"
"Drinking hard?" I queried.
"Nope--they didn't hit it up very hard. But they laid foundations." Of
course, Steele was not to be seen last night. This morning Blome and his
gang were out pretty early. But they traveled alone. Blome just strolled
up and down by himself. I watched him walk up this street on one side
and then down the other, just a matter of thirty-one times. I counted
them. For all I could see maybe Blome did not take a drink. But his
gang, especially Bo Snecker, sure looked on the red liquor.
"By eleven o'clock everybody in town knew what was coming off. There was
no work or business, except in the saloons. Zimmer and I were together,
and the rest of our crowd in pairs at different places. I reckon it was
about noon when Blome got tired parading up and down. He went in the
Hope So, and the crowd followed. Zimmer stayed outside so to give
Steele a hunch in case he came along. I went in to see the show.
"Wai, it was some curious to me, and I've lived all my life in Texas.
But I never before saw a gunman on the job, so to say. Blome's a
handsome fellow, an' he seemed different from what I expected. Sure, I
thought he'd yell an' prance round like a drunken fool.
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