Gus is having coffee by his campfire when he hears a horse riding up quickly. Gus stands and draws his gun.
Sarah cries out frantically, "Mr. Baxter, Mr. Baxter it's me, Sarah. Oh thank the Lord I found ya." Gus is surprised, holsters his gun and asks, "Sarah? What er you doin out here?" Sarah quickly dismounts her horse and hurries to tell Gus about Jed. "The man that shot you, Jed Haskell, he showed up after you left. He's holdin Ethan an says he'll kill him if ya don't come back ta face him in a gunfight." Gus thinks a moment about what Sarah just told him. "Jed Haskell. So he's the varmit that ambushed me." Sarah is worried, anxious and ready to go back. "Yes, now lets get back there so Ethan will be safe from that awful man."
Sarah turns to get back on her horse. As she does, Gus grabs her arm and says, "Hold on Sarah." Sarah turns sharply toward Gus with a scared, anxious look on her face and says, "He's got Ethan an he says he'll kill im if'n I don't fetch ya back." Then Gus answers, "Sarah, we ain't gunna do the kid no good in the dark. Sides, Haskell don't expect us back till mornin. We'll wait most ah the night right here. Come sun up, we'll be there." Sarah looks back in the direction of her home and Ethan. Gus turns and walks back to his campfire, then turns back to Sarah and says, "Sarah, you look like you could use a cup ah coffee. It ain't no good, but it's warm against the night air." Sarah reluctantly walks back and sits by the fire as Gus pours and then hands her a cup of coffee. Sarah takes a drink and makes a face. Gus is right, the coffee tastes pretty bad. Then Gus asks, "Was the kid alright when you left?" Sarah answers, "Just scared... You know this Jed Haskell fella?"
Gus nodes his head and answers, "Yeah, I know im. He's a no account that's sure. He wants ta be the man that "out drew Gus Baxter," an he thinks that'll make him a famous gunfighter." Gus thinks on it a moment and holds his wounded, bloody gun arm. "So the coward ambushed me. Shot up ma gun arm ta slow me down. An now he's hidin behind a little boy. Don't that beat all."
Gus looks over at Sarah. She's tired and worried. Then Gus asks, "You had supper?" Sarah is far away in her thoughts, but Gus's words bring her back. "Huh, what?" Gus repeats his question, "I said are you hungry?" Sarah realizes she never did have supper. "Yeah, I guess I am." Gus smiles and offers, "Well, it jus so happens that a real nice lady packed me up some tasty vittles earlier today." Gus turns and picks up a jar, then turns back to Sarah and offers, "Here ya go, I still got some ah them peaches." Sarah takes the jar and a knife Gus hands her.
Gus looks at Sarah as she starts eating the peaches. and says, "Quite a boy you have there." Sarah swallows and says, "He's very special to me. For one so young he has such a good heart. Always thinkin of others." Sarah looks over at Gus and says, "Now look at you." Gus is puzzled and replies, "What?" Sarah points to his right arm and says "Yer arm, its bleedin again." Gus looks at his arm and shrugs it off with, "Yeah, well." Sarah moves closer, pulls out Gus's shirt tail and rips off a strip to make a bandage. Gus is surprised and fidgets, "Hey, that's my shirt." Sarah takes a stand by saying, "Hush up, I'm gunna fix up yer arm again." Reluctantly and somewhat amused, Gus sits still as he keeps one eye on Sarah. Then as Sarah works on Gus's wounded arm she asks him, "So how'd you get started with all this livin by the gun foolishness?"
Gus pauses a moment, then picks up a stick with his left hand and starts poking at the fire as he stares into it and says, "When I was jes a young pup, younger than yer boy, my Pa took off on me an Ma. But unlike you, Ma never gave two hoots fer me neither, so she up an left me not long after Pa. She said I could fend fer myself." Gus gives the fire another poke with the stick and looks up at Sarah as he continues with, "First man I ever faced in a gunfight was runnin his mouth about my Ma. Truth was, everything he said was right. I jes hated hearin it." Gus gives the fire a hard poke and says, "Had a lot of hate all churnin inside me. Still do I guess. But the straight fact is," Gus looks up at Sarah. "I'm gittin powerful tired ah packin it around."
Sarah finishes fixing up Gus's arm, then looks right into Gus's eyes and says, "Then stop frettin about yer past. Hang up yer guns an go on with yer life." Gus questions Sarah with, "That's easy fer you ta say. But what about them men I killed? What about their families?" Sarah continues. "The families of them men don't have ta forgive you sos you can have peace. Forgiveness and peace come from God." Gus looks at Sarah and nods his head. "Ya know, I do believe you are the most sincere person I ever met with all this God talk."
Sarah smiles and offers "it ain't jes talk Mr. Baxter. It's how me an Ethan live." Gus looks up at the night sky and says, "Well, I don't know about all that, but we best be gittin some shut eye. Mornins gunna come quick an we need ta be ready." Gus picks up a bed roll and hands it to Sarah. as he says, "You can bed down with this." Gus takes his hat off, lays down with his head against his saddle and puts his hat over his face. Sarah rolls out the bed roll and lays down. Thinking about Ethan, she's scared and uneasy as she lays there looking up at the night sky, praying that Ethan is alright, and not knowing what the morning will bring.