Mark had just finished chopping some wood when a friend of his, Charlie, rode in with his cousin Fred from Santa Fe.  Charlie had told Fred about my rifle, but Fred thought he was a liar.  Mark assured Fred that Charlie wasn't lying to him.  Mark was proud and started to brag to Fred.  He told him I could shoot my rifle from fifty feet and I could drill six nails with it in less then three seconds.  Fred wanted to take a look at it.  Mark was hesitant.  He told Charlie that I didn't like anyone touching the rifle and that I felt the rifle wasn't a play toy.  But Charlie wouldn't let it go at that.  Charlie knew that I was in the barn, he told Mark there was no way I'd find out.  But Mark told him again, he couldn't do it.  Charlie started to coax Mark, trying to get him to change his mind.  Fred made a smart remark about Mark being "Gun Shy" and that the rifle probably wasn't anything special anyway.  That made Mark angry.  He told Fred to put his money where his mouth was.  Mark then went in the house and got my rifle. 

When Mark walked out onto the porch, Fred grabbed the rifle out from Mark's hand.  "Hey that's a beauty! What's that ring for?" Said Fred.  Mark tried to take the rifle back.  He told Fred to watch it, the rifle was loaded.  Fred jerked the rifle away from Mark and told him he knew all about rifles.  Fred then stepped off of the porch and triggered the lever on the rifle.  While the two of them were struggling, the rifle went off shooting Charlie.  I heard the shot and ran out of the barn.  I went and grabbed the rifle out of Fred's hands.  "Give me that! this rifle's no toy boy!"  I turned to Mark and yelled....."I told you a thousand....."  The boys weren't paying any attention to me.  They were preoccupied looking at Charlie lying on the ground.  When I realized Charlie had been shot I rushed over to him.  I picked him up and walked over to the boys.  I told the boys he was dead.

Lou, Mark and I attended Charlie's funeral.  Mark was taking it pretty hard.  "That's the end of Charlie. Just lying in a box with rocks and dirt over him," said Mark.  "Let's go home son."  "Sure go home and step over the spot where he was killed with your rifle," said Mark.  I told him he can't blame the rifle, it didn't trigger itself.  It was an accident, and that he shouldn't let himself brood, that it can twist a man's mind until he can't think straight.  He told me he didn't want to go home right now.  He just wanted to go for a ride and be by himself.  I understood and told him I'd see him at supper.  I had gone back to the hotel with Lou to have coffee.

When I got home Mark was setting the table and had the stew cooking on the stove.  I told him we should get to bed early, we had some fencing to work.  I looked over at Mark.  He wasn't paying any attention to what I was saying.  I asked Mark....."Your ride today help you clear things up?"  He didn't answer me.  He told me supper was ready.  I asked him if he ate yet.  He told me he wasn't hungry and started to walk away.  I reminded him that we usually talk out things when there is a problem.  He didn't want to talk, he said he was going to bed and he'd see me in the morning.  He walked away from me and started to go in the bedroom.  "Mark shut the door and turn around please!"  "There's nothing to talk out Pa!"  "I want you to get what's bothering you off your mind son."  "That's what's bother me! I can't stand to look at it anymore!" Yelled Mark as he pointed to my rifle.  "Mark.....there's been times if I hadn't had that rifle, you might not have been born."  "I Wish I hadn't been!" Yelled Mark.  I couldn't believe what I had just heard.  "When I hear you say that about the life your mother gave you, I.....I know your not yourself."  I walked over and picked up my rifle.  "You know son.....when I was a boy.....your grandpa gave me a knife. It was something I had been yearning for, for a long time."  All the time I'm telling him this story I am handling the rifle.  "My mother didn't want me to have it. Anyway, I found me a choice piece of wood and I set out carving a pipe rack for my Pa. I guess I got careless because the knife slipped and I cut myself. It was a bad cut. I threw the knife and ran home. It took a long time to stop the bleeding. But when it did stop.....my Pa asked me where that knife was. I told him I never wanted to see it again."  "You know what he did? He told me to go out and find it. Well I found it alright, the only thing was, I couldn't pick it up. I just stood there and looked down at it, until my Ma came along. She picked it up.....she closed it.....she put it in my hand.  And she looked at me and she said.....'I'm not afraid anymore son and you mustn't be'."  I told Mark to come over to me.  I handed him the rifle and told him not to be afraid.  He refused to take the rifle I could see how upset he was.  I was hoping I could get him passed this.  He said he got sick just being near it.  I insisted again that he take the rifle.  He yelled at me and turned and went to the bedroom.  I thought maybe after a nights rest he would see things differently.

