Besides "Galway" Mike, who was reading the Pahrump County News behind the bar, there were three men in Mike's Place. One of the three was a stranger. He sat drowsily at the corner table, hat pulled over his eyes, whisky untasted. The other two stood at the bar.

The tall, dangerous man who had a rattler skin about his white Stetson was speaking:

"It's like this, Murphy. Right after the old man died, young Shumway went to the pen. He was caught dead to rights with a runnin' iron, y' understand-"

"So I heard." The large, red-faced man chuckled. "So I heard, Buck."