Luis managed to keep his head off the ground by grabbing the rope and pulling himself up on it. After what seemed like an eternity, they got back into town. The horse stopped in front of the crowd. The man dismounted and kicked Luis, who stood up. "Sheriff, I think you were looking for this kid."
The sheriff looked Luis over and nodded his head decisively, apparently satisfied. "Lock him up. Make sure the other man's alright and lock him up, too."
Buddy tried to smile at the kindness being shown by the 'strangers' of the town, as well as those few new friends he'd made, but the dire circumstances of his situation demanded a sickening scowl. This was murder, most foul, in a small Old Western flyspeck on some map; they would hang a man for less, and Buddy Reno had no defense; no inkling of recollection of what had happened at the smith's shop that afternoon.
All he did know, he cried out, dropping to his knees, still clutching Catori's hand tightly in his.
"I... I... I'm innocent... I would never... well, this time, I mean... I am innocent! You must believe me!" strangely, he found himself staring at Catori's horse again, not Sheriff Sanders or even Catori herself...
~funny, how easy it is for a man to express himself to a lady's horse, aint it...~
Luis Pasilla and Buckshot Buddy Reno were carted off to the jail, to await speedy trial and most surely execution by hanging...
Buddy was pacing, scratching his head, picking horse chips from his scalp, trying to think... trying to remember anything.
"You?" he charged the bars between his cell and the vaquero. "What were you doing with Smith? You had an argument, over spurs or.. something else... you were very very upset when you left. We all saw that... why are you doing this to me??!"
he rattled the cage bars angrily, shaking a fist at the cursing Mexican, then stopped as the outer door opened and a ray of sunshine breezed in, in the form of Catori, the pretty little Indian girl.
Buddy Reno beamed 🙄
Buddy was all smiles as the ladies entered; he licked his fingers, combed thru his crap-covered mop as best he could, then... -eewww- licked his fingers again...
Trying not to hold off the impending gag reflex, Buddy turned away from the girls and made a horrid face, scraping his tongue against his teeth like a maniac..
"Uh, girls... you shouldn't be here... shouldnt see a man in a cage... it's not right..." he spat and and turned around to face the lovelies, sulking sadly at his state...
He looked over at Luis and reconsidered. "well, as I said, for some, not all of us..."