“What are the Mastersons gonna do?” Hank asked.
“Bat’s already gone,” Butler said. “Jim’s going to sell, and he and Neal Brown will leave.”
“This town might actually end up bein’ borin’,” Hank said.
“That would be a switch.”
After breakfast Hank walked Butler to the door.
“So everybody’s satisfied,” the cook said. “The mayor will be happy once Jim Masterson leaves.”
“Dog Kelley will run his saloon, maybe run for office again next time.”
“I’d vote for him,” Hank said, “if I was a voter.”
“So you’ll be happy here?” Butler asked.
“For now.”
The two men shook hands and Butler started to leave.
“Wait!”
“What is it?”
“You kept that bounty hunter away from me, Butler,” Hank said. “I owe you for that.”
“You don’t owe me anything, Hank—”
“It’s Henry,” the man said, “Henry Plummer.”
“Henry…Plummer?”
Plummer waited to see if it would sink in.
“Didn’t I read something about…Montana?”
“Bannock,” Plummer said, “and Virginia City.”
“And you were supposed to have been hanged in…sixty…three?”
“Four,” Plummer said. “A lot of years ago.”
“Where have you been all this time?”
“Movin’,” Plummer said. “Job to job, name to name, until I got here.”
“Well,” Butler said, “everybody deserves a second chance, Henry. Your secret is safe with me.”
“I know it,” Plummer said. “Take care your own secrets don’t catch up with you.”
“They always do,” Butler said, “but I’ve learned to survive.”
“I’ve been doin’ that for years,” Henry Plummer said. “Take my advice, Butler…learn how to live.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The gun battle at the end of this book was known as “Too Much Blood” and “The Battle of the Plaza.” It did not happen exactly as I have depicted here. I changed it to fit Butler into the mix. The other principals—except Ruger and his men, who are my creations—actually were in Dodge City at the time.
Ben Thompson spent a lot of time in Dodge, maybe just not when I had him there.
Henry Plummer, as far as anyone knows, was hung in 1864 for his crimes against the towns of Bannock and Virginia City, Montana—committed while he was sheriff. There is a rumor he escaped hanging and went into hiding, but no one knows for sure.
The telegram sent to Bat Masterson in Tombstone was real, and has always been attributed to an anonymous source. That just made it easy for me to give the credit to my character, Butler. The telegram was part of the reason Bat Masterson was not in Tombstone during the O.K. Corral.
But he had his own Battle of the Plaza.
About the Author
ROBERT J. RANDISI is the creator and writer of the popular series The Gunsmith, under the pseudonym “J.R. Roberts.” He is the author of The Sons of Daniel Shaye series and many other western novels written under his own name.
Books by Robert J. Randisi
THE GAMBLERS
Butler’s Wager
THE SONS OF DANIEL SHAYE
Pearl River Junction
Vengeance Creek
Leaving Epitaph