I could not believe my ears when I heard Longley's voice in Tompkins Mercantile. Seeing the nefarious gunfighter twice in so many days was an unbelievable occurrence. His reason for stepping into the store became clear when he asked who owned the palomino out front.
There was no good going to come of his line of questioning. I could feel it in the pit of my stomach. As words were exchanged between jimmy and Longley, tension sang through the air. I did not have to look at Kid, Buck, or Lou, to know that they were all feeling the tension rising in the store as Jimmy didn't comply to Longley's wishes and apologize to him.
For once I wished that Jimmy wasn't so cocky and sure of himself. Jimmy was fast with a gun, but he had never been called out before. Longley didn't play by the rules either, so Jimmy was definitely out of his league.
Too bad Jimmy didn't see it that way. Kid did, though. He did the only thing anyone could do to save Jimmy's life at that moment. He knocked Jimmy out.
Cody chuckled as he recalled the surprised look that came onto Jimmy's face when Kid hit him. He also remembered how spit fire mad Hickok was when he woke up in the back of the wagon, trussed up like a hog waiting to be roasted. The fistfight that ensued after Buck cut him free was a rip roaring one that Teaspoon had stopped by drenching both with water. After he and Emma had learned what the fight between Jimmy and Kid was about, Teaspoon had hauled him over to the sweatlodge for a long talk.