Perhaps Maddock is returning to normal, if normal is defined by fist-fights in the street, gunfighters playing law, hostage-taking and Chinese doctors playing hero.
And so the story unfolds: One fine afternoon found a group of men watching a fight that had occurred over a slur to someone's manhood, abilities to defend themselves. The battle attracted an audience and the audience, a gunfighter who maybe was law. Mostly, it broke up, but then things got ugly, and the man who tried to recreate peace drew a gun. A cronie of one of the boxers took a visiting writer -- woman -- hostage. People were threatened, people hid and the Chinese doctor arrived.
Stories differ then, but agreement was on the spectacular show of the Chinaman's kicking the hostage-taker down, without harming the woman. He, evidently, worked on his once-foe as a doctor, helping to restore the fallen to life. In the meantime, the man who broke the fight -- named Temple -- managed to convince one man to walk himself to jail and turn himself in. The others, one of whom got shot by Temple, escaped on a horse, adding horse-theivery to their crimes.
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