“Wait for my signal,” Jesse whispered, then pushed away from the edge of the door and ran across the open doorway. He made it to the middle of the opening before the blast of a shotgun broke the silence and knocked him down. Frozen by the shock of seeing his brother flat on the ground, Booth was unable to move for a long few seconds, the explosion of the shotgun blast seeming to continue ringing in his ears. The Colt .44 he held in his hand felt heavy and cold, and he thought he heard Jesse calling his name. After another moment, he heard it again.

“Booth,” Jesse cried out in agony as he struggled to pull himself up on his hands and knees. “I’m hurt bad,” he wailed painfully, bleeding from his face and chest, as he tried to pull himself back out of the open doorway. “Help me, Booth.”

Booth had no intention of exposing himself to the same reception Jesse had run into. Undecided what to do, all thoughts turned to saving himself from the same fate. Still, he stood beside the back wall, frozen, while he heard Jesse’s pitiful pleas for help. Then there was another shotgun blast and Jesse’s cries were no more. Terrified at that point, he turned and ran as fast as he could, down the side of the corral, expecting a bullet to find him at any second. When he reached the pine trees, he remained in them, running until he thought he could safely leave them. Only then would he cut back to the alley that ran between the saloon and the barbershop, his fear driving him until he reached the horses tied at the rail. He untied the horses, climbed into the saddle, grabbed the reins of Jesse’s horse, and galloped off down the street toward the Capital City Saloon.

Back at the stables, Grover Bramble broke his double-barreled shotgun and reloaded with two new shells. He suffered no qualms for having taken the man’s life. He might have given any intruder a dose of buckshot if they came sneaking into the back of his stable under the cover of darkness. But this time, he had been warned by Bertie Brown about the two men who were hunting Hawk. And Hawk was a friend of his. “You can come out now,” he called back over his shoulder. “The other one ran off behind the corral. I reckon I’d best shut this door now, seein’ as how it’s attractin’ vermin when it’s open.”