After visiting the Wells Fargo office and sending a telegraph message which would eventually be delivered to the OD Connected house in the Rio Hondo country, Mark headed towards where he could see Freda’s buckboard halted before the general store. In so doing he had to pass the hospitable doors of the Jackieboy Saloon. He saw that Dusty had collected both their horses and taken them down to the store and so would not have wasted time entering the saloon if it had not been for what he saw happening inside. Mark glanced through the batwing doors, then came to a halt. He was a cowhand, a good one, he was also a cowhand who had seen the treatment handed out to less fortunate members of his trade when they found themselves in a saloon and at odds with the owners. None of the crowd looked at Mark as he entered. Their full attention centred on the group at the bar. It was this same group at the bar which brought Mark into the room in the first place.
