Dirigo

There was a point, in the last minutes of Charlie Prince’s life, when he looked from Ben standing in front of him to the rancher bleeding out on the ground and saw with crystalline clarity how much of a waste his time with Ben Wade had been. It wasn’t a completely new revelation. From his first days with Wade the thought had lingered in the back of his mind as he watched Wade kill off his own men one by one. He’d shot Tommy with the same casual aim he’d shot a coyote two nights before. Ben hadn’t even bothered to shoot him in the head, but had instead hit Tommy in the throat to let him bleed to death. He hadn’t even cared enough to kill the boy quickly.

( But it wouldn’t ever be him, Charlie had thought as he robbed stagecoaches, shot deputies and burned railroad depots, all for Ben Wade. )