for a while, then handed her three of his precious dollars.
“Ain't you gonna pay me more extra cause it's the first time and all?”
“Honey, I don't know where you go when you are not here, but go there. Please, just for me. Go be a little girl for one more day.” Then he hugged her and walked away.
The incident left Mattie speechless, with tears.
John and Mattie were thoroughly entertained by the area's exploding population plus the thousands of others who were just passing through. Whisky flowed all together too freely, (The same year the City of Kansas boasted 1500 full time residents, whisky sales for the area reached 540,000 gallons. A lot of it went west in the wagons, but a lot of it also immediately went down somebody's gullet. A whole lot.) It seemed everyone was armed looking for an excuse, and gunshots were heard frequently. The prostitutes seemed to be everywhere and a couple of brothel operators took one look at Mattie and begin to question her circumstance, for they could but imagine what one who looked like her could do for business. Even though she was immaculate and quite well dressed, the very moment she seemed to be alone each operator in turn
was insistent, annoying and insinuating. They both backed off when Bos appeared as if by magic, literally forming a wall between Mattie and them. Men raced about cussing their teams, moving material up from the river docks, looking for other people, chasing an Indian or just rushing somewhere. For the first mile stretching from the river up through the gullies out to the flats, it was pure bedlam.
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