Mark and I were in Micah's' office when we heard a commotion in the street. We headed over to the crowd to see what was going on. There was a cowboy there by the name of Marty, he was a drummer for the circus.
He was telling everyone about the high-wires, exotic animals and clowns, not to mention his fancy show with his pistols. The town seemed to enjoy Marty and was quite interested in the circus coming to town. He also had a 1795 rifle, a genuine flint lock that was suppose to have been Daniel Boone's. He passed it around and left the crowd take a look at it. Marty noticed Mark as he handled the rifle. "Well son, I can tell by the way you handle that rifle you must be a cracker jack shot!" "I'll tell you what I'll do.....I'll load that rifle up and we'll show the folks just how good you are! How about that?" Said Marty. Mark told Marty he never fired a rifle before. "Well your certainly old enough to learn," said Marty. I didn't like what Marty had said and I left him know it by the look I gave him. Micah approached Marty and told him that the street was not a midway and he didn't want to see anyone get hurt. He told Marty to tuck the rifle away. Marty was eager to do what Micah said. Marty told the crowd to be sure and watch out for the circus and that the exact date would soon be announced.
Mark was inspired by Marty's shooting display that he approached me about getting his own rifle. "Pa.....I've been meaning to ask you for an awful long time now.....can I.....would.....would you let me have a rifle?" Asked Mark. I was surprised and when I went to say something Mark interrupted....."Would you say I'm old enough Micah?" "Well I'd say you've been putting in plenty of time Mark," said Micah. You could see how excited Mark was. "Is it really asking an awful lot Pa?" "I.....I'd just use it for hunting rabbits and possum and I'd never take it off the ranch!" I tried to talk again when he told me he'd be really careful and I would never regret it. "Please!" I just wasn't sure, he took me by surprise, but seeing how excited Mark was, well I gave in. "Alright.....maybe you are old enough at that." Micah went back to his office and Mark and I headed over to the gunsmith's.
Angus, the gunsmith, first showed Mark a Winchester center fire, .44-40. "That's too much Angus, what about that Winchester model 73?" I asked. Angus said he did have a used .22, he took it on a trade. He said he worked it over and it was in perfect order and he'd let me have it for seven-fifty. Mark tried it. He said it felt just right. Just then Marty came in....."That's a real smart gun to start the boy off with, sir! If you don't mind my saying so," Said Marty. Mark asked Marty if he liked this model. Marty said he had cut his teeth on that model and that it taught him to be respectful of all guns. Mark introduced himself, and me to Marty. He told us he was Marty Blair and he hoped we hadn't thought he showed off to much in the street and that he was just trying to create interest for the circus. I told Marty he handled himself well. He said he was going to rest up today and head out tomorrow to some more towns and let them 
know the circus was coming. Mark invited Marty for lunch. I wasn't too happy about that, but Mark already asked him, so I told them it was alright. I told Angus we'd take the rifle. That pleased Mark. Before I knew it Marty was showing Mark how to aim. I wasn't pleased with that at all. There was something about Marty I didn't like.
When we got to the ranch Marty continued to show Mark pointers on shooting his rifle. I stood and watched, not sure if I didn't care for Marty because of how much Mark liked him, maybe I was jealous, I wasn't quite sure what it was. They had lined up some bottles, Mark missed, didn't hit a one. "I've got a lot to learn.....it's not as easy as it looks," said Mark. "Pa.....I'm not so good.....I keep on missing those bottles." Marty told me that Mark had a real steady hand and all he needed was practice. Mark started to brag about what a good shot I was. I wasn't happy that Mark did this, he knew how I felt about showing off using a weapon. But when Marty took Mark's rifle and shot at one of the bottles and hit it, I couldn't help myself, I was glad for the opportunity to show Marty just how good I was.
I shot at and hit all the bottles. Marty was impressed with my shooting abilities, he said he couldn't top it. "When did you started shooting, Mr. McCain?" Asked Marty. "I was young.....too young," I said. Marty said a boy could never be too young to learn to shoot, that it just makes him that much better when he grows up. "That's where you and I disagree Marty!" He asked me if I ever shot anyone. "I've had to shoot my way out of a few scrapes," I said. Mark asked him if he ever shot anyone. He said he never shot at anyone that didn't shoot at him first and asked if that was the same with me. I told him it was. I told Mark it was getting close to supper time. He invited Marty to stay for supper too. I didn't want Marty to stay, the sooner he left, the better. I was glad when he turned down Marks offer. He said he had to head back to town and get cleaned up and get a good nights rest so he could get an early start in the morning. As Marty started to leave I asked him how long he's had his job with the circus. He said a little more then five years. I asked him where the circus was now. He told me they should have just finished playing somewhere around Ohio, they should be somewhere near the Great Plains now, 
heading for here. Something just wasn't right here, but I can't say I hated to see him go. "Were you like him Pa?" It didn't take me long to answer him. "No!" "Well.....I guess in a way I was son."