               Lou was in the kitchen of her hotel with Mr. Fitch, a salesman, who was staying at the hotel.  He was showing Lou a dress that he had.  She loved it and decided to buy it.  After Mr. Fitch left she started to straighten up the kitchen when she heard a knock on the door.  It was Mark with a piece of luggage with him.  He had run away from home.  He told Lou he was going on a trip and wanted to get an early start from town.  He told Lou he thought she wouldn't mind if he stayed there for the night.  She said she didn't and was glad he was there.  She wanted his opinion on something.  She told him she just baked an apple pie and wanted his opinion on it.  She knew there was something wrong.  She pulled up a chair and set next to Mark.  She told him she was his friend and she didn't want to pry and she wanted him to know that she wanted to help.    

There was an escaped prisoner by the name of Vantine, on the loose.  Micah's orders were to bring him in....."dead or alive."  Micah got a posses together and they were going out looking for him.  Little did they know that he, Vantine was right above them hiding in the hay loft listening to their plans.

   I didn't notice Mark was missing until I had gone into the bedroom to go to bed.  I decided to head into town and see if he was there.  When I got there I noticed Mark's horse.  I went into see if Lou could shed any light on this.  She said she had been expecting me.  She said Mark was in room five.  She told me about the talk Mark and she had and his feelings towards my rifle.  He also had asked her for twenty-five dollars traveling expense to California.  She told me to just play along with him for now, not to force things on him.  But running away from a problem wasn't the right answer.  She knew that.  "Does a big galoot have to hear the right answer every
time?"  Lou said she felt that I needed to make a choice.  That I should put my rifle aside for a time or give up Mark for a longer time.  I knew she was right.  I put my rifle behind the desk and went up to talk to Mark. 

I told Mark that Lou had told me about the twenty-five dollars and I thought he might need more.  I laid some extra money on the dresser.  Mark asked if I brought my rifle.  I told him I had left it down stairs.  I talked to Mark about a rifle being like a tool and if it's used wrong someone could get hurt.  I reminded him of the things we talked about when I bought him his .22.  We talked for a while.  I told Mark I would go downstairs and get him a glass of milk.  I was surprised when I got to the kitchen, Vantine the escaped prisoner the town was lookin for, was in the kitchen holding a gun on Lou.  I asked him what he wanted.  He wanted a way out of town.  Vantine had a plan.  He noticed a horse and buggy in the stable.  I told him he'd never get passed the posse.  That's where Lou and I came in.  We were supposed to pretend we we're eloping.  We were going to Roswell to get married.  With him hiding in the back we could slip by the posse.  He would be hiding under the baggage with his gun pointed at Lou's spine. 

Just then we heard a noise coming from the stairs.  It was Mark.  He was wondering what was taking me so long to get his milk.  Vantine said that Mark would just have to come to the wedding.  I asked him to let Mark go home but he felt nobody would believe that I would leave without him.  He grabbed Mark and motioned for us to leave.  We started to go out thru the lobby of the hotel when Mr. Fitch called to Lou.  He couldn't find his soap.  Vantine told him to come downstairs.  While he was waiting for Fitch to come down the stairs, I started for my rifle.  But he stopped me.  I motioned to Lou about my rifle being behind the desk.  Just them Lou said....."I feel like I'm going to faint!"  As she dropped down to the coach.  Mark went to see if he could help her.  She quietly told Mark about the rifle.  Vantine then grabbed Mark and pushed him behind the desk, next to the rifle.  He wanted to know what Lou had said to him.  Lou then ran up to Vantine and said that she told Mark that he might kill us all.  Vantine then went over to Fitch.  While he was talking to him I motioned to Mark about the rifle.  He looked around to see what I was talking about and noticed the rifle.  Fitch asked if he could go back to his room.  Vantine told him he could.  Finch slowly went up the stairs.  Mark was having trouble bringing himself to grab the rifle. But when Vantine cocked the hammer on his gun and was going to shoot Fitch, Mark knew he had to do something.  He picked up the rifle and thru it to me.  Vantine took a shot at me, but missed.  I shot at him several times, killing him.         

         When we got back to the ranch Mark unpacked his bag.  I told him the only thing he forgot was his .22.  I knew he didn't forget it.  "You know.....what you said about a rifle not having a mind of it's own.....I knew you were right.....I just didn't want to believe it. I guess it was just easier to blame the rifle. But I know now! I guess it's part of growing up."  I told him to leave his unpacking until morning.  He said good night.  I then took Mark's .22 over and put it next to my rifle.