“Ready?” bawled Bill.  “All right!  One—­two—­three—­go!”

Johnson’s gun leaped forward, blazing; his left hand slapped back along the barrel, once, twice; pivoting, his gun turned to meet Bill, almost upon him, hands outstretched.  Bill recoiled; Pete stepped aside a pace—­all this at once.  The Texan dropped his empty gun and turned.

“You win,” said Pete gently.

Not understanding yet, triumph faded from the Texan’s eyes at that gentle tone.  He looked at the target; he looked at Bill, who stood open-mouthed and gasping; then he looked at the muzzle of Mr. Johnson’s gun.  His face flushed red, and then became almost black.  Mr. Johnson held the gun easily at his hip, covering both his disarmed companions:  Mr. Johnson’s eyebrows were flattened and his mouth was twisted.

“It’s loaded!” croaked Bill in a horrified voice.  “The skunk only shot once!”

Peter corrected him: 

“Three times.  I fanned the hammer.  Look at the target!”

Bill looked at the target; his jaw dropped again; his eyes protruded.  There were three bullet holes, almost touching each other, grouped round the nail in the center of Pete’s tin plate.

“Well, I’m just damned!” he said.  “I’ll swear he didn’t shoot but once.”

“That’s fannin’ the hammer, Shorty,” drawled Pete.  “Ever hear of that?  Well, now you’ve seen it.  When you practice it, hold your elbow tight against your ribs to steady your gun while you slap the hammer back.  For you, Mr. Jim—­I see you’ve landed your six shots; but some of ’em are mighty close to the edge of your little old plate.  Poor shootin’!  Poor shootin’!  You ought to practice more.  As for speed, I judge I can do six shots while you’re making four.  But I thought I’d best not—­to-day.  Son, pick up your gun, and get your money from Shorty.”

Mr. Jim picked up his gun and threw out the empty shells.  He glared savagely at Mr. Johnson, now seated happily on his saddle.

“If I just had hold of you—­you benched-legged hound!  Curse your soul, what do you mean by it?” snarled Jim.

“Oh, I was just a-thinkin’,” responded Pete lightly.  “Thinkin’ how helpless I’d be with you two big huskies, here with my gun empty.  Don’t snicker, Bill!  That’s rude of you.  Your pardner’s feeling plenty bad enough without that.  He looks it.  Mr. Bill, I’ll bet a blue shirt you told the Jim-person to wait and see if I wouldn’t take a little siesta, and you’d get me whilst I was snoozing.  You lose, then.  I never sleep.  Tex, for the love of Mike, do look at Bill’s face; and Bill, you look at Mr. Jim, from Texas!  Guilty as charged!  Your scheme, was it, Texas?  And Shorty Bill, he told you so?  Why, you poor toddling innocents, you won’t never prosper as crooks!  Your faces are too honest.

“And that frame-up of yours—­oh, that was a loo-loo bird!  Livin’ together and didn’t know which was the best shot—­likely!  And every tin can in sight shot full of holes and testifyin’ against you!  Think I’m blind, hey?  Even your horses give you away.  Never batted an eyelash durin’ that whole cannonade.  They’ve been hearin’ forty-fives pretty reg’lar, them horses have.”