More adventures of Ace Lone Wolf, the half-Apache gunslinger with the quick draw and the penchant for trouble. When gunmen hired by the wealthy owner of the Hashknife Outfit set out to run the good people of Lily Creek off their land, Ace is the onl...
Doc comes out with my glass and chair. He sets them down and pumps my hand. "Ace Lone Wolf, as I live and breathe." He starts coughing and has to bring out his hanky. His coughing fit over, he looks at the blood on the cloth before putting it away. "Well, as I live anyway."
We sit down. "You look good, Doc. All healed up from that gut wound." That's not entirely true. Doc looks a bit pale and his clothes are loose on him.
He waves it off and pours me some whiskey. "I told you it was nothing but a scratch. No way a skunk like Ike Clanton is killing me. If a man's going to shoot me down, it's going to be a man of quality."
I take a drink of the whiskey and for a moment I just sit there and enjoy the burn. Doc drinks good stuff. "Funny you should mention him. I saw Ike a while back. In Mexico."
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"Do tell," Doc replies. "So Wyatt hasn't caught up to him yet, then."
"How come he didn't hang?"
"It was that damned jury. They let him off, if you can believe that. Said it was just a gunfight and a man has a right to defend himself."
I remember Billy Clanton up on that roof with his rifle, ready to cut us down. "What about the ambush?"
"Bah. I said the same thing. Ike claimed Billy was up there to make sure nobody tried to take advantage. Nothing would have happened if you hadn't started shooting at him first."
"They believed that?"
"That they did. Durned fools. You should have seen Wyatt afterwards. He was madder than a hornet in a hoosegow. No one could talk him down. He turned in his badge, gathered a couple friends, and took off chasing Ike a couple days later. I would've gone, but I was still laid up at the time."
I believe that. Doc's a loyal friend, as loyal as they come. At least this means I don't have to worry about running into Wyatt.
Doc pours me some more whiskey and leans over the table, fixing me with those intense eyes of his. "What happened? Did you find the temple? Did you save the girl's father?"
It takes a while to tell him the whole story. Doc interrupts me now and then to whoop it up. Another bottle of whiskey shows up. By the time I get to the end I'm drunk enough that it hardly hurts at all.
When I'm finished, Doc shakes his head. "How I envy you, out there roaming the wilderness, facing the worst it has to offer with your gun in your hand. You are the model of the modern Western man."
"You think so? I never really thought of it like that," I say. Probably because I've been busy feeling like a damned fool. I sit up a little straighter in my chair.
"I do, I do. Sure, this little adventure didn't work out the way you planned, but I'm sure the next one will."
