William "Billy" Jones is an old friend of Paladin's, but where they met or why they became friends is unknown. Paladin knows Billy because of his banjo playing and has apparently kept track of where he is. When Billy mails Paladin one of Paladin's business cards with a banjo drawn on it, Paladin immediately knows who it is and where to ind him.
Billy has signed on to be the mayor of a small town, partly as a lark and partly because his hardbitten wife Elise, a local saloon owner, drove him to it. Elise seeks to consolidate her grip on the town, which is at least two-thirds miners. Elise wants to keep the ranchers coming to town and keep her saloon making a profit, and has the local sheriff Cooley in her pocket. Billy goes behind her back to hire Paladin to keep his political rival Jansen safe from Elise's machinations.
At the end of the day, Paladin sides with Jansen and helps ensure a fair election. Jansen is elected, and he and the miners bring the body of another miner, Fred Wade, into the town for burial. Fred was earlier killed by a cowhand. Cooley has enough and turns on Elise, and takes the murderous cowhand off to jail. Billy hits a rancher who insults Elise, telling him to keep a civil tongue in his mouth. However, he then walks away from Elise, presumably for good, figuring that some saloon will always want a loudmouth who can play a banjo.
