not.'

"Then he throws hisself in shape, like he meant to leap over a hoss, an'
hollers, 'Pull yer gun!'

"I asks, very innocent, 'What for, mister?'

"An' he bawls fer the crowd. ''Cause I'm a-goin' to bore you, an' I
never kill a man till he goes fer his gun.'

"To thet I replies, more considerate: 'But it ain't fair. You'd better
get the fust shot.'

"Then the fool hollers, 'Redhead!'

"Thet settled him. I leaps over QUICK, slugged him one--lefthanded. He
staggered, but he didn't fall.... Then he straightens an' goes fer his
gun."

Larry halted again. He looked as if he had been insulted, and a bitter
irony sat upon his lips.

"I seen, when he dropped, thet he never got his hand to his gun at
all.... Jest as I'd reckoned.... Wal, what made me sick was that my
bullet went through him an' then some of them thin walls--an' hit a girl
in another house. She's bad hurt.... They ought to have walls thet'd
stop a bullet."

Neale heard the same narrative from the lips of Ancliffe, and it
differed only in the essential details of the cowboy's consummate
coolness. Ancliffe, who was an eye-witness of the encounter, declared
that drink or passion or bravado had no part in determining Larry's
conduct. Ancliffe talked at length about the cowboy. Evidently he had
been struck with Larry's singular manner and look and action. Ancliffe
had all an Englishman's intelligent observing powers, and the conclusion
he drew was that Larry had reacted to a situation familiar to him.

Neale took more credence in what Slingerland had told him at Medicine
Bow. That night Hough and then many other acquaintances halted Neale to
gossip about Larry Reel King.

The cowboy had been recognized by Texans visiting Benton. They were
cattle barons and they did not speak freely of King until ready to
depart from the town. Larry's right name was Fisher. He had a brother--a
famous Texas outlaw called King Fisher. Larry had always been Red
Fisher, and when he left Texas he was on the way to become as famous
as his brother. Texas had never been too hot for Red until he killed
a sheriff. He was a born gun-fighter, and was well known on all the
ranches from the Pan Handle to the Rio Grande. He had many friends, he
was a great horseman, a fine cowman. He had never been notorious for
bad habits or ugly temper. Only he had an itch to throw a gun and he was
unlucky in always running into trouble. Trouble gravitated to him. His
red head was a target for ab