A year later, the armadillo town:

"There's a curse here! Gentlemen. ”

"A person who is sick and on the verge of death will forget the restraints of morality and do many indecent acts, and the effect will be the same as that of a person who has lost his soul. So please buy some of my ginseng elixir, these rare plants will prevent you from stumbling into the quagmire of the devil and keep you away from the entanglement of sickness. "On the streets of Armadillo Town, a fat man who looked like a merchant shouted at two travelers on horseback who approached.

"If you're making up these beautiful lines just to sell the grassroots, then you don't have to work hard, Mr. Fat." One of the travelers said.

"Haha, sir, you must be the first time you've come to Armadillo Town, as I said it's a cursed town, look over there—you'll understand."

The two of them looked in the direction of the fat merchant's finger, and at the end of the street was the town's stagecoach, and not far from there were several burning fires, in which all kinds of furniture and beams crackled.

"—and the bodies of dead people, whose ashes would be scattered in the air if a westerly wind blew from New Mexico, dancing with the sand."

"What caused such a tragedy?"

"Cholera has encroached on the town, gentlemen, and we must burn the used utensils of the sick to prevent infection. But I think I'll soon be able to save that trouble — the townspeople are running away from each other. ”

"And you're still here, aren't you?"

"Oh...... I, like my aunt said, my mission is to bring medicine to useful places and save as many people as possible. ”

"Thank you for your kindness, but it's not us who needs to be saved."

"There was the same man before you who thought he didn't need salvation, his name was Arthur Morgan, and he ended up in the wilderness, tuberculosis."

"Curses aren't a joke, I'll warn you one last time, shut your damn foul mouth."

"Alright, alright, dare to ask the name of the honorable person, I think I can tell the misfortune of the two strange garnishes for the later travelers."

"Listen well, then: John Coaster and Miller Jedsan will have your head bloom one day." Seriously, in the face of this verbose guy, John really felt the urge to pull out his pistol from his holster.

The sun gradually set as the crowd chatted, and the fiery red clouds turned into a cloud of mist that reached the ground, and was immediately dispersed by the heat rising from the ground.

"So, John, do you know what's going on? I mean this town. Miller said.

"I think it's the armadillos, my father used to be part of the extermination of pests in Southwest Texas, and he told me that armadillos are leprosy hosts, and that their hard armor can withstand bullets, hence the name Archer Rat."

"John, yes! I know so much, but I really can't find any connection between armadillos and cholera. ”

"There's always a connection, like when you think of death at the mention of a pistol."

"Well, let's keep going, I don't want to travel for a year and end up with cholera—like that poor Mr. Morgan. You see, we went up that hillside, over the tall woods, and we were almost to Blackwater, and I promise we'll be able to lie down in the soft beds of Blackwater at night. ”

As Miller said, up the hillside you could see a few wisps of smoke rising in the distance, and if John was right, the town of Armadillo was a depression, and to the east was a plateau with much more abundant water and grass; To the west, it borders New Mexico, where the terrain is lower and an endless desert.

There may still be a long way to go, but John tightened his reins, and his purebred black skin horse picked up speed with interest—his beloved horse was called Black Pearl. He looked back at Miller's horse, and the great, deep-colored shire horse called the Wind was clearly exhausted. Being tall never increased the horse's speed and endurance, it only made the owner fit a heavier saddle and became something called a pack horse, so Miller's shire horses carried almost all their luggage.

"Wow!"

An uninvited guest with a gun jumps out of the shadows on the side of the road, blocking John and Miller's path.

"Let's see these two poor cowboys, where are you in a hurry?"

"Phew!"

John stopped his horse, and to be honest, the sudden appearance of the man really startled him, followed by a trace of fear, for he saw that the robber was followed by three accomplices, and his instincts immediately calmed him.

"I suppose you've come from the armadillo town, where the sick seedlings don't have the strength to rob you again, but you're lucky enough to have met us. Put all your belongings here, and then the people go. The lead bandit pointed a revolver at John and said.

"Oh, by the way, and these two horses are left, they're good tires, aren't they?" The man whistled as he walked over to Black Pearl, who hissed warning as he shook his head to dodge the stranger.

"So, what are you waiting for? If my gun had gone off, then Sheriff Sean would have done it tonight. The bandit leader threatened viciously.

John looked at the bandit leader calmly, people who knew him before would be afraid of his marksmanship, he had never been threatened by anyone with a gun. At this moment he could choose to abandon his belongings and horses to save his life, but he couldn't resist the old white-bearded creature in front of him, and he wanted to take the risk of gambling with a cowboy revolver with six rounds in his pocket and a mind that kept focused.

"Don't shoot, brother, of course we're willing to hand over what we have." John said as he gave Miller a battle-ready look.

"That's right, now dismount." The bandit leader smiled with satisfaction.

John did so, and as he was about to jump to the ground from the left side of the Black Pearl, he quickly pulled out his pistol and shot at the bandit leader from under the horse's belly, and then killed two more, and Miller killed one.

"In less than two seconds, John, I promise." Miller looked at the corpses strewn across the ground with admiration.

"Save it, you've promised a lot of things tonight." John said.

"You scavenge them and see if there's anything of value, and take a break, and I'll bring them back." Miller said as he looked at the frightened Black Pearl and the Wind not far away.

John smiled bitterly, they were originally robbed, but now they have become robbers, and they have taken four lives, in fact, he has not killed anyone for a long time...... He lifted up the old robber's body, put his hand in the corpse's pocket, and pulled out a bottle of bitter wine that had been opened, and two or three pieces of paper.

"We're gathered in Lexington...... It can't be a soldier of the Civil War, right? John said to himself that the papers were pages from his master's diary during the Civil War.

"Miller, we may be in trouble - these people may have been at war." John shouted to Miller.

But Miller didn't seem to hear it, and ran over with all his might, dragging the Black Pearl and the wind.

"Quick...... Run, John...... Those are the Lemoen Marauders, and dozens of their accomplices have come from the high woods!"

The two men turned on their horses and galloped in the opposite direction amid the roar of the trees and the whistling of bullets behind them.

From the direction of New Mexico, the westerly wind was indeed blowing, and with it the howling of wolves in the field.