“All of them who are willing to fight,” Burkett said.
“And those who aren’t?” Conners asked. After all, most of the men had signed on as ranch hands.
“Fire them.”
“Yes, sir.” Conners turned to the other men and said, “Get out. Pass the word.”
“Sure, boss.”
After the men left Chuck Conners looked at Burkett and asked, “Are you all right, sir?”
“I’m fine, Conners.” Burkett looked up at his foreman.
“Are you worried that you see no grief? Well, I’ll save you the worry. This is not the time to grieve, this is the time for revenge. Grief will come later. Understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Conners, pick one man and have him ride into town and look things over.”
“Yes, sir.”
“We won’t move until he comes back.”
“Right.”
“Get out, now,” Burkett said. “I have to think.”
Conners nodded and left.
Burkett sat behind his desk, wondering why he felt so controlled. There was no rage, or grief, there was no feeling at all. There was just the realization that there was something that had to be done.
Later he’d worry about emotions.
Right now his concern was revenge.
Once the jail was set up for their three-day—at least three-day—siege Sam turned to Dude Miller.
“All right, Dude,” he said, “Out.”
“Hey, wait.”
“Your help is appreciated up to now, Dude,” Sam said, “but from here on in it’s up to me and Jubal”
“I want to help.”
“You have, but I don’t want you to risk your life,” Sam said. He looked at Serena, and then back at her father.
“That’s something that Jubal and I have to do, Dude, not you, and not Serena.”
“Sam—”
“Pa,” Serena said. “He’s right.”
“Dude,” he said, “go home with Serena—and for God’s sake keep her away from here.”
“He doesn’t have to keep me away,” Serena said. “I’m not a child.”
“No, you’re not,” Sam said. “Dude?”
“All right, I will.”
“And keep an eye out for that marshal.”
Dude nodded.
“All right, out with both of you. From this point on, nobody in and nobody out.”
Serena walked over to Jubal and kissed him on the cheek. His face flushed. She turned and looked at Sam.
“Take care of him, all right? And of yourself.”
“We’ll take care of each other,” Sam said. “We’re the only family we have now.”
“No,” she said, “that’s not true.”
She turned and went out the door. Miller started to follow her out. He stopped before leaving, turned, and said, “Good luck.”
“Thanks”
Dude Miller walked out, and Jubal closed the door behind him. He turned to Sam and said, “We’re gonna need it.”
Chapter Twenty-one
Sam made a pot of coffee and sat behind the sheriff’s desk with a cup. Jubal sat across from him. Sam began opening drawers and looking inside.
“What are you looking for?” Jubal asked.
“Ah, found ’em.”
Sam took his hand out of a drawer and tossed something at Jubal, who caught it with one hand. When he looked at it he saw that it was a deputy’s badge.
“Put it on,” Sam said.
“You know,” Jubal said, pinning it to his chest, “I can’t believe the way this has turned out. We’re the law in Vengeance Creek.”
“It is an ‘odd—twist, isn’t it?”
“I don’t think odd covers it.”
They ruminated over their coffee for a few moments and then Jubal said, “When Burkett comes after us, he’ll be breaking the law.”
“That’s right.”
“And then we’ll have him.”
“Right again, but not for murder—and we’ll only have him if we survive.”
“Hey!” Coffin called from his cell.
Jubal cocked his head at Sam, but Sam said nothing.
“How about some of that coffee?”
“Bring him a cup,” Sam said.
“All right.”
“Make him stand against the wall while you put it on the floor in front of the cell.”
Jubal looked at Sam and then nodded. He hadn’t thought of that. He took the coffee into the back.
“Smells good,” Coffin said.
“Stand against the back wall.”
“You think I’d waste good coffee—”
“Look, Coffin, I’d just as soon kill you as look at you.
Now stand against the back wall!”
Coffin obeyed, and Jubal set the coffee cup down in front of the cell. When he stood up he stared at Coffin, the man who had killed his brother. Earlier, when they had first heard about Evan’s death, he had been ready to kill this man. He couldn’t understand how Sam could not have killed him.
It would be easy to do now. Just take out his gun and fire. So easy…
“Are you going to wait until it gets cold?” Coffin asked.
Jubal looked down at the coffee and had the urge to spit into it. Instead he turned and walked stiffly back into the office.
“You’ve been a sheriff before, haven’t you?”
“Once or twice.”
“I’ve never worn a badge,” Jubal said. “It feels sort of funny.”
“The badge gets heavier and heavier the longer you wear it. Luckily we won’t be wearing them very long.”
“I don’t get it,” Jubal said suddenly, and Sam knew he was changing the subject.
“What?”
“How could you not have killed him?”
“I don’t know,” Sam said, shaking his head. He put his coffee cup down and rubbed his hand over his face. “I intended to kill him. I went there to kill him. When I saw him I just kept walking toward him, and I was thinking, ‘This is what Burkett wants.—I guess I didn’t want to give it to him…you know?”
Jubal studied his brother for a few moments, then said, “Yeah, maybe I do.”
“You want some dinner?” Sam asked.
“I am hungry. What’s on the menu?”
“Beans.”
“Sounds great.”
“Yeah,” Sam said, “don’t it.”
As Sam opened a can and set in on the potbellied stove Jubal asked, “What’s Burkett likely to do?”
“If I was him,” Sam said, “I’d send a man into town to look us over first, see how things were laid out.”
“What’s to see?” Jubal said, “We’re in here and he’s out there.”
“Well, when he knows it’s that simple he’ll come for us…unless…”
“Unless what?”
Sam turned to face his brother and said, “Unless he wants to make us sweat.”
“You think he will?”
Sam shrugged.
“If he does that it’ll work in our favor.”
“How?”
“If he waits long enough the marshal will get here,”
Sam said. “It’s not likely, though.”
“He knows about the marshal?”
“Yep,” Sam said, “smart me told him.”
“It must have seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Thanks,” Sam said. “Hey, you want these real hot?”
“It don’t matter. Warm’ll do.”
Sam used the coffee cups to hold the beans and handed Jubal a cup and a fork.
“What about him?” Jubal asked.
Sam sat behind the desk and said, “If there’s any left…”
Later they set up the sleeping arrangements, four hours on and four off. They decided to play some checkers before one of them went to sleep. The board was a contribution of Dude Miller’s.
Over the board Jubal said, “I just thought of something.”
Over the board Jubal said, “I just thought of something.” “Tell me.”
“The marshall’s going to be coming alone, right?”