Notes 5

Lisa had fried a chicken for lunch. She also had made mashed potatoes and was going to have gravy, but she didn’t want to start the gravy
until Hugh came home. She didn’t want it to get cold. She had everything ready but the gravy, so she decided to wait in the swing on the
front porch. That way she could see him coming and get the gravy started so that it would be done just as he walked into the house. As she
waited, she could hear Sanders, Patterson, and Haverkost from the barn. “Now what horse with any sense of pride would even get into that
stall?” Sanders asked. “Hell, Jake, ain’t you ever painted nothin’ before? That’s awful.” “Yes, sir, I reckon it is. But you’re right. I ain’t never
painted nothin’ before.” “You ain’t?” Sanders asked. “What about you, LeRoy? You ever painted anything?” “Yeah, sure. I’ve painted
before.” “Good. See what you can do to clean up the mess Haverkost has made.” Lisa chuckled at the interplay of dialogue, then she saw
Hugh’s horse returning. The saddle was empty. “Mr. Sanders!” she screamed in fear and dread. “Yes, ma’am?” Sanders hurried out of the
barn. Patterson and Haverkost were with him. “There’s Hugh’s horse! The saddle’s empty!” “We’ll check it out,” Sanders promised. The
three men saddled quickly, then rode out to where they knew Hugh had gone earlier. The first thing they saw was a black lump on the
ground. Although he was still too far away to make out any actual details, Sanders knew it was Hugh Conway. The men urged their horses
into a gallop and quickly covered the rest of the distance. Arriving at the scene, they swung down and hurried over to the still form.
• At first, given the way he was lying on the ground, Sanders thought that he might be dead,
but as he knelt beside him, he could hear him breathing. “Mr. Conway! Mr. Conway!” Sanders
began patting Hugh on the cheek. “Mr. Conway, are you all right? Are you all right?” Hugh’s
eyes fluttered open, and he looked up at Sanders with a confused expression on his face.
“Why are you asking me if I’m all right?” “Because you are lying on your back in the dirt.” “I
am?” “Yes, sir, you are. What happened?” “I . . . I don’t know. The last thing I remember is
starting back home.” “Can you get up?” “I suppose I can.” Hugh lay on the ground for a
moment with the changing expression on his face providing the only indication that he was
trying, without success, to do something. “Ed,” he said in a strained voice. “I don’t seem to be
able to move my legs.” We got ’im, Mr. DuPont. We got Jensen!” John Mason said excitedly
when he, Greene, and Toone returned to Purgatory Pass. “We killed his ass,” Toone said.
“Killed the rest of ’im too,” Greene added with a laugh. “Good job, men!” DuPont said with a
pleased smile. “We’ll have to have a little celebration.” When Luke McCoy and Lem Mason
rode into Purgatory Pass about an hour later, the celebration was well underway with a lot of
drinks and laughter. “Lem, you ’n Luke come grab a drink and join the celebratin’!” John
Mason called. “What is it you’re celebratin’?” Lem asked. “Yeah, that’s right. You ain’t heard
yet, have you, brother? Matt Jensen is dead. Me ’n Toone ’n Greene kilt him,” John said.