Sins of the Father by Robert J. Thomas Read Free Book Online Page B

for enough money to eat. Then, he ended up in Timber and Sheriff Steele offered him a job as a deputy, and he had been there ever since.
“Morning, Sheriff,” Tex said as he headed for the coffee.
“Good morning, men, I hope you two are ready for today.”
“Hell,” replied Buck, as he filled his cup with coffee, “no one is ready for today. We’ll be damn lucky to get through this meeting without at least one man going down. I just hope it ain’t one of us.” “Well, it’s a last chance meeting,” replied Steele. “After today, we are going to have to take a tough stand against all of this or maybe even take sides in the matter.”
“Taking sides never seems to work,” replied Buck.
“If I were to take sides, I would side with Thornton. He didn’t start this war, Madden did,” said Tex.
“True,” added Steele, “but he did send out for hired guns when he could have let us handle the whole thing.”
“Sheriff, the three of us can’t be everywhere watching every hired gun those two have. Hell, they had shoot-outs we don’t even know about out on the range. We don’t have enough men to handle this problem. Did you ever hear back from Frank Reedy?” asked Buck.
“No, but I sure hope I do. I sent messages out to the fifteen most likely towns he would be in or stop at. I told the telegraph office to notify me the second they get a response from Reedy. Let’s just pray we’re alive to read it.”
The three men sat in the office drinking coffee and talking small talk to pass the time until noon. They all tried to act like things were normal, but they all felt an ominous feeling of doom that was slowly coming over them.
Steele and his two deputies were waiting in Jed’s Saloon when Henry Thornton and his two hired guns reined up and tied their horses to the rail and walked into the saloon. Steele had warned both Thornton and Madden to bring only two men each. Steele figured that would help to keep any problems from getting out of control. Thornton’s two hired guns, Mack Packard and Toby Hewett walked up to the bar and Thornton sat down at the table with Steele. Buck and Tex were on opposite sides of the saloon, both with scatterguns.
“Sheriff, I hope this meeting will resolve this matter, but I’m not betting on it,” said Thornton. “I’m not betting on it either, Henry, but I don’t know what else to do. You two sure haven’t given me many options so far, I have to tell you.”
“I didn’t start this war, Madden did. I never had any problem with Mason over water. It wasn’t until Madden bought the Mason spread that we had problems.”
“Yes, but Mason didn’t have as many cattle as Madden has and your herd has grown considerably too. You could have worked this out in the beginning but you both have let this matter go too far.”
“Well, let’s see what Madden has to say. At least I haven’t sent hired guns into town to kill you.” “I will give you that, and I appreciate it.” Just then, Rance Madden reined up with three hired guns. They got off their horses and started to walk into the saloon. Buck and Tex exchanged glances. Tex nodded to Buck to go to the door and Tex put his attention to Thornton’s two men at the bar. They were looking straight into the two barrels of the scattergun, and neither of them moved an inch. Madden was coming through the door and his three men were on his heels. Buck stopped Madden before the swinging doors closed behind him. Mr. Madden, you knew the rules of the meeting. Only two men apiece and I count three.”
“Kiss my ass, Buck, no one tells me what to do.” Sheriff Steele spoke without even getting out of his chair. “Mr. Madden, if you don’t order one of your men to ride out of town in the next ten seconds, I’m going to order my deputy to blow a hole in your chest large enough for a watermelon to fit through, and you damn well know that I’ll do it.”
Buck had a wide grin on his face as he cocked back both barrels of the scattergun and