Alden had dropped to his knees, his face twisted with pain, but Kendall Marsh, everything forgotten, except self-preservation, sprang into the buckboard and tried to get away, without untying the team.
He slashed at Cultus with the whip, but Cultus dragged him from the buckboard and crashed an uppercut to his chin which caused Marsh to lose all interest in the further proceedings of the moment.
At the sound of the first shot, Terry Ione, instead of following Butch Van Deen, whirled and flung open the door to the saloon. Hank North was standing in the middle of the room, his hands above his head in token of surrender, while Bad News Buker was walking towards him, covering Hank with his six-shooter.
Terry ripped out a curse along with his gun, and fired at the sheriff. Terry fired too quickly, and it was a complete miss, as far as the sheriff was concerned, but little Jules Mendoza, back there near the doorway, choked and sank down on the floor.
Came the crash of another gun, and Terry jerked back. Again and again that same gun sent its hot lead the length of that room. It was Tony Gibbs, shooting as he came. Terry Ione was sprawled on his face when the hammer of Tony’s gun clicked on an empty shell.
In that cloud of powder smoke, Tony Gibbs turned his white face and said, “He shot my friend, but I fixed him.”
Cultus was coming through the back doorway, dragging Kendall Marsh, who was beginning to show signs of life again. The shooting was over now. Alden Marsh came in, sagging drunkenly. He realised that there was no use in trying to escape.
North was the only man in the Triangle X gang who had sense enough to surrender. Bad News handcuffed him quickly and made him sit down in a chair. Men were crowding into the place, coughing from the powder smoke, asking questions. Some one had gone to get the doctor. It seemed as though all of Painted Valley wanted to know everything about it.
Cultus dumped Kendall Marsh into a chair, where he gaped vacantly around, while Bad News seated Alden near his father. Some men were working over Mendoza, trying to give him a drink of liquor, when the doctor came. His examination of Mendoza was superficial. That one bullet had been a dead centre shot, although Mendoza was still alive.
Terry Ione was beyond help, as was Butch Van Deen.