Shields looked him squarely in the eyes: “If you don’t drop that gun I’ll drop you, Bucknell,” he said pleasantly, and his eyes proclaimed that he meant what he said.
Sneed sprang forward and knocked the gun aside; “You d––n fool!” he cried. “You ornery, silly fool! Get back to the bunk house or I’ll make you wish you had never seen that gun! Go on, get the h–l out of here before you join Jimmy!”
Then the foreman turned to Shields, feeling that he had lost much through the rashness of his man.
“Don’t pay any attention to that crazy yearling, Sheriff,” he said earnestly. “He’s only feeling his oats. But we only wanted to round him up,” he continued on the main topic. “We meant to turn him over to you after we’d got him. He’s a blasted, thieving, murdering dog, that’s what he is, and he oughtn’t get away this time!”
“You keep out of this, and keep your men out of it, too,” responded Shields, turning away. “I mean what I say. Jimmy started the mess and got the worst of it. I’ll get The Orphan, or nobody will. As long as I’m sheriff of this county I’ll take care of my job without any lynching parties. Come on, Charley.”
“Deputize some of my boys, Sheriff!” he begged. “Let ’em think they’re doing something. The Orphan is a bad man to go after alone. The boys are so mad that they’ll get him if they have to ride through hell after him. Swear them in and let them get him lawfully.”
“Yes?” retorted Shields cynically. “And have to shoot them to keep them from shooting him?”
“By God, Sheriff,” cried Sneed, losing control of his temper, “this is our fight, and we’re going to see it through! We’ll get that cur, sheriff or no sheriff, and when we do, he’ll stretch rope! And anybody who tries to stop us will get hurt! I ain’t making any threats, Sheriff; only telling plain facts, that’s all.”
“Then I’ll be a wreck,” responded Shields, still smiling. “For I’ll stop it, even if I have to shoot you first, which are also plain facts.”
Sneed’s men had been coming up while they talked and were freely voicing their opinions of sheriffs. Sneed stepped close to the peace officer and laughed, his face flushed with foolish elation at his strength.