“There goes Kelsey, wearin’ his arm in a sling,” said Slim. “He’s lucky it ain’t his head.”
“Come dang near bein’,” laughed Lonnie, and he headed for the hitch-rack.
Kelsey swore inwardly at the three punchers and wondered why Ralston didn’t deputize some of them to go with him. He met Handsome Clark at the door of a Chinese restaurant, and Clark told him that the cowboys had all disappeared when Jack Ralston showed up, and that Merrick had been the only one to ride with him.
Clark did not know about the missing money until Kelsey told him about it.
“No wonder he plugged you,” said Clark. “He probably had all that money on him.”
“Probably. It was all in currency—big bills, mostly.”
“How’s the arm?”
“Don’t hurt much. Won’t be usin’ it for a while. I never looked for Joe to shoot. He’s awful fast with a gun.”
Clark nodded.
“You drew first, didn’t you, Len?”