The Last Dance - Memoirs of the Bounty Hunter Jeff Saint Anthony

By John J. Law

Before I begin my sordid tale, let me tell you I have no idea why they nicknamed me 'Saint'. If anything. I am the farthest thing from a blessed or divine individual. 
My profession is anything but holy. If anything, it's probably on the dark side of things. I guess that's how it always is in the West.
I'm a bounty hunter, you see. A man that hunts other men that have crossed the law and have a price on their head. In my travels, I've been to a lot of places. I've frequented my share of bars, saloons, and dance halls. But this one dance hall would be different.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.C. Hulsey Books
• Release date: Dec 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223893608

Book preview

One: Dance Hall Days

Before I begin my sordid tale, let me tell you I have no idea why they nicknamed me Saint. If anything. I am the farthest thing from a blessed or divine individual. My profession is anything but holy. If anything, it's probably on the dark side of things. I guess that's how it always is in the West. People have so much idle time on their hands with nothing but the vast territories stretching out in front of them. When you have that much time and space, your mind goes and plays tricks on you. It's idle so it does things to help you cope or pass the time, and one of those things is creating stories. And a huge part of creating stories is by naming people, place and things catchy names. Giving them labels and such to entertain and color your perception. And if there's one thing for sure, it is that I have participated and wrote many stories in my time. Stories written in blood.

I'm a bounty hunter, you see. A man that hunts other men that have crossed the law and have a price on their head. In my travels, I've been to a lot of places. I've frequented my share of bars, saloons, and dance halls. But this one dance hall would be different. This was the dance hall where I would meet Lorna Jean Calhoun, or just plain ‘LJ’ as she was known.

I had heard from one of my sources that LJ was working at this dance hall in the relatively prosperous mining town of Rolling Stone. When some prospectors discovered gold in the nearby area, the town predictably sprung up to cater to fortune-seekers, drifters, outlaws, or like in my case, bounty hunters.

The dance hall was one of the larger establishments in the town. Judging by its size and the noise within, you could tell that Rolling Stone was relatively prosperous from its mining, indeed. I heard the sound of the music from the dance hall as I approached it. The bright lights inside indicated some rowdy event happening as it always did every night. I could also hear the whistles and catcalls of the men inside. The night was not young anymore, and no doubt, they had drunk their share of liquid courage already.

I entered the establishment through its swinging doors. My senses were immediately assaulted by all sorts of stimulation. The area itself was quite large and sizable, bigger than most saloons I had frequented, and I have frequented quite a lot.

The smell of cheap cigarettes wafted through the air. The smoke was quite heavy inside the establishment and it obscured the scene in front of me. The scene itself was obscured but not by much. It still jumped at me and was so vibrant that there was no way I could look away. There were all sorts of men inside, drinking, smoking, or gambling. All of