Gunman's Song by Ralph Cotton

widened and his face took on a ghostly white pallor when Shaw turned, facing himwith his Colt half raised in his direction. Burns hadn’t been in town earlier when Shaw and his party rode in. Recognizing Shaw, the frightened man took a step back and appeared to be on the verge of bolting away at any second. “M-Mr. Shaw!” he stammered.
    â€œWhat’s your complaint, Councilman?” Shaw said in a flat yet threatening voice.
    â€œEasy, Shaw,” said Sheriff Neff, walking into the street from his office. “I’ll handle this.” He stopped a few feet from Burns and hooked his right thumb into his gun belt, showing no fear in front of the townfolk but at the same time letting Shaw know that he had no intention of going for his gun. He stared into Shaw’s eyes as he spoke to Councilman Burns. “Shaw just stopped a jailbreak.” Without taking his eyes off of Shaw’s he pointed down at Sidlow’s body and said, “That’s my gun in Sidlow’s hand. I let him out of his cell to escort him to the jake. He snatched my gun and took off. Luckily, Mr. Shaw was there.”
    Burns swallowed a knot in his throat and said with a shaky smile, “Oh…well, then, my apologies, Mr. Shaw. It appears we all owe you a thanks.” His eyes passed over the bloody, mutilated body of Sidlow Talbert, then went to Sheriff Neff, still looking frightened. “Sheriff, I also owe you an apology. I should have realized instantly that whatever is going on here, you have it under control.”
    â€œThat’s right, Councilman,” said Sheriff Neff, looking back at Lawrence Shaw as he spoke. “Rest assured that whatever I’m doing, I’m doing with the town’s best interest in mind.”
    Shaw slid his Colt into his holster and gave Cray Dawson a slight nod, prompting him to do the same.

Chapter 7

    Inside the bat-wing doors of the saloon, Willie the Devil and Elton Minton had watched and listened to everything that happened in the street. Willie’s pal Donald Hornetti had joined them, and the three stood off to the side away from the other drinkers who had crowded the doors, some of them having stepped out along the boardwalk.
    â€œThere’s what our boy is up against,” Willie whispered to Elton. “Think he’ll have any problem taking Fast Larry down?”
    Elton just stared dumbstruck at the grizzly scene in the street as four townsmen picked up Sidlow Talbert hand and foot and carried him away, his head bobbing with each step. After a moment Donald Hornetti gave Elton a rough nudge. “Hey, you, idiot! Didn’t you hear what the Devil asked you?”
    â€œOh, uh, yeah, I heard,” said Elton. But still he couldn’t take his eyes off of Lawrence Shaw and the bloody corpse.
    â€œWell?” said Hornetti, growing impatient with him.
    â€œWell what?” Elton was rattled senseless by what he’d seen happen on the street.
    Donald Hornetti snarled and grabbed him by hisshirt collar. “Let me crack this fool’s head like a ripe walnut, Willie,” he said.
    â€œNo, not now, Donald,” said Willie.
    â€œNot
now
?” said Elton, getting alarmed. “What does that mean,
not now
?”
    Donald Hornetti palmed Elton roughly on the side of his head and let out a dark, cruel chuckle. “It means not right now, but maybe real soon if you don’t straighten up, idiot.”
    â€œStop it, damn it,” said Willie. “We’ve got to get word to Barton and Blue Snake. Barton is going to blow sky-high when he hears about Sidlow. The first thing he’s going to ask is what did we do to protect him.”
    â€œWasn’t nothing we could have done,” said Hornetti, turning Elton’s collar loose with a gruff shove.
    â€œI know that and you know that,” said Willie the Devil, “but we better come up with some kind of story that Barton’s going to believe, or else