Bender nodded and said, “I gather from that the boys don't like each other—Miller and Patton.”
“I'll say they don't,” the driver said. “Didn't they try to kill each other?”
Bender laughed and told him that wasn't always a fair test. He explained that gun-fighting was like boxing or golf or anything else; after it was finished it was all over and there was no use having hard feelings.
“Well, Botchey and Pack don't figure that way,” the driver said. “They're at each other's throats and everybody knows it.”
He turned a corner and stopped the flivver before a notion store. He said the Odd Fellows' Hall was upstairs.
“Okey,” Bender said, getting out. “How much I owe you?”
“Just a buck,” the driver said and Bender gave him a dollar bill and said: “Come back to the hotel at ten o'clock. I'll be wanting to ride some more then.”
The driver said he would, and Bender turned around to look for the steps that led to the Odd Fellows' Hall.
Chapter IV
THE STAIRS WERE long and wide and went straight up with no landing to break the climb. In the hall above a globe shed a pale and insufficient glow. Bender saw a chink of light shining through a crack in one of the doors and he went over. He could hear the hum of conversation inside and he listened for a moment but couldn't make out what they were saying so he knocked on the door.