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Show page 196 fell to the porch and rolled about with a c l a t t e r. Chief Standtall came from the kitchen, saw the sheriff and clawed inside his shirt for a p i s t o l . The boy threw himself against him, staggering Standtall back against the kitchen door. The chief pushed the boy aside with one hard sweep of his hand, but he was too l a t e in everything and stared into the barrel of the s h e r i f f ' s gun. "Drop i t , Matthew, drop i t to the floor. Get i t , boy." The boy reached for the c h i e f ' s p i s t o l , crawled away and handed i t to Rhine. The sheriff motioned the chief to enter the house. In the kitchen he pointed to a chair. He tossed a length of clothesline he had brought from the porch to Katie. "Tie him up." Katie held her ground near a far end of the kitchen table. "I w i l l , " said the boy. He stood behind the seated chief and began tying h i s wrists and ankles. "How's he going to eat?" Katie asked. She cut the clothesline xirith a big kitchen knife, set a plate of stew before him. She set out three more plates and began to f i l l them. "Now," she said to the sheriff, "you can hear him out while we e a t ." Into the meal Sheriff J. B. Rhine admitted that circumstances indicated a question of greater g u i l t , Snell Jamison's or Chief S t a n d t a l l ' s . Nevertheless, his duty was clear. He and Chief Standtall rode away together after the meal, toward Division Point. The boy and his s i s t e r stood on t h e ir porch and watched them disappear in the rain. They watched u n t i l the muted sound of the horses' hoofs could not be heard. |