Bud flushed quickly, but he recognized the fact that Buck Brady would back up his sign. That was why Buck was their sheriff.
“Kinda sudden, ain’tcha?” asked Bud.
“No-o-o. I’ve been thinkin’ this out quite a while, Bud.”
“Is this the idea?” queried Bud. “We all turn our guns over to you, and you turn ’em back when we’re ready to leave town?”
“That’s what the sign says, Bud; and I wrote the sign.”
Bud laughed and turned to his men.
“It’s all right, boys. Shuck your guns. I reckon we can stand it, if the others can.” And then to the sheriff, “You might have a little trouble with Pete and his gang.”
“I hope they’ll be reasonable.”
The men put their guns on a poker table, and the sheriff picked them up, putting some in his pockets, some inside the waistband of his overalls.
“You’ll have to remember your own guns, boys,” he said.