Marty headed into town. He went to the hotel to get a room for the night. After Lou signed him in, he asked her if she could change a fifty dollar bill. Lou said she thought she could, and she would check. The safe was behind the desk and Marty watched Lou while she opened the safe. What he wanted was the combination to her safe and now he had it. She gave him the change and he asked her where was a good place for dinner. Of Course Lou suggested the hotel. He then invited her to dine with him. She told him she wouldn't be in the hotel that evening, she had other plans. This is just what Marty wanted to know. With Lou not being in the hotel, everything was perfect for him to rob the hotel that night.
Lou and I had spent the evening together. We had a nice time and then I took her back to the hotel. I had never seen her look prettier then she did that night as I took a piece of straw from her hair. "Back in Ireland they use to say.....'when you look at the full moon, you get stardust in your eyes," said Lou. We talked and laughed and then I helped her out of the wagon. She almost forgot her shoes. We said goodnight and I waited until she got inside before I started to leave. She wasn't in side the hotel no more then a few minutes when she came running out. "Lucas.....hurry!" Yelled Lou. I hadn't gotten far and I hurried to see what was wrong. She said she thought there was a prowler in the lobby. I told Lou to stay back while I checked it out. I triggered my rifle and slowly approached the lobby. Someone took a shot at me. I returned fire as they went out the backdoor. I slowly opened the back door with Lou by my side. We could hear someone moaning. Marty was lying on the ground, he had been shot. Just then Micah and some of the town folks came to see what was all the shooting about. Micah yelled for someone to get Doc Burrage. Marty said he was coming out of the stable when he saw a man running out of the backdoor and he tried to stop him but he shot him. Before Marty could say anymore he had passed out. "He's lying Micah," I said. "He shot at me inside. I got him through the door after he ran out. There's nobody else!" Micah asked if Lou or I could see well enough to swear it was him. "I said he was lying!" Micah wanted to know if I could prove it. Well I couldn't, I just knew it was him.
They took Marty to his room in the hotel. Doc Burrage told Lou to look after him. Micah came in and said the safe had been open but the robber must have been scared off before he could take anything. He wanted to talk to Marty but the Doc said he had to wait until morning. The doctor wanted to know if the other man was hit, I told him there was no other man. He said he understood he was chasing a thief, I told him he understood wrong. 
Just then Marty came to and tried to talk but the doctor told Lou to keep him quiet that he might open the wound. Micah said we'd get to the bottom of this later, that Marty wasn't going nowhere. The Doc said that the bullet pierce the end of a nerve and that he was liable to be left with a partial paralysis in his right hand. The Doc said to let him get some rest, so we all left except Lou.
The next morning I told Mark what had happened. I told Mark I was convinced that Marty was the one who tried to rob the hotel. Mark felt he was innocent. We argued about Marty's guilt. He asked if I was riled because he was going to visit Marty. I told him I felt he knew that without asking. He reminded me of something I had told him....."If you believe in something or someone, no matter what the odds are, you should always back your own beliefs." Mark said there's been a mix up, that Marty couldn't be guilty. I tried to explain to him that everything points to Marty being the thief. I told Mark, Marty strikes me as being a born liar. Mark said Marty was his friend and that was just the way I felt, not the way he felt. He said if I didn't want him to go, he wouldn't. I told him if he's old enough to have a rifle, well then.....he old enough to decide whether or not to visit Marty.
Marty was glad to see Mark and was a little surprised, he thought that I wouldn't let him come to see him. Marty told Mark to tell me he didn't hold a grudge. Mark said that I felt the same way, but Marty knew better. He could tell before the shooting that I didn't care for him. Anyway he was glad to see Mark.
While Mark was in town visiting Marty I thought I'd go and check with Micah to see if he had found out anything new. He said the circus left Springfield, Ohio a week or so ago. But didn't know where it was now. That's about what Marty had told me, this much seemed to check out. I still believed he was using that circus for a front. Micah told me according to the law his word is as good as mine, and he couldn't hold him without an identifying witness. Once the Doc says he's okay, he could leave. Micah felt this was a personal matter with me, that it went beyond the hotel shooting. He told me Mark had taken quite a shine to Marty. I told him I didn't know why. He said maybe it was something I didn't want to see. I couldn't help but wonder if Micah was right.
