CHAPTER 27FOR A MOMENT no one moved, no sound came save the steady beat of the wind over the restless stomp of Downer’s horse. Then Sandson bent down and, without leaving the saddle, pulled the knife from the ground and placed it in his pocket.
“Don’t worry, Major. We aren’t going to hang you here. I made a deal with the boys.” He indicated the glowering, silent Laytons. “You’re going back to the Springs for a trial, a fair trial, with a lot of farmers on your jury.”
“So you did sell out.” Bruce Powell sounded bitter. “You’ll ride back to town leaving the grangers to hold the hills and Daigle to buy Downer’s herd.”
“Wrong.” The marshal’s thin lips twisted in a narrow smile. “These boys came out to meet me at daybreak, as soon as they found their father. They guessed someone from our cam
