But Riley Bent was softened and his mind made fully up. Whether it was the sentimental influence of Jack Moore's bullet, which Doc Peets subsequently dug out; or whether Riley was touched by the fact that Wagon Mound Sal, herself, brought over the buckboard to convey him to Wolfville, may never be known. What was certain, however, was that Riley Bent came finally to the conclusion to wed. He told Wagon Mound Sal so while on the buckboard going back.
“Which it's shorely doubtful,” said Wagon Mound Sal, “if any man is worth the trouble. An' this yere is my busiest day, too!”
There was great rejoicing in the wareroom of the New York Store. A whole box of candles blazed gloriously from the walls. Old Man Enright gave the bride away, Benson Annie appeared to look on, while Faro Nell supported Sal as bridesmaid. As usual, in any hour of sacred need, a preacher was obtained from Tucson.
“An' you can bet that pastor knows his business!” said Old Monte, the stage driver, who had been commissioned to bring one over. “He's a deep-water brand, an' he's all right! I takes my steer when I seelects him from the barkeep of the Golden Rod saloon, an' he'd no more give me the wrong p'inter, that a-way, than he'd give me the wrong bottle.”
Doc Peets's offering to the bride was a bullet. It was formerly the property of Jack Moore. It was the one he conferred on Riley Bent that evening in the foothills of the Très Hermanas.
“Keep it!” said Doc Peets to the bride. “It's what sobers him, an' takes the frivolity outen him, an' makes him know his own heart.”
“An' I shorely reckons you're right that a-way, Doc,” said Jack Moore, some hours after the wedding as the two turned from the laundry whither Moore had repaired to return Riley Bent his pistols; “I shore reckons you're right a whole lot. I knows a gent in the states, an' he tells me himse'f how he goes projectin' 'round, keepin' company with a lady for a year, an' ain't thinkin' none speshul of marryin' her. One day somebody gets plumb tired of the play an' shoots him some, after which he simply goes about pantin' to lead that lady to the altar; that's straight!”