“Bill, we need some new duds. Let’s go to the general store and spend this Confederate money before they find out it’s worthless.”
Bill picked out a pair of whipcord pants and a shirt and new Western boots and a high crown hat. Isaac got boots, a hat, a shirt, black pants, a razor, and a mug. They paid the clerk fifty then went next door to the barbershop for a shave.
*****
The next morning, the sheriff was waiting in the lobby of the hotel. The sheriff said, “I’ve got a voucher for you two. James Coleman had $2,500 on his head. The other five had $1,000 each. This voucher is for $7,500. But for this amount, you will have to take it to Fort Smith and have Judge Hayes sign on it before the bank will pay off on it. The outlaws had some money on them, but you will have to cover the rest of the funeral cost. But their horses are yours. Don’t skip town on the stable bill.”
Isaac and Bill walked to the barbershop. He had all six propped up in front of his place of business and was charging twenty-five cents for locks of hair. Isaac asked, “How much do we owe you?”
He said they had thirty dollars on them and that the balance was fifty dollars. Isaac pulled out a one-hundred-dollar Confederate bill. The barber said he did not have change. Isaac said, “Keep it.”
At the stable, the owner told them he would give them fifty dollars each for the six horses and saddles. Bill said that if he would throw in a packsaddle, he had a deal. They took it and left town.
*****
A mile and a half out of town, the man from the bar and two of his friends stood in the middle of the road. The man said, “You made me dance yesterday. Now it’s time to pay the band.” He went for his gun. So did his friends.
Isaac’s hands moved like lightning, firing two shots before they cleared the leather. Bill’s shot was fast but hit the man in the shoulder. He came up with his gun when Isaac’s bullet hit him between the eyes.
Bill looked at him and said, “Son, I’m supposed to be taking care of you, not you taking care of me. Where’d you learn to draw like that?”
Isaac said, “It just comes naturally, I guess.”
“I’m tired of hauling all the bodies. Leave them for the buzzards.”
With the horses tied to a lead rope, they left.
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