That night at the supper table Mark told me he had gone to see Marty. I asked him why he liked Marty. He said he didn't know, he just did. When it came to judging people we usually see eye to eye. I couldn't help but wonder what it was about Marty that made us feel so different. He told me why he liked Marty and how he admired him for being able to come and go as he wanted and how he can take care of himself, even tho he was only a few years older then he was. He asked me what it was about him I didn't like. I told him I didn't like his smile, it comes to easy. He's too polite with it, like he's pressing to make you like him. I told Mark I had an idea and with his help it should prove which one of us is right. I asked Mark if he was going to see Marty tomorrow, he said he was. I told him that I would be playing a trick on Marty, but if he was innocent it wouldn't matter and if he's not innocent it would prove he was the one who tried to rob the hotel. Mark agreed.
The next day Mark road into town to see Marty. When Mark 
walked into Marty's room he asked Mark why such a long face. He told Mark how he appreciated him coming to see him but he didn't want to come between him and I. Mark told him that I wasn't holding it against him. Marty told him that the Doc said he could leave in a few days. Mark told Marty he didn't want him to leave without proving he was innocent. Marty asked him if he wanted to prove me wrong. Mark didn't care and he felt I didn't either, that I wanted to get to the truth no matter what I thought. Mark told Marty he overheard me and Micah talking and that we were trying to locate where the circus was traveling and that we had telegrammed the town up ahead. Mark told him they were checking on whether or not Marty was working with the circus. If Marty was using the circus posters as a trick then they would know Marty was guilty. He asked Mark if he believed that. Mark told him he couldn't help but think it could be possible. "But honestly Marty, I mostly believe you are what you say you are," said Mark. He told Mark not to fret about the answer from the circus. Marty told him he wanted to get some rest and asked Mark if he'd see him tomorrow. Mark said he would.
That night I positioned myself in the livery stable behind a bale of hay. A real good view of the door, that way I would have no problem seeing who was coming in the door. I hadn't been waiting very long when I heard someone coming in the door. It was Mark. He said he couldn't stay home, he had to come here and see what was going on. He asked me to let him stay. I told him to close the door and to hurry back here where I was. I told him to stay behind the hay and if anything happened not to move. He said he was sure nothing was going to happen. "And if your wrong?" I asked Mark. "The I owe you an apology," said Mark. "The same goes for me," I said.
We waited, it was almost daylight. I told Mark it would be daylight in about an hour, then we could head home. Just then someone opened the door to the livery stable. Mark looked at me for assurance if it was Marty or not. It was Marty. He went for his saddle. He sensed someone was in the stable. "Who's there?" Asked Marty. Mark and I came out from behind the bale of hay. "I've been waiting for you Marty," I said. He figured out that the telegram Mark told him about was a trap. Mark was upset, he called Marty a liar and a thief and started for him. I pushed him back of me. Marty tried talking to Mark, he wanted him to understand what it has been like for him. "I've been on my own since I was a kid, I never had any breaks. I was kicked around, no family, always trying to find some place to roost. I tried to make it go with the circus kid, but they just didn't pay enough to take care of me and my horse," said Marty. While he was telling us how he would never hurt anyone he was slowly easing his gun out from inside of his sling he had on his arm. "Don't trust him Pa!" Said Mark.
I went for Marty, hit him and knocked him to the ground. His gun went off. He was that close to shooting us. Mark looked up at me and said....."Pa.....I apologize for being wrong."
Later that day Mark and I went into town. I went to see Micah and I left Mark waiting in the wagon. While I was in Micah's, Mark went to return his rifle. He told Angus there was nothing wrong with the rifle, he just wasn't ready for it. He was in a hurry to get back to the wagon before I came out of Micah's office. I happen to notice Mark going into the Gunsmith's. Micah had to pick up his shells he had ordered, so we went to see what was going on. "Like I was saying, this fellow being older, wasn't any wiser, he was taken in to," said Micah. "Well you can't always tell a book buy it's cover," I said. "Still you have to give someone credit who will stick by what he believes, until he's proven wrong," said Micah. "One way to learn is to make the other fellow proves his point. I told Mark we had to go. We started for the door when I asked Mark....."Didn't you forget something?" Mark turned and walked slowly back and picked up his rifle. He walked over to me and we stood their looking at each other. We respect each other and what we believe in and while we didn't always see eye to eye, it never changes the love and admiration we have for each other as father and son and best friends.
role of Cully in the series "Johnny Ringo." He also appeared in "Lost in Space" as Major Don West and he played Sgt. Chris Ballard in "The Detectives." He also appeared in two soaps - "One Life To Live" & "General Hospital." 
