Free Confessions of a Gunfighter by Tell Cotten Page A

figure when I show up and you don’t that they’ll decide to follow me,” Harris said smugly.
    “So that’s it, is it?” Kinrich asked softly.
    “That’s the way it is, Ben,” Harris grinned wolfishly.
    Kinrich started stalling for time.
    “Tell me, how’d you find me?”
    “It weren’t easy,” Harris admitted. “And, it sure took a lot of doing. Finding you has been on my mind for a long while now, and this ain’t the first time I’ve tried. But, one thing I am is patient. Nobody can hide forever, including you, Kinrich.”
    While they talked I eased around the corner of the pole corrals, and neither one of them saw me.
    “I ain’t got a gun, Harris,” Kinrich was saying.
    Harris smiled wickedly. 
    “I know; this is going to be easier than I thought.”
    It was time to make my presence known.
    “Think again!” I called out as I stepped out into the open.
    Harris jumped with surprise. But he was also a professional, and he didn’t panic.  
    Harris kept an eye on Kinrich while he turned slightly and faced me. 
    “Well now, I take it you’re Button.”
    “That’s what Kinrich calls me,” I replied.
    Before Harris could respond, Kinrich shot me a dark look. 
    “Button, you stay outta this. You ain’t ready yet,” Kinrich said, and then he turned to Harris. “Harris, this here is between me and you. You let me get my gun, and then we’ll settle things, just the two of us.”
    “I ain’t stupid, Kinrich,” Harris sneered. “I didn’t come here to have a fair fight, and you know it.”
    “Just leave the kid out of it.”
    “Not while he’s wearing that fancy gun,” Harris eyed my six-shooter. 
    I ignored Kinrich as I looked boldly at Harris. 
    “I’ve got a gun, all right, and if you don’t get on your horse and high-tail it outta here I’m going to use it,” I spoke calmly.
    The feeling was starting to come over me, and I felt a strange confidence that I had never felt before.
    Harris wasn’t impressed. He had faced up to a lot of fellers that looked tougher than I did, and he wasn’t worried.
    “Talks big, don’t he?” Harris sneered. 
    I was staring straight at Harris, and soon as he said that I saw a flicker in his eyes, just like I’d seen in Tom Benson’s eyes. 
    We both grabbed for our six-shooters.
    I made the straightest and smoothest draw that I had ever made, and my six-shooter was out and firing before Harris even had his six-shooter out of his holster. 
    From my hip I fired three shots in rapid fashion, and as Harris flew backwards he managed to fire one shot harmlessly into the ground. 
    Harris hit the ground hard, and just like that he was dead.

Chapter twenty-one
     
     
    As I walked forward I discarded my empty shells and put new ones back in. I holstered my six-shooter and looked at Kinrich. 
    Kinrich was just standing there, looking at me as if he was seeing me for the first time.
    “Well, Button, I didn’t figure you had it in you,” Kinrich said softly. “Do you know who you just killed?”
    I didn’t reply, so Kinrich answered his own question.
    “You just killed Glen Harris, the Colorado gunfighter!”
    “I reckon he should have stayed in Colorado,” I replied bluntly as I turned towards the shack. “I’ll go get a shovel. We’d best bury him before dark.”
    I rummaged through the shack, and when I returned Kinrich was knelt down beside Harris.
    “Three shots, Button, and all three straight through the heart!”
    I was irritated and didn’t feel like talking. 
    “He should have left when he had the chance,” I said curtly. “Where do you want to bury him?”
    Kinrich showed me, and I got busy digging a grave. 
    While I worked I thought the situation over, and I wasn’t very happy about it.
    Killing Harris didn’t bother me much, for it had to be done. But I had killed him with no hesitation, and I sure didn’t like the feeling it had given me. 
    I had heard that killers often killed just for the pleasure of killing, and