Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the plot.
Two Tied Down
It was ten days from when he'd gotten the letter that Lance drew rein in front of the saloon in Shalako. The letter had been crudely written, but this didn't surprise Lance. Nolan Sackett never had been much hand at reading and writing. They'd met shortly after the trouble in the Mogollons when Nolan had ridden to the aid of his distant cousin, William Tell. Nolan was short of cash, and being a Clinch Mountain Sackett and not much on goodness anyway, he tried to rob a bank. It was his bad luck to pick the one with a café across the street, and he couldn't have known that Lance Kilkenny in that café. Kilkenny's suspicions had been aroused, and he crossed the street and entered the bank just as Nolan was about to draw his gun. The two had spoken briefly, just enough to let Nolan know that he didn't want to rob this particular bank. Lance loaned Nolan eating money, and a few weeks later, there had been a letter waiting for him, with a draft on the Bank of Arizona for twenty dollars, signed by Sackett. Now another letter had come. The letter was vague; all it had said was,
"Lance,
I got my self into somthin I can't handle. Com to Shalako fast. Sackett."
Kilkenny looked up and down the street before entering the saloon. He didn't have all that many friends, and with his well-deserved reputation as a gunfighter, there were plenty of people who would try to kill him for the notoriety that would come from beating the great Kilkenny in a stand-up shootout, not that many were that particular. Take Bill Hickok for an example, shot in the back by a coward who wanted the fame of killing Wild Bill. Lance tried to avoid shootings as often as possible, which was the main reason he almost never gave his full name, and he always left as soon as his name was known. Lance hated the reputation that came with a steady hand and a sure eye, but it was too late for him now, unless he went East, but he had no idea what he would do there for a living. It was an argument he'd had with himself many times. Regardless, Nolan Sackett had never been tied down to anything in his life, and if he had trouble, why not just light a shuck? That meant something or someone else was involved than Nolan couldn't leave. This could get interesting.