'I'm just a rancher, nothing more.'
'Then why are so many gunslingers coming after you? Like it or not,
you got yourself a reputation for being fast. Those boys ain't gonna
quit chasing after glory. It seems to me the only way you can change
your future is to hold on to that badge. Some gunslingers will think
twice before taking on a U. S. marshal.'
'Some won't, ' Cole argued. 'Are you going to tell me where the
regional office is or not? ' Norton ignored the question. 'I'm gonna
tell the facts to you plain and simple is what I'm gonna do. Marshal
Ryan didn't nag you into doing the right thing, so I guess I ought to,
and you're gonna have to be polite and listen to me because I'm old
enough to be your father and age gives me the advantage. We got us a
terrible problem with this Blackwater gang running over our territory,
and since you happen to live inside the boundaries, I'd say it was your
problem too. Not too long ago our little bank got robbed and we lost
us some good friends. They were decent, law-abiding folks who just had
the bad luck of being inside the bank at the time. Every one of them
was killed like a dog. We had us a witness too. His name was Luke
MacFarland, but he didn't last long.
' 'Sheriff, I'm sorry about what happened, but I don't' Norton cut him
off. 'Luke got shot up when the robbery was going on, and he wasn't
even inside the bank at the time. He was just passing by on the
boardwalk, which was another piece of bad luck all right. Still, the
doc had him mending. He would have recovered the doc said so and he
did see a couple of faces through the crack in the shades of the
bank.
He would have made a good witness when those no-good bastards got
caught.'
'What happened to him? ' 'Luke got his neck sliced like a bow tie,
that's what happened to him.
His wife got cut too. They were both sleeping in their bed, but I
think maybe one of them woke up. You should have seen that room,
son.
There was more blood than paint on those walls. I ain't never gonna
forget it.
Their little boys saw it too. The oldest, just ten last month,
found them. He ain't never gonna be the same.' The story struck a
nerve deep inside Cole. He leaned against the side of the desk, his
gaze directed outside, as he thought about the children. What a hell
of a nightmare for a child to see. What would happen to that little
boy now) Or the other ones? Who would take care of them? How would
they survive? Would they be split up and shipped to various relatives,
