Sleepy sighed with relief and leaned against the wall.
“That other jigger opened the ball,” he said wearily. “His first bullet almost creased me. He was humped over Hashknife, lookin’ him over with a lantern, when I went out there. I just had a hunch that somethin’ was wrong.”
Big Medicine nodded slowly.
“It was Sam Blair of the K-10 outfit,” he said softly.
“Dead?” asked Musical.
“Yes.”
Musical shrugged his shoulders.
“The war is on, I reckon.”
“Aw, that’s too bad,” said Sleepy. “Dang it, I had to shoot.”
“Sure yuh did,” assured Musical. “That’s all right, Stevens.”