Chapter 5

Henry was kind of excited by our adventure in that saloon. "Is bounty huntin' always that excitin'?" he asked.

"Actually, no. Mostly it's like everything else. There's some exciting times, there's some boring times, and there are a lot of times in between. I guess that the main thing about being a bounty hunter is keeping alert and keeping your wits about you. As long as you do that, you should be all right."

"How do ya know where ta go ta find people?"

"Mostly, I go into saloons and talk to bartenders and listen to the gossip. You can learn a lot of valuable things doing that. That's what we're going to do whenever we go into a saloon. If you go into a saloon just for a beer, you're wasting your time. While you are there, make a point to look around and to listen, you never know what you'll find out."

One thing I found out from having Henry along: traveling is a lot more pleasant when you have a companion. It's nice to be able to talk to somebody besides your horse! Horses ain't much for two-way conversation.

Our stop for dinner was at one of those combination inns, saloons, restaurant, and general store to be found at most major crossroads. I noticed several horses hitched in front of the saloon, so I said to Henry that we ought to go in there first. These people might be interesting, and they might be gone before we finish eating.

Inside the saloon, there were three men leaning against the bar and drinking beer. Sitting at a table were four men playing poker. The poker dealer was dressed like you would expect a professional gambler to dress. He had a fancy suit, was wearing a white shirt, and had a string tie. I looked closely at the poker players and at the three men at the bar. I pulled Henry's sleeve and got him to follow me into the restaurant.

As soon as we were in the restaurant, he said, "What do we do, Tom? Every one of those galoots, but for the gambler, are on our posters."

"Yeah, I know. We need to plan this out. Six men are too many to brace in a place like this. In a situation like this, I try to think what Pa would do. Unless you got a better idea, I think that we should follow them and see where they spend the night. Maybe we can come up with something then. I sure don't want to ignore them; that's $350 standing in there. How does that sound to you?"

"It sounds fine with me. I'll just do whatever you tell me to do."

We had finished our dinner and had just paid the outlandish 50 cents each for it when we heard a couple of gunshots. Henry jumped up and started to run into the saloon. I grabbed his arm and said, "Hold on, you don't want to run into a bullet not even intended for you. Let's check it out without getting ourselves shot at."

We cautiously moved up to the door leading into the saloon and carefully looked around the edge of the door.

"Gil, why did ya shoot that tinhorn?"

"Cuz the bastard wuz cheatin' me."

"OK, that I kin understand. Git yer money, and let's get out of here."

I said to Henry, "You stay here and cover this door. I'm heading for the front door. We may have a quick change of plans, so be alert."

I ran to the front door of the saloon and kneeled down so that I could see under the butterfly doors. The bartender stooped down and came back up with a shotgun. He didn't even get fully straightened up before he was hit by bullets from the guns of the men standing at the bar. With that many bullets from that close range, the bartender had to be dead.

The crooks started walking toward the front door, and I let them get close enough to be clear shots for Henry. I hoped he had his Starr DA drawn because I could see a need for a lot of fast shooting. Once the crooks reached the position I wanted, I shouted, "STOP, ALL OF YOU! Y'ALL ARE UNDER ARREST! DROP YOUR GUNS AND RAISE YOUR HANDS!"

I never expected them to give up like that, so I had my gun out, and I was ready to shoot. As expected, my command produced a hail of bullets aimed at the front door. The butterfly doors were shattered! Why did they think that I would be so stupid as to be standing up there?

I returned their fire, and Henry started shooting as soon as I did. Four of the crooks fell dead or dying, but two of the men jumped behind some tables they tipped over. I had fired four times, and I thought that Henry had done the same. I couldn't worry too much about Henry; I just hoped he followed Pa's advice.

I took out my Colt and laid it where I could grab it at need. While there was a pause in the action, I took the time to reload. I was using paper cartridges, so it took less than a minute to reload four chambers. Then I remembered Pa's admonition to take every advantage that you might have, so I went ahead and loaded the last chamber so that I would have a true six-shooter.

I holstered my Starr and added to the load in my Colt. I now had 12 shots, instead of the conventional 10 shots. That might turn to my advantage. Hopefully, Henry had done the same thing.

Still holding my Colt, I dodged inside the saloon and ran to a table which I turned over to act as a shield. The likelihood of a ball penetrating a table top was to small to worry about. That's why I had run into the saloon, because I was never going to be able to shoot through the table top. I looked over at the other door and saw Henry following my lead by creeping on the floor toward a table. He got there and tipped it over before he was spotted. I'll bet the crooks didn't even know that he was there until he tipped over the table.

I yelled at Henry, "HENRY, YOU COVER THAT SIDE OF THE ROOM! I'VE GOT THIS SIDE!"

The answer came back, "GOT IT!"

I needed to change position to get a more flanking shot at the two crooks. There was no safe way to run from table to table, but the table tops were round, so, with a little care, I could roll the table as I moved. I started to move, and that produced a rain of bullets against the table top. I didn't know what the crooks thought they were doing, but there was no chance of them hurting me, as careful as I was being.

Apparently, the crooks figured out what I was trying to do, so they backed up into a corner near one end of the bar. I yelled at Henry, "KEEP THEM AWAY FROM THE BAR!"

As soon as I said that, Henry started to roll his table toward the other end of the bar. He had a lot less distance to go, so he was able to scoot behind the bar before the crooks were able to. Shit, this standoff could last forever at the rate we were going. I needed something that could penetrate the table top. Then it occurred to me that the Henry rifle bullet could probably do that. I yelled at Henry, "KEEP THEM BUSY FOR A MINUTE!"

Without waiting for a reply, I ducked out of the saloon and ran to our horses. I grabbed both rifles and the spare ammunition and ran back to my table in the saloon. I was gone less than 90 seconds and nothing had changed. I made sure that both rifles were fully loaded and started shooting one of them at the overturned tables as fast as I could lever in the next round, aim, and shoot. I heard a cry of pain somewhere during that fusillade, but I didn't pay much attention—I was trying to make a point. By the time the last bullet had been fired, the rifle was so hot that I could not hold it.

I picked up the other rifle and did the same shooting routine at the other table. Again, there was a cry of pain, but I didn't know what that signified. I emptied the rifle, which was also now too hot to hold. I picked up the first rifle and reloaded it. By that time, the second rifle had cooled enough that I could reload it, though the rifle was still too hot to hold to shoot.

While all of this shooting was going on, Henry had taken the time to reload his pistols, so he was ready for my next order. I picked up the first rifle that was now cool enough to handle and repeated my shooting campaign at the first table. I tried to spread the shots around so that I would hit anybody behind the table, no matter where he was hiding. There were no cries of pain this time, so I assumed that the person behind that table was dead or unconscious.