Every person in the hotel-saloons ears ring from the 17 or so gunshots over the past 75 seconds. Hoffman stands up behind his bar.
There will be no more shooting! The next man who shoots will be shot with buckshot! Holster your pistols! The cowboys comply. That is, the ones who are both alive and conscious.
Hoffman yells to the kitchen,
Rolf! Reite auf dem Pferd und hol den Arzt! A boy's voice calls back,
Ja, Vater! Hoffman then yells,
Hilde, Verbandsmaterial mitbringen! Mrs. Hoffman calls,
Ja, Ludwig! She appears at the kitchen doorway holding two rolls of white cotton cloth. She looks around the dining room.
Gott im Himmel! Look what you haf done to each other! She points to the two cowboys who had guns on Sebastian's back.
You, come and get your bandaches. Then to Sebastian,
Come and get yours. The teenage cowboy say,
I'll git em, and runs across the wooden floor in his green-manured boots. The cowboys start bandaging up their wounded friends, offering each other advice on how to do it. They're not experts, but they're not squeamish either. Doos bandages Sebastian, then helps the cowboys.
Around four minutes later there's the sound of horses outside and two men enter carrying shotguns and wearing gunbelts. One is a huge, square-shouldered man over 6'3“ tall. He wears a plain 5-pointed iron badge and has a look of calm, businesslike intelligence on his face.
The other man is of average height and build. He wears a similar badge, but it appears to be of polished silver, with blue enamel lettering. The an air of stern confidence about him.
The men quickly look around the room at each person's hands and gunbelts. The smaller one says,
Nobody move! You! He points at Charlie.
Lay that rifle on the floor, gunstock away from you. The men walk around the room, checking the conditions of the wounded, unconscious, and dead. The look at each other with grim and resigned looks on their faces, but neither says a word. He says,
Did you call the doctor, Mr. Hoffman? Hoffman affirms.
What happened here, Mr. Hoffman? The rest of y'all, don't say a word until he finishes speakin.
Hoffman stands bolt upright and speaks as if a military officer giving a report to another one.
Sheriff Behan, there was shooting in the street, then these cowboy rode in the front door on their horses and dismounted. Very dronk. That man,-- he indicates Sebastian-- s
hot a bottle of whiskey from that man's hand. He indicates the first cowboy, who's lying unconscious from blows.
The man attacked him with his fists. That man (again indicating Sebastian)
held a knife. Several cowboys ordered him to drop it, but he didn't. But he did not use it as a weapon in the fight. That man (indicating Doos)
ordered them to stop fighting and tackled the cowboy. That man (Sebastian)
drew his pistol and used it as a club in the brawl. The other cowboys got angry and drew their own pistols.
Here I will state an opinion. To be clear, I cannot state it as a hard fact. I believe that the cowboys intended to attack that man using the pistols as blunt force weapons. Not as projectile firearms. They approached their opponent, rather than firing. It is true that their friend was brawling with this man, so they did not have clear shots at a target. But when their friend fell unconscious, they didn't shoot until they were fired upon.
Then that man began shooting and the cowboys returned the fire. I took cover behind the bar, so I did not see how everything happens. The shots were from the area of that overturn table and chair. There were shots from the northeast corner, perhaps one or two,but no more. The shooting continued until everyone had expended their ammunition. Those two men were behind that man (indicates Sebastian again)
with drawn pistols. They ordered him to stop fighting, and now he did. That's when I stood and sent my son for the doctor.
Thank you, Mr. Hoffman, the sheriff says. One other thing.
Was anybody else here? Did anybody leave after the cowboys rode in? Hoffman replies,
There was a man in all black clothes and hat here when the shooting started. He was a dining guest, along with these other men. But I don't see the man here now.
The sheriff looks around the room.
We know that this fella did a fair amount of shootin. Six shots. Or six pulls of the trigger, at least. How about you other gentlemen? Mr. Hoffman says there were some shots from the northeast corner of the room. And he is a trained military officer and a war veteran, as well as a respected member of the community. Which ones of y'all also did some shootin? And who were ya shootin at?
The sheriff, shotgun in hand, stares hard at Andreas, Charlie, and Doos. Maybe four yards to his left, the tall deputy sheriff also stares. He stands in a position to cover the entire room with his own shotgun.
