Pete Hamilton, anxious that the passing of his unprofitable
servant should be marked by decorum if not by grief, mentally
classed the event with election day, in that he refused to sell
any liquor until the sheriff and coroner arrived. He also, after
his first bewilderment had passed, conceived the idea that
Saunders had committed suicide, and explained to everyone who
would listen just why he believed it. Saunders was sickly, for
one thing. For another, Saunders never seemed to get any good
out of living. He had read everything he could get his hands
on--and though Pete did not say that Saunders chose to die when
the stock of paper novels was exhausted, he left that impression
upon his auditors.
The sheriff and the coroner came at nine. All the Hart boys,
including Donny, were there before noon, and the group of Indians
remained all day wherever the store cast its shadow. Squaws and
bucks passed and repassed upon the footpath between Hartley and
their camp, chattering together of the big event until they came
under the eye of strange white men, whereupon they.
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