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Sam immediately tried to soothe his sister and the kids.
“I’ll be back, Sam…” Lee promised.
Sam had tears in his eyes. “Want me to go with you?” he managed.
Lee glanced at him with a slow smile. “No, but thanks for the offer.”
Lee saw the direction the rider was going and, since he winged him, he figured he wouldn’t be hard to catch. He was right. Evidently, he had shot him. The man left a blood trail for Lee to follow…
He was going into the heavy brush, trying to hide out. Lee meticulously followed.
By nightfall, he was almost upon him. He saw his fire and wanted to check out the camp before he went barging in. He recognized the man instantly; it was one of Jeffries’ other sons, Tor.
He figured if he could get the drop on him, he’d go in, his gun pointing. Once Tor settled in for the night, Lee rushed into the campsite.
“Drop it, Tor,” Lee commanded.
“Who the h…” Tor whipped around to see Lee staring at him. “What do ya want?”
“I’m taking you into town,” Lee informed him.
“Fer what?” Tor asked, his eyes blazing at Lee’s gun.
“For trying to kill my wife, that’s what for,” Lee answered. “You aren’t getting away with it, Tor.”
Tor stared at him then broke out in a huge grin. “You don’t think they’ll arrest me for shootin’ a Negro, do ya?”
“I do…” Lee said, but his mind did war with the fact that he could get off free. It irritated him to think it, but it was possible.
“They ain’t gonna believe it and even if they do, they won’t do anything about it,” Tor boasted.
Tor started to reach for his bedroll. “Don’t do it, Tor. Don’t give me an excuse to kill you.”
“You gonna kill me over that black b…”
“Shut up. Not one more word.” Lee eased his hand on the trigger. He didn’t need much more reason to shoot Tor, but he tried to calm down. He knew he was emotional right now, and Tor had that on his side. He had to think straight on what to do.
“Why’d you shoot her?” Lee asked.
“Do I need a reason?” Tor chuckled.
“Yeah, you do…” Lee frowned, coming closer.
“Daddy and the rest of us didn’t take too kindly to you killin’ our brother. He feels he’s entitled to retribution. He knew if we killed her, he’d get it.” Tor laughed. “So…is she dead?”
“I don’t know… I ought to beat the livin’ daylights out of you,” Lee hollered.
“Yeah, a one armed man beating me up.” Tor laughed.
“You want to try it?” Lee asked.
“Sure, I done whipped you once.”
“Let’s try it again,” Lee said, taking his gun belt off and laying his gun aside. As soon as he did, Tor went at him, his head butting him in the gut. Lee groaned and put his hand on his shoulder to shove him away.
They fell to the ground and rolled, jabbing each other with their fists. The dust flew.
They nearly rolled into the embers of the camp fire, but Lee got to his
