A few people kept staring at Bespoke’s face. Others looked down at their beers. One or two, and this caught the attention of the Dead Men, flickered their gaze to a man who sat alone with his eyes fixed on his hands. He was so knotted up, he was shaking. The long silence that followed grew heavy and seemed to weigh down on his narrow shoulders. It grew so heavy he evidently couldn’t take it any more and he jumped to his feet and went for his gun all at the same time. He made a mess of both, went stumbling and fumbling and panicking, and Hopeless crossed to him so quick no one knew quite what was happening till the man hit the floor with a broken nose and no gun in his hand.

Hopeless walked back to the bar, put down the man’s gun and picked up his drink, finished it just as the man realised he was bleeding.

“What did you do that for?” he said. He had a peculiar accent, German or Dutch or some such.

“You were going to shoot us,” said Vex.

“I was not,” said the man, though there wasn’t a person there who believed him.

“People try to shoot me all the time,” Rue told him. “Usually because of a wife or a daughter or a sister or a mother. The point is, I’m used to having people shoot at me. We all are. But we generally know why we’re being shot at.”

The man got to his feet, blood running freely through the fingers that cupped his nose. “I wasn’t going to shoot you.”

“I’m having a hard time believing you,” Ravel said, “seeing as how you were going for your gun at the time.”

The man didn’t have much to say about that.

“What’s your name, friend?” said Rue.

“Joost,” said the man.

“Joost? What kind of name is that?”

“Dutch,” said Joost.

Rue nodded. It figured. From the accent and all, and anyway, half the world had come west to search for gold.

This was when Anton Shudder stepped forward, and the five other Dead Men at the bar seemed to step back, even though no actual steps were taken. Shudder looked at Joost, and to the poor, panicking Dutchman it seemed like the world was narrowing to a very tight space.

“Tell us what the man with the green eyes said to you,” Shudder said in his quiet voice.

“Church,” Joost managed. “He said something about going to church.”