9 The Map

The room was noisy and smoky. Men were drinking coffee or playing cards or talking at tables. Another man was serving them. There were even some chickens strutting around. Bo-Bo’s mouth watered, but she ignored them. No one looked when she slunk by.

She saw the chain snaking across the floor. She followed it to a dark corner of the room. There it was hooked to a narrow wooden stake.

The dirt floor of the saloon was hard. Bo-Bo dug as quickly as she could. The stake had just come out of the ground when—

Squawk!

A chicken had seen her.

“Dog! Dog!” the chicken squawked. In a second all the chickens were in a panic. “Dog! Dog!” they all cried. They fluttered up onto tables and chairs to get as far away from Bo-Bo as they could.

One of the men threw down his cards. “What’s going on?!”

“That’s the mutt who caused all the trouble!” another said. “Let’s get her! I’ll bet we could get another three dollars for her!”

He was one of the men who had shoved Sheng and taken his money. A wave of anger washed over Bo-Bo.

“Just try it!” she woofed.

They moved in on her.

Bo-Bo crouched. She waited until they were almost on top of her. Then she ran between the two men. They tried to grab her and bumped into each other instead.

The whole saloon saw her now. Three more men ran at her. She ran between one man’s legs. He tried to grab her but fell on his rump. Another one landed right on top of him. The man who had fallen swung a fist at the man who landed on him. He missed and hit a man behind him, who swung back. In half a minute everyone in the saloon was fighting.