“How many more state police has he got to shoot?”

“Two, at least. The Oldhams.” Bethel turned to the black woman. “Flora, I want you to go and bring all the hands. We’ve got a lot to do. We’ve got to let our neighbors know.”

Andy stopped in the door and stared down the hallway toward the darkness of the front yard. “I dread goin’ back and tellin’ your brother what happened.”

“It’s mostly his doin’.”

Andy saw a dark figure step up onto the porch and enter the hallway into the lamplight. It was Rusty. Andy met him halfway. “You oughtn’t to be here,” he said urgently. “There’s police all over the place.”

“I heard the shootin’.”

Andy beckoned Rusty into Elnora’s room. He said, “You followed me, didn’t you?”

“I just said I wouldn’t come with you. I didn’t promise not to follow you. Wasn’t no tellin’ what trouble you might get into.” He looked with concern at the wounded woman. “What about her husband?”

Andy shook his head. “Buddy Oldham started the shootin’. He saw the father and thought he was Farley.” A worrisome thought struck him. “I hope Farley didn’t come with you.”

“I convinced him to stay at Shanty’s. Told him he might bring danger to his folks.” Ruefully Rusty added, “He did that without even bein’ here.”

Andy told Rusty about the captain firing the Oldhams. “Just the same, they’ve still got charges against you. Better get away from here before somebody recognizes you.”

“We’d better both get away from here.”

Andy took Bethel’s hand. “You goin’ to be all right?”

“It’ll be a long time before I’m all right. But if you’re askin’ whether it’s all right for you to go, the answer is yes. I’ve got good folks here to help me, and there’ll be neighbors here in the mornin’.”

“I’m sorry about all this. It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t come.”

“But you came for Farley. It wasn’t your fault. Wasn’t anybody’s fault but Farley’s and the Oldhams’.”

“I’ll come back when I can and see if I can be any help.”

“I’d like that, Andy. You’ll be welcome.” She clasped his hand tightly, then released it.

Andy felt a glow unlike any he had known before. He said quickly, “We better go, Rusty.”

Some of the black laborers had begun coming in so that there was traffic on the front porch and in the hallway. Andy and Rusty departed through the back door into the darkness. No one seemed to pay them any attention, probably assuming they were policemen.

They retrieved their horses and started toward Shanty’s. Rusty asked, “Did you get Farley’s money?”

“No. There wasn’t a chance, once the excitement started. He don’t deserve it anyway.”

Rusty grimaced. “I was hopin’ he’d take it and go west, or down to Mexico. I’m afraid now he’ll stay around for a chance at the Oldhams.”

Andy said hopefully, “Maybe they’ll kill one another, and it’ll all be over.”

“I’ve got a problem with that. Clyde Oldham took my farm in his name. He’s the only one can sign it back over to me.”