Sandy got up. Then Russ. Ryan rose slowly.

“You kin put your hands up and turn around or we’ll gun you down right here. We’re takin’ you in dead or alive!” He bragged. Four to one. The cowards had gone home and the drifter didn’t stand a chance.

“Is that right?”

And deep down inside, Linc knew the drifter was going to die. He could feel it. Linc was the fastest man in the territory and this stranger was going to be taught a lesson. No one dared talk to a Hardeck the way this man did. He had family, his father was a wealthy man. That thirst to kill was again becoming an ugly monster inside, boiling up like hot lava from within him. He was going to kill this man Cray. Murder him.

The minute hand on the wall clock was ticking loudly. A horse snorted outside. Cray’s twitching hand flashed for his gun.

The drifter started his powerful red mare at a gallop up the road. The townspeople would form a posse and come for him for those three bodies left lying in the saloon. This he knew. The fact that he had let the one named Ryan go would not be taken into account. This he knew also. It would take them about half an hour to get all the braver men together, and they wouldn’t come after him without the older, still breathing Hardeck… Over the first ridge he slowed down to a canter. Should he stop at the Peters place?

Mary Peters prayed for his return. She hoped Linc didn’t kill him. Maybe she could talk to the townspeople about the cow trouble- maybe it was all a mistake. The man she loved… She strained her eyes at the open road. As long as Cray was alive, nothing mattered.

He came in on a cloud of dust as she bounded racing from the cabin into his arms. He kissed her gently on the mouth for their first time. So many times under the stars he had longed to have her in his arms. Now here she was.

“You’re alive!” she exclaimed happily. “I knew it was a mistake”.

“No,” he said. “I am wanted.”

“But… But they let you go!” She moved her head back to read his face better. This was so complicated! What happened? Her hopes had felt satisfied when he had ridden back into sight. Surely he was here to stay…

“So, you can’t stay?” She queried. Maybe she could leave with him.

The drifter folks called Cray set her back on the ground before shaking his head.

“I just came to say goodbye.”