Man with No Name- Quickdrawing Sentenza

They faced one another, a dozen paces apart. The bounty-hunter took a long drag on his cigarro and flipped it away. His right hand hung just below and behind the butt of his gun.

  Sentenza used his left hand to pull the long frock coat away front the holster on his left hip. His right hovered close to his belt.

  “The count of five suit you?”

  The hunter nodded.

  “Tuco, stop that damn babbling and give us the count.”

  Tuco moistened his lips and began to count in a high, quavering voice.

  At the count of five the poised hands moved in a blurt of fantastic speed. The slap of palms against walnut butts sounded almost as one.

  Only a single gunshot thundered.

  Sentenza stood very still, the long-barrelled pistol only half drawn. He stared at the bounty-hunter, his forehead creased in a frown of perplexity. He gave his head a little shake, as if some thought troubled him.

  Then, very slowly, one knee began to buckle. He turned half around in a grotesque, dipping pirouette, then fell heavily on his side. His hand made one feeble effort to finishing drawing the pistol, then went limp.

  The hunter strode to his fallen adversary, stirring the body with the toe of his boot. He holstered his gun and turned away.

- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly novel, chapter 20