Lonesome Dove

in hopes of bringing down the horse, which might have fallen on the bandit and crippled him a little. But Jake shot blind from the hip, with the sun in his eyes to boot, and hit the bandit right in the Adam's apple, a thing not likely to occur more than once in a lifetime, if that often.

But it was Jake's luck that most of the men who saw him make the shot were raw boys too, with not enough judgment to appreciate how lucky a thing it was. Those that survived and grew up told the story all across the West, so there was hardly a man from the Mexican border to Canada who hadn't heard what a dead pistol shot Jake Spoon was, though any man who had fought with him through the years would know he was no shot at all with a pistol and only a fair shot with a rifle.

Call and Augustus had always worried about Jake because of his unearned reputation, but he was a lucky fellow and there were not many men around dumb enough to enjoy pistol fights, so Jake managed to get by. It was ironic that the shot which finally got him in trouble was as big an accident as the shot that had made his fame.

'How'd you get loose from the sheriff?' Call asked.

'He was gone when it happened,' Jake said. 'He was up in Missouri, testifying on some stage robbers. I don't know if he's even back to Fort Smith yet.'

'They wouldn't have hung you for an accident, even in Arkansas,' Call said.

'I am a gambler, but that's one I didn't figure to gamble on,' Jake said. 'I just went out the back door and left, hoping July would get too busy to come after me.'

'July's the sheriff?' Gus asked.

'Yes, July Johnson,' Jake said. 'He's young, but he's determined. I just hope he gets busy.'

'I don't know why a lawman would want a dentist for a brother,' Augustus said rather absently.

'If he warned you out of the town you should have left,' Call said. 'There's plenty of other towns besides Fort Smith.'

'Jake probably had him a whore,' Augustus said. 'He usually does.'

'You're one to talk, Gus,' Jake said.

They all fell silent for a time while Jake thoughtfully picked his teeth with the sharpened match. Bolivar was sound asleep, sitting on his stool.

'I should have rode on, Call,' Jake said apologetically. 'But Fort Smith's a pretty town. It's on the river, and I like to have a river running by me. They eat catfish down there. It got where it kinda suited my tooth.'

'I'd like to see the fish that could keep me in a place I wasn't wanted,' Call said. Jake had always been handy with excuses.

'That's what we'll tell the sheriff when he shows up to take you back,' Augustus said. 'Maybe he'll take you fishing while you're waiting to be hung.'

Jake let it pass. Gus would have his joke, and he and Call would disapprove of him when he got in some unlucky scrape. It had always been that way. But the three of them were companeros still, no matter how many dentists he killed. Call and Gus had been the law themselves and didn't always bow and scrape to it. They would not likely let some young sheriff take him off to hang because of an accident. He was willing to take a bit of ribbing. When trouble came, if it did, the boys would stick and July Johnson would have to ride back home empty-handed.

He stood up and walked to the door to look over the hot, dusty little town.

'I hardly thought to find you boys still here,' he said. 'I thought you'd have some big ranch somewhere by now. This town was a twobit town when we came here and it looks to me like it's lost about fifteen cents since then. Who's left that we all know?'

'Xavier and Lippy,' Augustus said. 'Therese got kilt, thank God. A few of the boys are left but I forget who. Tom Bynum's left.'

'He would be,' Jake said. 'The Lord looks after fools like Tom.'

'What do you hear of Clara?' Augustus asked. 'I suppose since you traveled the world you've been to see her. Dropped in for supper, innocent-like, I guess.'

Call stood up to go. He had heard enough to know why Jake had come back, and didn't intend to waste the day listening to him jaw about his travels, particularly not if it meant having to hear any talk about Clara Allen. He had heard enough about Clara in the old days, when Gus and Jake had both been courting her. He had been quite happy to think it all ended when she married, but it hadn't ended, and listening to Gus pine over her was almost as bad as having him and Jake fighting about her. Now, with Jake back, it would all start again, though Clara Allen had been married and gone for over fifteen years.

Deets stood up when Call did, ready for work. He hadn't said a word while eating, but it was clear he took much pride in being the one who had seen Jake first.

'Well, it ain't a holiday,' Call said. 'Work to do. Me and Deets will go see if we can help them boys.'

'That Newt surprised me,' Jake said. 'I had it in mind he was still a spud. Is Maggie still here?'

'Maggie's been dead nine years,' Augustus said. 'You wasn't hardly over the hill when it happened.'

'I swear,' Jake said. 'You mean you've had little Newt for nine years?'

There was a long silence, in which only Augustus felt comfortable. Deets felt so uncomfortable that he stepped in front of the Captain and went out the door.

'Why, yes, Jake,' Gus said. 'We've had him since Maggie died.'

'I swear,' Jake said again.

'It was only the Christian thing,' Augustus said. 'Taking him in, I mean. After all, one of you boys is more than likely his pa.'

Call put on his hat, picked up his rifle and left them to their talk.

7.

JAKE SPOON STOOD in the door of the low house, watching Call and Deets head for the barn. He had been looking forward to being home from the moment he looked out the door of the saloon and saw the dead man laying in the mud across the wide main street of Fort Smith, but now that he was home it came back to him how nervous things could be if Call wasn't in his best mood.

'Deets's pants are a sight, ain't they,' he said mildly. 'Seems to me he used to dress better.'

Augustus chuckled. 'He used to dress worse,' he said. 'Why, he had that sheepskin coat for fifteen years. You couldn't get in five feet of him without the lice jumping on you. It was because of that coat that we made him sleep in the barn. I ain't finicky except when it comes to lice.'

'What happened to it?' Jake asked.

'I burned it,' Augustus said. 'Done it one summer when Deets was off on a trip with Call. I told him a buffalo hunter stole it. Deets was ready to track him and get his coat back, but I talked him out of it.'

'Well, it was his coat,' Jake said. 'I don't blame him.'

'Hell, Deets didn't need it,' Augustus said. 'It ain't cold down here. Deets was just attached to it because he had it so long. You remember when we found it, don't you? You was along?'

'I may have been along but I don't remember,' Jake said, lighting a smoke.

'We found that coat in an abandoned cabin up on the Brazos,' Augustus said. 'I guess the settlers that run out decided it was too heavy to carry. It weighed as much as a good-sized sheep, which is why Call gave it to Deets. He was the only one of us stout enough to carry it all day. Don't you remember that, Jake? It was the time we had that scrape up by Fort Phantom Hill.'

'I remember a scrape, but the rest is kinda cloudy,' Jake said. 'I guess all you boys have got to do is sit around and talk about old times. I'm young yet, Gus. I got a living to make.'

In fact, what he did remember was being scared every time they crossed the Brazos, since it would just be ten or twelve of them and no reason not to think they would run into a hundred Comanches or Kiowas. He would have been glad to quit rangering if he could have thought of a way to do it that wouldn't look bad, but there was no way. In the end he came through twelve Indian fights and many scrapes with bandits only to get in real trouble in Fort Smith, Arkansas, as safe a town as you could find.

Now that he had come back, it was just to be reminded of Maggie, who had always threatened to die if he ever left her. Of course, he had thought it just girlish talk, the kind of thing all women said when they were trying to hold