Free Paper Sheriff by Luke; Short Page A

to bring him over to talk with your Sheriff Branham.”
    â€œHe got water over there where you left him?”
    â€œOh yes, he’s on the Little Muddy.”
    Orville looked obliquely at Buddy who was already looking at him. Any lingering doubts as to the wisdom of what he was going to do died in Orville then.
    They saw occasional clusters of cattle as they approached the brakes, great clay and rock dunes that held the poorest graze on the floors of its canyon.
    Orville raised his arm and pointed. “There’s an old mine road that short cuts to my place back in the breaks. We’ll take that.”
    They headed into the narrow canyon, Orville in the lead. Around a couple of bends of canyon bottom the walls fell back. Ahead of them on the canyon floor lay an abandoned log cabin, its roof fallen in. Up the side of the canyon was a great dune of tailings which almost hid the sagging head frame of a mine shaft. When they were even with the cabin, Orville reined in and Reston came up on his right. Orville had shifted his reins to his left hand and now, holding the reins, he lifted his arm across his body in a pointing gesture. “To look at it, you’d never think a half million dollars come out of that hole, would you?”
    Reston turned his head to look up at the mine. He heard too late the whisper of a gun barrel on leather. Reston’s hand was driving for his own gun, his head half turned, when Orville shot. At a distance of five feet he could scarcely miss and he didn’t. The thud of the slug caught Reston in his side just below the shoulder, and the force of it drove him out of the saddle on to the neck of Buddy’s horse. Reston’s horse, terrified by the close explosion, began plunging and bucking as Reston himself fell heavily to the ground, dead before he hit it.
    Suddenly then, Reston’s horse, free of its burden, started to run up the canyon. Cursing, Orville raised his gun and emptied it at the rangy bay. Buddy belatedly joined in the fusillade and then, apparently untouched, the horse galloped out of sight around a bend.
    Buddy spurred his own mount in pursuit and Orville called sharply, “Come back! Buddy, come back!”
    Buddy checked his horse, turned it and came back to rein in by his uncle. Orville didn’t even look at Reston as he asked dryly, “You aim to make me tow him up that hill alone?”
    â€œWe got to get that damn horse, Uncle Orville.”
    â€œLet him run hisself out. There ain’t no place he can go.”
    Orville stepped out of the saddle, moved up to Reston and toed him over on his back. Reston’s eyes were open but sightless and already the blood flowing out of the wound was attracting flies.
    Orville stepped over, picked up Reston’s hat and carefully placed it on Reston’s right boot which was pointing skyward.
    â€œYou take his feet,” Orville said.
    Together, wordlessly, with Orville at the head and Buddy at the feet, they carried Reston’s body up the sloping talus of tailings. At the summit they could look down a short slope which ended in a square mine shaft whose timber cribbing was already rotting. Carefully, heels digging in, they moved the body close to the shaft, then dumped it on the shaft edge. Reston’s body rolled over, hesitated on the brink and then the top timber gave way. Reston’s body followed it into the black, lightless hole. They heard the body thudding against the cribbing a half dozen times, then there was silence for a moment, then a dim, almost inaudible thud came to them.
    Now Orville looked at Buddy, whose face was pale and held a residue of a fear that was almost panic. Abruptly then, Buddy turned and began to vomit and Orville watched him with silent contempt. Almost indifferently he began to climb up to the top of the tailings, heedless of Buddy’s retchings. At the top Orville halted and was presently joined by Buddy.
    â€œPity you had to do that,”