There was trouble brewing, perhaps already boiled over. Miles was summoned by Mateo’s oldest son, Alejo to join him. When Miles arrived he was surprised to see a mob formed with Sheriff Gold and Mateo holding them off. Join me now in another exciting episode from yesteryear.
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Alejo could move faster through the snow than I could keep up. As I passed Darnelle’s place I could see in the distance where the barrio began that a mob was there. I could hear men’s voices but could not make out anything that was being said. Alejo stopped and pointed while I continued on off to the side.
“I want that bean-eater, and I want him now!” hollered Amos Martin who was almost berserk with anger. Then looking over towards Mateo, he sneered, “I don’t know how he ever became marshal, I’ll see this gets changed!”
“Settle down Martin!” warned Charlie. “That goes for the rest of you; go on home. It’s too cold out here, let the marshal do his job.”
“His job, his job,” said another man who then spit into the snow.
I knew the feelings that were racing in the minds of Charlie and Mateo. These were people they knew, people they saw everyday, but now they were looking at a rabid mob. One that was ready to attack. I reckoned it was time to get their attention. I raised the Greener in the air and discharged one barrel. The blast shook the crowd as they didn’t know I was standing there with the shotgun.
Stepping down off the boardwalk, I moved to stand between Charlie and Mateo. “There’s one more barrel for the fool that dares to take a step in this direction.”
There was some grumbling and muttering in the mob, then Amos Martin spoke up. “You can’t stop us. That boy kidnapped my daughter and I’ll see him hung.”
This was Charlie and Mateo’s fight, I was just along to help, but I figured I might as well say something. “Martin, you’ll never see anyone hung, for the first thing I’ll do is fill your gut with buckshot.”
His eyes widened, and his face sort of paled, but only for a moment for quick as a flash the bluster was back. “Mateo, you mind tellin’ me what’s goin’ on?”
I glanced at Mateo, his face grim and jaw set firm. “Javier Ballesteros and Martin’s daughter, Agatha ran off together. Amos claims they’re in the barrio and was ready to burst in to find them.”
“Are they there?” I asked.
There was a shrug of his shoulders. “Could be, I can’t say for sure. But it doesn’t make any difference, she’s twenty and the boy is twenty-two.”
“What’s he saying?” snapped Martin. “She wouldn’t go in there by herself. She knows what’d happen to her if she did.”
When he said that I moved toward him, close enough to poke him in the chest with my Greener. “I think it’s time you back off now. Let Marshal Ramirez handle this.”
“I wouldn’t trust him–he’s as filthy as the rest of them!”
Guess it was just in my nature, I couldn’t resist. I gave him a little thump with the barrel of the Greener that dropped him to his knees. A man to my right charged at me, Charlie put a bullet just in front of his feet to stop his approach.
“Best you listen to Marshal Forrest and go home. My next shot will not be a warning!” barked Charlie.
Another man hollered out, “You need to remember that you’re an elected official by the people!”
Charlie smiled, “Take it up at the poll booth, a year and a half from now!”
There was some bickering in the crowd. As Martin was pulling himself to his feet, I noticed that a few were starting to pull away. It was at that time that Parson Chapman and the Catholic priest, Damian Cisneros walked up from behind us with large smiles on their faces. When they saw the mob they…