“I don’t know, just tired of messin’ with it, I reckon.” He reached up and stroked his upper lip. “Sure feels strange without it, though.”

“I liked it,” Dinah Belle said. “You shoulda left it.”

“If I’da known that, I mighta left it on,” Booth japed.

Bodine was about to complain that she never made a fuss over his mustache when he heard the door in the store open. When he turned to look, he saw Jacob and Hawk walk in the store, so he left his wife to tend the bar and walked over to greet them. “Well, Woodley, who’s this you got with you?” He gave Hawk a hard looking over, especially noting the Winchester in his hand, before commenting, “It’s been a while, but I remember you.”

Before Hawk could say anything, Jacob blurted, “I’m needin’ some things, if you ain’t gone crazy with your prices again.”

“Hell, old man, you’d bitch if I gave ’em to you for nothin’,” Bodine said.

“Try me,” Jacob responded immediately.

“You can always go somewhere else to buy your piddling supplies,” Bodine suggested. “It ain’t but about forty miles to Helena.” He was participating in the usual debate about prices with the old man, but in his mind, he was still working on when he had seen Hawk. When it began to come back to him, he ignored Jacob and talked directly to Hawk. “I remember you now, you and that crazy Blackfoot Injun. Is he with you?” He strained to look around behind them, looking for Bloody Hand.

“Nope,” Hawk replied. “That was four years ago. I don’t do much huntin’ for hides anymore. The only huntin’ I do now is for something to eat. Right now, I’m tryin’ to catch up with four men that musta come here. I don’t suppose you recollect.”

“Four men?” Bodine responded. “Yeah, I’ve seen ’em. They rode by here yesterday. They stopped long enough to have a drink of likker, then they headed on outta here, goin’ to Helena.” He said it, knowing even then that Booth Corbin was standing at the bar, talking to Dinah Belle.

“Reckon I’d best not waste much time here, then,” Hawk said. “Stoppin’ long enough for a little drink of whiskey sounds like a good idea, though. How ’bout it, Jacob? Could you use a little shooter? I’m buyin’—figure I owe you one for roustin’ you outta the bushes.”

“Never turn down a free drink of likker,” Jacob said, “even if I ain’t got time for one.” He unconsciously looked back toward the door to make sure Thomas wasn’t coming in, then handed Bodine a list that Thomas’s mother had written for him. “There’s some things we need,” he said to him. Then he followed Hawk, who was already walking toward the bar on the other side of the store.