The Forbidden Read Online Free PDF Page A

town marshal, Morgan.” Dr. Everett broke into Frank’s thoughts.
    â€œSorry, Doc. I don’t want the job. You have a telegraph here in town. Start sending wires around. You’ll find a man for the job.”
    â€œWe are a prosperous town, Morgan.” Everett just wouldn’t give up. “We could pay you well.”
    Frank smiled at that. “I really don’t need the money, Doc.” Frank carried several thousand dollars in paper and gold in a money belt. He also had money stashed away in a secret pocket in his saddle.
    â€œSo what I heard from some lawyer friends of mine over in Denver is true?”
    â€œDepends on what you hard.”
    â€œThat you’re a rich man.”
    â€œI’m very comfortable.”
    â€œYet you drift aimlessly.”
    â€œI like to see the country. While I still can. Won’t be many more years before barbed wire will be strung up all over the place.”
    â€œI see. So you just drifted into this part of Montana?”
    â€œYes, as a matter of fact I did. I never dreamed anyplace like this was in this part of the territory.”
    â€œIt’s unique, Morgan. And so are the people. About ten or so miles farther on south, there is a colony, or settlement if you will, of Hutterites.”
    â€œA settlement of what?”
    â€œReligious people. Nice folks, but they don’t socialize much and they don’t bear arms. At all.”
    â€œThey’ll be the first to go then, if or when the shooting starts.”
    â€œAnd that will be sad, for they’re good people, model citizens. You’ll know them when you see them . . . when they come to town. The men are dressed in suits and the women in dark dresses and scarves. Good people. I like them.”
    â€œHave any of them been harmed?”
    â€œNot yet. But it’s coming.”
    â€œI wish you lots of luck in dealing with this problem.”
    Dr. Everett smiled. “Well, to tell the truth, I was sort of hoping I could change your mind about leaving.”
    Frank shook his head. “It isn’t my fight, Doctor.”
    â€œWell, if I don’t see you again, best of luck, Drifter.”
    â€œSame to you.”
    Frank checked on Dog and Horse and then walked over to the hotel. He sat in a chair on the boardwalk in front of the hotel for a time, smoking and watching the town slowly shut down for the rapidly approaching night. A pretty little town, Frank thought. Probably filled with good, hardworking people, here and in the southern section of the valleys.
    But it isn’t my fight and I don’t want to get involved in it. I’ll just keep . . . keep doing what, Frank? Drifting aimlessly?
    Yeah.
    Why? Wouldn’t this be a nice place to settle down and build a home?
    Probably.
    Then?
    I’d get myself involved in the middle of this damn war, Frank realized, adding: And I don’t want any more trouble in my life.
    That’s a good reason to leave, another silent inner voice said. Just ride off and leave these good people at the not-sotender mercies of Colonel Trainor and the other ranchers in the valleys.
    â€œDamn!” Frank muttered, pushing himself out of the chair. He decided to take a walk around town; maybe that would clear his head. He looked across the street at the marshal’s office and saw the old marshal standing out front. He’d go have a chat with the man.
    The shadows were getting long as he stepped off the boardwalk and walked across the street. “Marshal,” Frank said in greeting.
    â€œMorgan,” the marshal said. “Taking the air?”
    â€œYes. It’s going to be a nice night. What is your name, Marshal? No one told me.”
    â€œHandlen.”
    â€œBeen marshal long?”
    â€œToo damn long. It’s just a part-time job. I can’t work the land no more so the people hung this badge on me and gave me a livable salary. My wife died some years back. No one but me to worry