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"And where's the sheriff during all this?"

The hangman took the toothpick out of his mouth, flicked it away and said, "Oh, he's the one bein' hanged."

 Chapter Two

"So, in other words," Lancaster said, putting all the facts together, "it's a lynching."

"All legal and on the up-and-up," the hangman said, shaking his head.

Lancaster looked at the mayor.

"What's your name, sir?"

"Hansen," he said, "Mayor Fred Hansen."

"Mayor Hansen, are you a duly elected or appointed judge?"

"Closest thing we got to one in this town," the hangman said.

"And what's your name?"

"Quitman," the man said, "Sam Quitman."

"And what qualifies you to be a hangman, Mr. Quitman?" Lancaster asked.

The man took a fresh toothpick from his shirt pocket, smiled, said, "I volunteered," and stuck it in his mouth.

Lancaster wondered why anyone would volunteer for such a job, but he didn't have a chance to ask.

"Come on," Quitman said to the mayor, "we got to get it done."

Lancaster noticed that the mayor did not seem happy about it. He also noticed that, of the three men, Quitman was the only one who was armed.

"'Scuse me," Hansen said to Lancaster, and moved past him. The angle was such that only Lancaster was able to see the pleading look in the man's eyes.

"You got somethin' else to say about all of this, Mister?" Quitman said, coming up alongside Lancaster. The other man had to look up, as he was about five inches shorter than Lancaster's six-four.

Lancaster held up his mug and said, "I just came in for a cold beer."

"Well, take my advice: Finish your beer and then move on." With that, Quitman moved past Lancaster and out of the saloon, walking in the mayor's wake.

"You got to do somethin' about this, Mister!" the bartender blurted, when they were alone.

"About what?"

"It's Quitman and his gang. They forced Mayor Hansen into this."

"And the townspeople? They're just going along with it?"

"They just went crazy," the bartender said. "It's hot, and Quitman incited them to have a trial and find Sheriff Lockwood guilty."

"Of what?"

The barkeep shrugged.

"Who knows?"

"They're hanging a man--a lawman--and they don't know why?"

"Quitman said he knows why, and that's enough," the bartender said. "Once the jury came back with a guilty verdict--and they didn't even leave the room--they took the sheriff down the street to get a rope. But it's Quitman who's gonna do the hangin', and once he's done that him and his men will take over the town."

"And no one will try to stop them?"

"Sheriff Lockwood was the only one with enough gumption to stand up to Quitman and his men, and look what's happening."

"He has no deputies?"

"He did, but they quit when things got rough."

"What about the jury?" Lancaster asked. "What's their part?"

"Quitman handpicked them, and they were all too scared not to find the sheriff guilty."

"How many men does Quitman have?"

"There are three of them--including him."

"Three men have cowed an entire town?"

"Three killers. I don't know why they didn't just shoot the sheriff down and be done with it, or run him out of town" the bartender said. "Why do this?"

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