what he told me. I always did what he told me, because in a lot of towns over a lot of years, I’d learned that in a tight crease, you’d best do what Virgil Cole told you. No questions. Virgil always knew the situation better than you did, and he always knew what he was doing better than anyone did. I reached behind me and pushed open the office door and went inside.
Behind me, I heard Cole say, “You boys best wheel them animals around and shoo.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Bragg.
Bragg was standing in his cell, close to the bars, looking at me.
“We come for Bragg,” Vince said.
I glanced at Whitfield. There was no Whitfield. Past the two cells was a door that led down a little hall to the store behind us that sold dry goods and hardware. The door was open.
“Can’t have him,” Cole said.
I went and closed it and slid the bolt. Bragg smiled at me.
“We know you’re good, Cole,” I heard Vince say. “But you ain’t as good as twenty of us.”
“You know the arrangement, boys,” Cole said pleasantly.
I went to the table drawer and opened it. The gun Whitfield was supposed to use was still there.
“First time one of you does an ineluctable thing…” Cole said.
He didn’t finish the sentence. But I knew, because I’d seen him do this before, that he had pointed at the office and pretended to shoot Bragg with his thumb and forefinger.
“You can’t just shoot a prisoner,” Vince said. “You’re a fucking lawman.”
I smiled. Cole already had them backing up a little. He didn’t need me out there with the shotgun.
“Prisoner tries to escape, I’m supposed to shoot him,” Cole said.
“You shoot him, you think we’ll ride off?”
“Nope.”
“We’ll kill you and Hitch,” Vince said.
“You’ll try.”
“There’s twenty of us, for God’s sake,” Vince said. “You willing to die to keep us from taking him?”
“Sure,” Cole said.
Everyone was silent. I could see Vince staring hard at Cole. Vince was a hard case. Jack Bell had been a hard case. But Vince was looking at something Vince had never seen before.
“Hitch?” Vince raised his voice. “You willing to die, too?”
I stood near the corner of the two cells, against the wall, where I wouldn’t get shot right away, and where I could get a clear shot at Bragg if they came. I could see Vince and some of the riders through the window. I couldn’t see Cole.
“ ’Course he’s willin’ to die,” Cole said. “You think we do this kinda work ’cause we scared to die?”
Even though I couldn’t see him, I knew how he was. I’d seen him at other times. He was motionless. His six-gun was still holstered. His arms were relaxed at his side. He was looking at Vince with no expression, and his eyes were perfectly dead, like two stones.
“Any man’s scared a dying,” Vince said.
“He’s got ’em turned,” I said softly to Bragg. “They’re arguing with him.”
Bragg was silent, struggling, I assumed, with hope, fear, and rage.
“You?” Cole said.
Vince said, “Me?”
“You afraid to die,” Cole said.
“I ain’t afraid,” he said.
“Good,” Cole said. “ ’Cause you go first.”
Vince rocked very slightly back in his saddle. He probably didn’t know that he’d done it.
“Ball goes up,” Cole said. “Two things certain. Bragg’s dead. You’re dead.”
Then I could see Cole. He had stepped forward to the edge of the boardwalk so he was closer to Vince. He appeared to be looking straight at him, but he pointed, apparently without looking, off to his right.
“And the boy with the Winchester,” Cole said, “with the red scarf. He goes next.”
The way Cole could see all around him was always sort of magical. And I knew he meant it. I’d been with him in so many gunfights that I knew what he’d do. If it started, he’d shoot Vince long before Vince got a hand on his weapon; then, if there was someone with a rifle, he’d wheel in a comfortable crouch and shoot him. Then, when he’d emptied the sidearm, if he was still alive, he’d dive through the open office door and continue matters with the Winchester he kept just inside. As soon as I’d killed Bragg, of course, I would be shooting past him through the window. No one said anything for a long, quiet moment. Then Cole stepped off the boardwalk and into the street.
“Go on home, Vince,” Cole said. “Too many people die if you don’t.”
He took his hat off with his left hand and swatted Vince’s horse across the face. The horse reared and wheeled half around. Cole slapped it on the hindquarters, and the horse reared against the bit and tried to run, with Vince wrestling hard to hold him.
“Go on,” Cole said, pushing among the horses, his right hand hanging loose near his gun, his left hand slapping with the hat. “Go on home.”
Vince brought his surging horse under control and held him.
“There’ll be another time, Cole,” he said.
Then he gave the horse his head, and one after the other, Bragg’s riders headed out of town.
As soon as the riders were gone, I came out of the office, still carrying the eight-gauge. I took each barrel off cock as I came.
“Whitfield run off,” I said.
“Too bad,” Cole said.
He had his hat back on and set right, and as far as you could tell, he had just gotten up from a nap.
Up the street, Allie French came out of the Boston House and ran along the boardwalk toward Cole.
“Oh, Virgil,” she said. “Virgil.”
Cole stood and waited.
“Oh, Virgil,” she said again. “Are you all right?”
“I am,” Cole said.
She ran right into him and pressed her face against his chest and put her arms around him.
“That was the bravest thing I’ve ever seen. Just you and all those men. That was wonderful.”
Cole seemed a little uneasy about what to do. Being Virgil Cole, he didn’t show much. But he stood still with his arms at his sides and didn’t look at anything.
“Everett was with me,” he said.
People had come out of the shops and saloons and housing, where they had earlier taken refuge.
“Oh, pooh on Everett,” Allie said. “He was inside, hiding. It was you out there all alone, Virgil. That was heroic.”
“Everett wasn’t exactly hiding, Allie.”
The people began to gather round, looking at Cole and Allie. I saw Katie Goode in the crowd and nodded at her. Allie lifted her face from Cole’s chest and turned toward the crowd, her arms still holding on to Cole in proud ownership.
“Isn’t that the most heroic thing you folks have ever seen?” she said.
