"Watch where you're going boy!" the big man growled.
"Always do!" Arrows answered.
"You bein' smart with me, boy?" the man growled.
Suddenly his head snapped back and he straightened. The marshall
was standing behind him and had him by the neck. "I'm gonna
say this just once more!" the marshall snapped, "Take
your attitudes someplace else! We're all peace officers. If you
mess with us we'll put you in jail! This ain't the fifties or the
sixties, boy! Your kind don't run wild any more. Now, I'm gonna
let go, and when I do you walk straight out the door and your
friends follow...understand me?"
The man grimaced as the marshall tightened his grip. "Yes
sir! Yes sir!" he said, "I understand!"
The marshall released him and shoved. The man kept in going, and
his companions quickly followed. The marshall sat back down and
Arrows took his place.
"We've got a report," he announced, "our subject
and his body guard were spotted at a small private airport."
They finished their supper and headed for their vehicles. As they
approached them twenty men encircled them. The big man from
earlier came forward.
"We're going to teach you some manners, n***** lover, and
after we kick the s**t outta you, we're gonna take these ladies
and have some fun with 'em before we let them go back to their
little boys!"
The marshall looked around. "Heck, there's only twenty of
'em!" he remarked to the others, "This isn't even gonna
take five minutes!"
He suddenly grabbed one of the men nearest to them by the throat,
leaped into the air, kicked the big man in the throat and two of
the men next to him, then came down and punched the man he was
holding sending him to the ground. Trivette punched one man
sending him flying then started on another.
Arrows and Walker began to leap and kick. Soon each of them had
sent three men flying. The rest charged in and it became an
ordinary fist fight. The big man the marshall had kicked crawled
off, got up, reached into a car, and pulled out a sawed off pump
action shotgun. He turned back towards the melee but the marshall
in trail gear was standing in front of him. The marshall shook
his head. "You just don't get the idea, do you?" he
remarked.
Then he punched the man so hard the man's knees buckled and he
started towards the ground. The marshall snatched the shotgun
away, fired it into the grass, then put it back into the big
man's hand. "Discharging a fire arm within the city
limits," he laughed, "that should do, for now!" He
walked off into the night as the melee behind him died down. A
few moments later Ranger Cooke found the half conscious man and
took the shotgun, then proceeded to handcuff him.
Cordell turned to William. "Get out of here!" he
ordered. "Meet you at the safe house."
The marshall and his companion quickly obliged. The police again
were not happy but took the rangers' prisoners, and their
statements, and departed. As Cordell and his wife went to bed
that night he rubbed an aching shoulder and remarked "I know
what the marshall means. This just isn't as easy as it used to
be!"
His wife only grinned and pulled him closer. "I've been
thinking," she remarked, "they've got three children!
We've got some catching up to do!"
Her husband looked at her, smiled, and turned out the light.
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