Free Destry Rides Again by Max Brand

“Breakfast!” he repeated. “At a time like this! Well, why not?”
    He allowed himself to be put into a chair, but his hands shook horribly when he tried to eat. His soul and nerves were in
     as great disarray as his clothes; his hair stood wildly on end; his necktie was jerked about beneath one ear; in a word, no
     one would have taken him for that Handsome Jerry who had broken hearts in Wham for many a day.
    He spilled half his coffee on his coat and on the tablecloth, but the rest he managed to get down his throat, and his eye
     became a little less wild. Instantlythe buried conscience came to life again. He clutched at his tie and straightened it; he made a pass at his hair, and then
     noticed for the first time the downward glance of the girl.
    He could read in that many a thing which had been scourged out of his frightened brain all during his flight. Ostracism, ridicule
     would follow him to the ends of his days, unless he actually met Harrison Destry, gun in hand. And that he knew that he dared
     not do. The cruel cowpunchers and the wags of the town would never be at the end of this tale; they would tell of the mad
     ride of Jerry Wendell to the end of time!
    He said, faltering as he spoke: “I would have stopped and faced him, but what chance would I have against that jailbird? And
     why should a law-abiding man dirty his hands with such a fellow? It’s the sheriff’s duty to take charge of such people. Ought
     to keep an eye on them. I said at the time, I always said that Destry was only shamming. He drew us all back, and then he
     clicked the trap! He clicked the trap! And——”
    Here he was interrupted by another voice inside the room, saying: “Hullo, Colonel! Morning, Charlie. I was afraid that I’d
     be too late for breakfast, but I’m glad to see that they’s still some steam comin’ out of that corn bread. Can I sit down
     with you-all?”
    It was Destry, coming towards them with a smile from the cellar door, which he had opened and shut behind him silently before
     saying a word.
    The three reacted very differently to this entrance. The Colonel caught up the sawed-off shotgun that had been brought to
     him; his daughter started up from her chair, and then instantly steadied herself; while Jerry Wendell was frozen in his place.
     Hecould not even face about toward the danger behind him, but remained fixed shivering violently.
    Charlotte Dangerfield was the first to find her voice, saying with a good deal of calmness:
    “Sit down over here. I’ll get in some eggs and some hot ham. I guess the coffee’s still warm enough.”
    “Thanks,” said Destry. “Don’t you go puttin’ yourself out. I been trying to get up with Jerry, here, and give him a watch
     that he dropped along the road. But he’s been schoolin’ his hoss across country so mighty fast that I couldn’t catch him.
     How are you, Jerry?”
    He laid the watch on the table in front of the other, and Jerry accepted it with a stir of lips which brought forth no sound.
     Destry sat down opposite him. The host and hostess were likewise in place in a cold silence, which Destry presently filled
     by saying: “You remember how the water used to flood in the cellar when a rainy winter come along? I had an idea about fixin’
     of that, Colonel, so I stopped in and looked at the cellar on the way in, but they wasn’t quite enough light this early in
     the day to see anything. You didn’t mind me comin’ up from the cellar door that way?”
    Dangerfield swore softly, beneath his breath.
    “You’re gunna come to a bad end, boy,” he said. “You leave your talkin’ be, and eat your breakfast. Why you been gallivantin’
     around the hills all night?”
    “Why,” said Destry, “you take a mighty fine gold watch like that, and I guess a man wouldn’t like to think that he’d lost
     it, but the harder I tried to catch up with Jerry, there, the harder he rode away from me. He must of thought that he was
     havin’ a race with