EZRA LEE AND HIS TWO YOUNGER SONS rode their horses lazily in the cool of the early morning. The fragrance of newly sprouted prairie grass announced spring. Ezra, a stern, but good man, rode tall in his saddle.
Young Caleb had an easy smile on his face as he watched two eagles make graceful circles. He thought how wonderful it would be to fly like such a graceful bird. He caught the grin on Jonas’ face, who shook his head at Caleb’s daydreaming. The men had just reached the north edge of the town of Arlington when a woman’s scream shattered the quiet of the just awakening community. They urged their horses forward, cutting between two buildings toward Dolan’s Livery stables.
A score of outlaws had pretty Claire Dolan surrounded. A pail of spilled milk muddied the ground. Two men held Claire by her arms, her eyes wide with terror. Ezra raised his Sharps .50 caliber rifle to his shoulder and charged the outlaws. His sons rode on either side, close and slightly behind, pistols in hand.
“Unhand that young girl!” Ezra yelled.
A dozen pistols and again as many rifles pointed at the three men challenging the criminals. Smoke, fire and lead roared. An onslaught of bullets blasted Jonas’ head into a cloud of crimson mist and Caleb, the youngest and smallest of the Lee boys, drew ragged breaths through a hole in his rib cage.
Bullets hit Ezra hard laying him low on his mare, but the horse bucked at the gunfire. Ezra thumped hard onto the ground.
Caleb struggled to his feet and staggered to his father. “Pa!” he cried and collapsed on his dad.
Ezra croaked out a hoarse whisper. “Run, Caleb. Get help.”
Eldon Samson trotted his horse up to the two wounded men. “Well, an old man and a whippersnapper. How come you’re so stupid old man? Did you really think you could take on us gunfighters?”
“Gunfighters?” Ezra laughed through his pain. “You’re nothing but pond scum.”
“And you’re nothing but dead.” Samson pointed his pistol at Ezra’s head.
Caleb lurched up toward Samson, the blade of a Bowie knife flashing in the sunlight. He thought of his big brother, who gave him his knife, and what Jasper would do. Caleb plunged the knife into Samson’s thigh. Samson yelled and shot Caleb in the face point blank causing the back of his head to explode blood, bone and brain.
“Goddamn, little bastard!” Samson yelled. He sucked in a lung full of air and yanked the knife out of his leg. He held it up and looked at it for a second and then tossed it next to Caleb’s body. Pointing his pistol at Ezra he said, “Here’s for that little son of a bitch.” He shot Ezra twice in the chest and then carefully aimed and shot him in the head.
“Get the girl on a horse!” Bart Moore yelled. “We need to get outta here.”
Claire screamed in her struggle against the man trying to lift her onto a horse. She kicked his shin hard.
“Bitch.” He struck her in the face with a closed fist and she went limp.
“Stop!” A shout came from the back of Finley’s Dry Goods.
Bullets started flying and Charlie Finley ducked back into his store.
“Let’s go!” Moore ordered and the men galloped off.