The Log of a Cowboy
Andy Adams
It was some time after I read this book (published 100 years ago, but I read it a little more recently than that) before I realized it was a novel, rather than a first-hand account of a trail drive from Texas to Montana. It is written in the first person, obviously by someone who had seen and done all that he was writing about.
The following excerpt is from toward the end of the book, and recounts a shootout in a saloon. You black powder guys should enjoy.
I saw the Rebels eyes, steeled to intensity, meet Floods across the table, and in that glance of our foreman he evidently read approval, for he rose rigidly with the stealth of a tiger, and for the first time that day his hand went to the handle of his six-shooter. One of the two pretended winners at cards saw the movement in our quarter, and sang out a warning, Cuidado, mucho. The man on the bar whirled on the word of warning, and blazed away with his two guns into our corner. I had risen at the word and was pinned against the wall, where on the first fire a rain of dirt fell from the chinking in the wall over my head. As soon as the others sprang away from the table, I kicked it over in clearing myself, and came to my feet just as The Rebel fired his second shot. I had the satisfaction of seeing his long-haired adversary reel backwards, firing his guns into the ceiling as he went, and in falling crash heavily into the glassware on the back bar.
The smoke which filled the room left nothing visible for a few moments. Meantime Priest, satisfied that his aim had gone true, turned, passed through the rear room, gained his horse, and was galloping away to the herd before any semblance of order was restored. As the smoke cleared away and we passed forward through the room, John Officer had one of the three pardners standing with his hands to the wall, while his six-shooter lay on the floor under Officers foot. He had made but one shot into our corner, when the muzzle of a gun was pushed against his ear with an imperative order to drop his arms, which he had promptly done. The two others, who had been under the surveillance of our men at the forward table, never made a move or offered to bring a gun into action, and after the killing of their picturesque pardner passed together out of the house. There had been five or six shots fired into our corner, but the first double shot, fired when three of us were still sitting, went too high for effect, while the remainder were scattering, though Rod Wheat got a bullet through his coat, close enough to burn the skin on his shoulder.
Got to say that I truly enjoyed and highly recommend this book. More details are at the following link:
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/AA/fad4.html
