with Bloody Bill Anderson and the Bushwhackers of Missouri,” Calhoun explained. “If you want to know the truth, I think they are both right. I think our friend Clinton played both sides for whatever he could get. I know he came out here not too long after the war with more than ten thousand dollars in cash.”
“Folks say he’s never seen an acre he didn’t claim, or a cow he didn’t brand,” Corey said.
