Washburn and Little Joe Potter’s showdown

Washburn and Little Joe Potter’s showdown converts an anticipated departure into a final confrontation. The derby that Washburn gives up, the bridge he reaches and then leaves, and the pair’s joking recognition of their “dance” shape a scene in which a settled refusal gives way to the ritual both men expected. The gunfight ends with Little Joe dead and Washburn alive, but another voice calls for Washburn to draw before he can leave, leaving the apparent conclusion unsettled.

The Refused Dance

Washburn initially insists that he will finish his drink, leave the saloon, mount his horse, and ride over Devil’s Highway. Little Joe has come expecting the familiar encounter between them, and cannot accept that Washburn intends to leave without their dance. Washburn answers plainly that Little Joe should believe him. The exchange sets up a sharp conflict between what Little Joe expects and what Washburn says he will do: the duel is not inevitable simply because the town or Little Joe anticipates it.

Little Joe’s gestures—rubbing the ends of his mustache, tugging at his nose, frowning, and pushing back his hat—accompany his disbelief. Washburn does not answer when Little Joe later demands that he either give up the hat or make his play. Instead, Washburn removes his derby, smooths it on his sleeve, and sails it to Little Joe. Little Joe catches it without taking his eyes off him. Washburn then tells him to take care of himself and walks out. The hat passes from one man to the other as Washburn appears to relinquish both the object and the confrontation it represents.

The Bridge and the Return

Outside, a crowd has gathered opposite the saloon, waiting in hushed conversation. Washburn comes out bareheaded, carrying a .44 at his side, but the narration notes that he has not used it. He unties his horse and rides at a walk toward the bridge while Little Joe emerges behind him, holding the battered derby. Their separation is public: the crowd watches the horseman depart and Little Joe watch him go.

Washburn then urges his hesitant horse across the bridge’s sloping, pebble-covered surface. At its highest point, he stops—or lets the horse stop—astride the joint between two worlds, looking at neither. He reaches for the brim of a hat that is no longer on his head, scratches his forehead, and turns back toward Brimstone. The pause gives his departure a visible interval; he has crossed toward the road out, but he does not continue. The narrative leaves the cause of this reversal unstated. What it makes unmistakable is the action: Washburn returns.

As the crowd understands what is coming, people scatter behind wagons, water troughs, and grain sacks. Little Joe alone stays in the street. Washburn dismounts, sends his horse out of the line of fire, and approaches him on foot. Little Joe asks whether Washburn has returned for the hat. Washburn says he has returned because it is their dance. The derby remains behind with Little Joe; the encounter itself, which Washburn had just refused, is now openly accepted by both men.

The Gunfight and Its Immediate Cost

The two men laugh together, treating the situation as a ridiculous joke, and then draw their .44s. The shots sound through the town; smoke and dust obscure the fighters. When it clears, both are still standing, but Little Joe’s gun points downward. He twirls it, drops it, and collapses. The sudden change—from shared laughter to decisive violence—makes the duel brief without making its consequence ambiguous.

Washburn holsters his gun, kneels, and lifts Little Joe’s head from the dirt. Little Joe speaks about the dance having been short. Washburn replies that it was too short and apologizes, but Little Joe no longer hears him. His eyes are blank and his body limp; the narration confirms that he has died. Washburn gets to his feet, retrieves the derby from the dust, wipes it, and puts it back on. The hat’s return closes the exchange of the object, but cannot undo the loss that followed the duel.

An Ending Interrupted

The crowd begins to emerge and talk as Washburn goes to his horse and starts to mount. His actions suggest a return to departure, now after the confrontation he had first declined and then chosen to resume. Before he can ride away, a wavering, high-pitched voice calls for him to draw. The call arrives after Little Joe’s death and after Washburn has recovered the hat, interrupting what might otherwise have been a final exit. The scene therefore gives the duel a clear immediate outcome but not a settled ending: Washburn survives this encounter, while the demand for another draw opens the possibility that the Western performance will continue.