Tom Washburn and Little Joe Potter

Tom Washburn and Little Joe Potter’s relationship turns on a showdown that both men recognize as expected, even while Washburn initially tries to leave without facing it. Their meeting in a saloon is quiet and courteous: they share a drink, speak plainly about Washburn’s departure, and part with Little Joe receiving Washburn’s derby. The apparent conclusion does not hold. Washburn returns, accepts the confrontation, and kills Little Joe in a brief exchange of gunfire. As he prepares to ride away, a wavering voice calls for another draw, leaving the encounter’s immediate aftermath unresolved.

An Expected Meeting

The relationship is established through a striking imbalance between recognition and acquaintance. Washburn has never seen Little Joe before, yet knows who he is; Little Joe, by contrast, already knows Washburn and addresses him by name. The two arrive at the meeting with the weight of an anticipated confrontation, but the scene does not begin with violence. Little Joe is alone at the saloon bar, wearing a black leather vest and a Mountain Man’s buffalo hat, with an unholstered gun high in his belt. Washburn comes in, and Little Joe offers him a drink. Washburn nods; Little Joe finds another glass, pours it, and they sip quietly together.

That shared pause matters because it makes the conflict more than a sudden encounter between strangers. Little Joe is nearly thirty, older than Washburn expected, and speaks gently as he raises the rumor that Washburn is leaving the Territory in a hurry. Washburn confirms it. Little Joe then brings up the further report that Washburn intends to leave without giving him the time of day. Washburn confirms that too, admitting he had not thought he had time for him. Their manner stays civil, but the central disagreement is now explicit: Little Joe expects a meeting, while Washburn has planned to depart without one.

Departure and the Derby

Washburn makes his intention concrete. He says he will finish his drink, walk out, mount his horse, and ride over Devil’s Highway. Little Joe responds with visible surprise, tugging at his nose and pushing back his hat; he had not expected to hear Washburn refuse him. When Little Joe asks whether Washburn is really not going to face him, Washburn finishes his drink, sets down the glass, and starts for the door. The gestures give the exchange its restraint: neither man raises his gun, and Washburn’s departure appears, for the moment, to settle the matter by avoiding it.

Little Joe stops him with one final point: he has made a bet concerning Washburn’s derby and says he will have to take it. Washburn already knows about the wager. Little Joe frames the demand as something that pains him, but does not withdraw it. When Washburn stands silently glaring, Little Joe tells him there is no point simply standing there: he can hand over the hat or make his play. The derby thus makes their conflict tangible. It is not merely a challenge spoken between them; a bet has attached a specific possession to the expected encounter.

Washburn chooses neither to fight then nor to keep the hat. He takes off the derby, smooths it on his sleeve, and tosses it to Little Joe. Little Joe catches it while keeping his eyes on Washburn, and his response suggests surprise at the unexpected outcome. Washburn again wishes him well and walks out. The exchange can look like a final settlement: Little Joe receives the object at stake, and Washburn leaves without drawing. Yet it resolves only the wager, not the confrontation. The sequence of departure, surrender, and return makes the hat an interval between the two men’s first parting and their eventual showdown.

The Showdown

The confrontation takes place in the dusty street, where a crowd watches Washburn ride back toward Little Joe. As people realize what is about to happen, they scatter for cover behind wagons, water troughs, and grain sacks. Little Joe alone remains in the street. Washburn dismounts, sends his horse out of the line of fire, and walks slowly toward him. The movement is deliberate, replacing the hurried departure announced in the saloon with a purposeful return.

Little Joe asks whether Washburn has come back for his hat. Washburn says that he has come back because it is their dance. They both laugh at the absurdity of the situation; then both draw. The laughter does not prevent the violence or turn it into play. It marks how the ritual they have approached with formal manners and familiar gestures suddenly becomes lethal. Smoke and dust obscure the men, and when they clear, both are still standing. Little Joe’s gun points down; he twirls it, watches it fall from his hand, and collapses. Washburn holsters his weapon and kneels beside him.

Little Joe is still able to speak briefly, remarking on the shortness of their dance. Washburn answers that it was too short and expresses regret, but Little Joe no longer hears him. He dies from the gunfight. The scene therefore ends the relationship’s central contest not in triumph or reconciliation, but with Washburn’s apology arriving too late to be received. The courteous saloon conversation, the bet, and the joking exchange in the street have all led to a finality neither the ritual nor their manners can soften.

A Departure Interrupted

After Little Joe’s death, Washburn retrieves the derby from the dust, wipes it off, and puts it back on. The hat returns to him, but only after the wager has been settled by the confrontation that he first tried to avoid. He walks to his horse as people emerge from their hiding places and conversation resumes around him. The crowd’s return gives the street a public aftermath: the duel is over, and others have witnessed it, but the text does not identify what they say or describe any further response to Little Joe’s death.

Washburn puts one foot in the stirrup and begins to mount. At that moment, a wavering, high-pitched voice calls, “Okay, Washburn, draw!” The challenge arrives just as he appears ready to leave, echoing the original problem of departure and confrontation. The speaker is not identified in the passage, and no outcome follows here. The ending therefore does not show Washburn’s life returning to ordinary movement after Little Joe’s death. Instead, it places a new demand on the same act of leaving, making the conclusion of this particular showdown the threshold of another unresolved encounter.