home, eh, William?" Signore Difranco said. "Such wonderment. Americans are truly an inventive race. Do you prefer upper or lower, William?"

"I'll take the upper, if you don't mind."

"Thank you. I was hoping you would say that," Signore Difranco said. "I am not quite as agile as I used to be."

I climbed into the upper berth and, within minutes, was sound asleep. As I had for the past several nights, I continued to have nightmares about what had happened at Battles Gap. The image of the dead Mrs. Bledsoe stretched out on that blood-soaked table was not fading away even as I moved farther and farther away from Dodge City.

I woke to the sound of the conductor announcing that we would be in Pueblo, Colorado, in less than an hour. This was whe...

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