robberies aren't your problem. They're mine. I just thought . . .
hoped, anyway . . . that you would want to help. I won't accept your
resignation, though. You're going to have to ride to the regional
office and surrender your badge to the marshal there. Sheriff Norton
will give you the directions. I've got to get going to Rockford Falls
before the trail grows cold. No hard feelings? " he asked as he put
his hand out.
Cole shrugged and shook Ryan's hand. "No hard feelings." Ryan headed
for the stable at a run. Cole watched him leave and then followed the
sheriff inside the jail to find out where in tarnation the regional
office was located.
"If it isn't close-by, I'm sending the badge back, " he told the
sheriff.
Norton sat down heavily behind his desk and stacked his hands on top of
his papers. "I don't think Marshal Ryan will cotton to that idea.
Those badges are considered sacred, son. I wouldn't get him riled up
if I was you. He went to considerable trouble getting you appointed,
and it sure seems peculiar to me that he didn't want to argue with you
a little more. He gave up easy, didn't he? " "I don't know Ryan well
enough to judge, " he replied.
"You sure you want to give the badge up? " "I'm sure. I'm not cut out
to be a lawman."
"You thinking you ought to be a gunslinger? Some folks think there
ain't no difference at all between a marshal and a gunman."
"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