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a little more. He gave up easy, didn’t he?”
    â€œI don’t know Ryan well enough to judge,” he replied.
    â€œYou sure you want to give the badge up?”
    â€œI’m sure. I’m not cut out to be a lawman.”
    â€œYou thinking you ought to be a gunslinger? Some folks think there ain’t no difference at all between a marshal and a gunman.”
    â€œI’m just a rancher, nothing more.”
    â€œThen 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.”
    â€œSome 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 liveinside 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.”
    â€œSheriff, 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.”
    â€œWhat happened to him?”
    â€œLuke 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, or would they take to the streets, the way he had when he was a youngster? Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Ryan on a black horse riding at a gallop down the main street. He hoped the marshal would catchthe monsters who had made those children orphans. In one night, their lives had been changed forever.
    He turned back when the sheriff spoke again. “There was no call to kill those two, no call at all. You know what Ryan said?”
    â€œNo, what’s that?” Cole asked.
    â€œThat it was a miracle they didn’t kill those little boys. If one of them had come into the room while they were butchering, they would have killed him for sure … the others too.”
    â€œWhat’s going to happen to them?”
    â€œThe boys?” The sheriff looked bleak, disheartened. “My Josey and me offered to take them all, but the relatives back east said they’d give them a home. I think they’re