This is the story of Busted Gulch from its beginning to current times. An opportunity for readers who were unable to follow all the comments and the time line. Here is your chance to know the whole story and follow the future events of this famous t...
Ups! Tento obrázek porušuje naše pokyny k obsahu. Před publikováním ho, prosím, buď odstraň, nebo nahraď jiným.
The admission to see Evelyn Treelane was a hefty dollar a head, married couples got in for a dollar fifty. When Crooked Smile finished the count, the saloon had taken in one hundred and ten dollars. 3Gun took the money and calculated who got how much. Meanwhile stannbear had looked up Kae and borrowed the letters she found in the old cabin. His idea was to trade some reading time for his aunts in exchange for current information on Galina.
3Gun's other mystery was the cat lady. Where did she come from? Where had she gone? And why did she not leave her name as asked? He sat down and wrote out an advertisement for the paper then got little Ron to deliver it to CrazyGoose's office. He hoped she would get back from Oh Aces soon and get it in the next edition. Lean popped into his head and he could not help but wonder what the heck she was up to with this Rebecca Rain and Raven. And why Oh Aces? He hoped she was not going after Croc on her own. He thought back to the first time he saw her when she swaggered into the saloon, buying drinks for everybody and challenging them all to a card game. Quite an entrance.
His reverie was quickly interrupted by the whinny of a familiar horse . . . CrazyMoose. Slumped in the saddle and bleeding from gunshot wounds, CrazyGoose had returned from Oh Aces. 3Gun lifted her down and hurried inside, laying her out on a table and yelling for someone to get the doctor. Crooked Smile and stannbear brought pillows and a blanket, and they made her as comfortable as possible. Little Ron arrived with the doctor and 3Gun told them all to take very good care of her. He left the saloon and went straight to the jail.
His mood was no nonsense and he marched straight up to the cell, threatening to start shooting if they did not tell him where Cadmus Croc stayed in Oh Aces. They all stopped laughing soon enough when the first shot went into the ceiling over their heads and Steel and her aunt Olla told him right away. he warned them that if the information was wrong, there would be no prisoners for the Marshal to pick up next time he came by.
Outside, little Ron had his horse ready and 3Gun swung up into the saddle, checked the carbine in its scabbard then with a jerk of the reins, galloped off toward Oh Aces. Cadmus Croc had gone one chapter too long, and hurting 3Gun's friends was something he would dearly regret.
Ups! Tento obrázek porušuje naše pokyny k obsahu. Před publikováním ho, prosím, buď odstraň, nebo nahraď jiným.
The ride was long and hard. 3Gun drove his horse to a foaming lather, across the desert flats and into the foothills of the Parallel Mountains, and finally into Oh Aces as night fell. He found the blacksmith and paid to have his horse rubbed down, fed and watered then asked where the saloon was. He slipped his carbine from the scabbard and started the slow walk to town. The blacksmith watched, happy to have been paid in advance.
The saloon was on his right in the middle of town and 3Gun stepped up onto the wooden sidewalk and approached the window beside the swinging doors. Inside he could see six men sitting around. A bartender and a woman who was standing off by herself. He studied the men carefully and then he saw it. The mole over the right eye. He was staring at Cadmus Croc. 3Gun levered a shell into the magazine and stepped to the door then pushed through and called Croc's name.
Croc knew who he was and why he was there. In a split second six men all went for their guns and there was an explosion of gunfire. The air was filled with the acrid smell of gunpowder and a light haze of smoke. The woman screamed as bodies tumbled and bullets shredded the bar and the furnishings. The echo of her scream lasted into the deadly silence that followed and in that silence, 3Gun made his way to the bar and told the bartender to pass along the word that any friends of Cadmus Croc had better get fitted for a burial suit if they even dream of coming near Busted Gulch or its residents. The bartender poured a drink but 3Gun waved it off.
He turned to leave, stopping at the table where Croc lay, lifting his head and letting it drop with a thud. He stepped outside, located the hotel and looked forward to a bath and a good night's sleep, barring nightmares about his friends.
