The Unexpected Request - Part 52

Good Morning Wednesday Western Readers,
Did I confuse you with the different title? I had put "Meleah's Western as usual and I remembered that it had a name now.:)
I officially started work on the sequel to "Homes Fires of the Great War." This one has a title and has had one before I ever wrote one word of it: "Ria and the Gang." Sound interesting? I just hope it doesn't take me 6 years to write this one! Especially since I have one more in the series to write. Yep, there are supposed to be three in the series.


Had a fun day yesterday making salsa at my sister-in-law's. Came home with 14 quarts. That stuff is hard to stop eating when it is warm.:) The kids liked it too. Pickle Puss only wanted "juice" on her chips, while Goof Ball wanted tomatoes and Funny Boy just opened his mouth for whatever you stuck in.:) Of course Doodle Bug being not quite 2 months didn't get any.:)


Enjoy today's western!

Part 52

After shutting the door quietly behind him, Ty glanced about the room to find Sally standing with white face by the table, clutching the back of a chair with one hand and clasping her locket with the other. Her gun was in its holster upon the table.
“Sally, it’s over. We got ‘em.” He sprang forward, for Sally swayed on her feet.
“Oh, Ty!” was all she could gasp out as she felt her brother’s arms go around her. The room whirled and she hung on to his shirt.
“We’ll take them ta the sheriff an’ let him lock them up till mornin’.”
Sally looked up. “You got them all, alive?”
“All that were here. Don’t know where Bartram is, but he ain’t here.”
“But, I thought I heard a shot.”
“Duffer tried ta pull his gun on me. I shot his wrist. He ain’t gonna die. Carson wrapped it up an’ now he’s tied up like the rest a them.”
Reaction suddenly set in now that the danger was over and Sally started shaking. Her breath came quickly and her chin trembled.
Ty stared down at her in surprise. He had expected her to be glad and relieved. Hooking his foot on the rung of a chair, he pulled it out and set his sister in it for she seemed hardly able to stand. Swiftly, Ty brought her a glass of water from that wonderful pump and tried to get her to drink it, but she just stared into space, trembling, her hands twisting themselves in her skirt.
“Sally,” Ty coaxed, “jest take a drink. Ya’ll feel better I reckon.”
“Ty, they had guns.”
Sighing, Ty placed the glass on the table. “She’ll feel better if’n she talks it out,” he mumbled to himself pulling out a chair, straddling it and folding his arms over the back as he replied. “Yep, they had guns.”
“They were pointing at you an’ Uncle Bob!”
“Yep.”
“I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t even move.”
“But ya did. Ya drew Pa’s gun an’ distracted ‘em. That’s what we needed an’ ya did jest fine.”
“I pointed a gun at a person!” Her eyes were wide with horror.
“So did I an’ I had ta shoot,” he countered softly.
“They were going to kill you.”
“But they didn’t.”
“And then you wouldn’t let me come. I was left here not knowing if I would see you alive again!” And Sally burst into tears burying her face in her arms and sobbing.
Standing up, Ty stepped beside her and gently stroked her hair. He knew the tears would help. “I didn’t want ya gettin’ hurt. An’ ya know somethin’, Pa would be right proud a ya for what ya done.”
The tears were checked and muffled voice came from the bent head. “He would?”
“Sure ‘nough. Ya done saved my life an’ Carson’s too. An’ ya did it all without shootin’ a shot. Though I’d kind ‘ave enjoyed seein’ Mason’s face an’ Poker’s too if’n ya had shot a gun out a their hand.
“Ty Elliot!” Sally sat upright and looked reproachfully at him. “I might have shot you or Uncle Bob instead.”
Ty only laughed. “Ya don’t miss what yer aim’n for, Sis.”
“Well, I wasn’t aiming! It was all I could do to keep it from shaking. And I was praying I wouldn’t have to shoot because I’d have missed by a mile.”
Grinning, Ty pulled her to her feet and hugged her. “Well, are ya goin’ ta come with us ta the sheriff or stay an’ wait for us.”
“I’m not letting you two go without me!”
“Then here,” Ty picked up the holster.
Sally shuddered at the sight of it.
“If anyone deserves ta wear this, it’s you, Sally.” And Ty buckled it around her waist. “Come on, I reckon Carson’s getting plenty restless an’ I reckon they are too.”

“’Bout time ya showed up, these here birds are tryin’ my patience.” Carson holstered one of the pistols and shoved the other in his belt. Grabbing his rifle from where it was leaning in the corner, he looked at Ty and Sally.
Sally had wiped away the tears and, though her face was still pale, she looked resolute. Ty handed her the gun belt he had taken from Shorty and, picking up the two other six-shooters from Mason and Poker where they had been kicked in the scuffle, held one in either hand.
“All right on yer feet an’ let’s get goin’,” Ty ordered.
“Where ya takin’ us?” asked Shorty.
“That don’t matter, does it?” Ty replied as he helped him with no gentle hand to his feet and prodded him into line with a gun.
Mason was the only one who showed signs of resisting and Ty, relinquishing another gun to Sally, grasped him by the collar. “Don’t try any tricks, Mason, ‘cause my trigger finger jest might be a trifle twitchy an’ I wouldn’t want ta shoot ya ‘fore the others. It might scare ‘em.” Ty’s tone dripped with scorn, and Mason knew he’d show no mercy if he tried to escape.
Out in the street, with Carson on one side, Sally on the other and Ty right behind the four prisoners, they marched down to the jail past one saloon, then a second. Passed the rundown house to the jail. Here they halted.
“Sheriff!” Ty called out.
A light flickered on inside the building and in another moment Sheriff Owen appeared in the doorway. “What in blue blazes!” he exclaimed when he saw the group before him. “Get inside all of you. I don’t want to start a ruckus in the streets.”
The seven moved inside while the sheriff turned up the gas. On turning around he noticed for the first time who had brought the prisoners in. “Well I’ll be. I thought you didn’t need me.”
“I weren’t countin’ on these here low-down, scum-suckin’ yellow-livered rat-snakes bein’ in town,” Ty replied.
“What do you want done with them?”

Comments or questions anyone?