Part 2

A month and a half later I was craned around, trying to lance a boil of my own, when out of the corner of my eye I saw Dirty Jake go by under my window. He'd dug that hat with the ostrich plume out from under the rocks, his hand was healed, he was swinging his umbrella and he didn't so much as look up. He was headed for the Owl Hoot Palace. I decided the boil'd wait.

Less than five minutes later I heard the shots, two of them. A second later Jubal Bean, swamper at the Owl Hoot, came pounding up the boardwalk and hollered in the door:

"Doc, better come quick. Dirty Jake just took a couple slugs in the chest and he never even got to draw!"

I took my time. "It was just a matter of odds," I said. "Who got him?"

"The new one," Jubal said, "the man they call Lefty."

* * * * *

Well, a couple more weeks to bleach, a little wiring, and I'll be heading East. Look for the billboards:

MR. BONES The Fastest Draw in the West "Faster than Billy the Kid and Twice as Dead" presented by HIRAM PERTWEE, M.D.

All I've got to do is figure how to keep getting mad at Jake.