Mark and I were out rounding up a stray calf when a man rode up.  His name was Will Temple.  He had just bought the Hanson place.  Temple was out looking over his land.  He said the place was pretty well run down.  Whoever had the place before him didn't care much about keepin' things up.  He told us he got it for a really good price.  He had seen Mark earlier and tried to talk to him.  He thought, maybe the scar on his face might have frightened Mark off.  Mark started to answer him but couldn't help stumbling trying to find the right words.  Mark knew what Temple had said was true.  "You say you wanted to talk to Mark about something?"  "Ah.....yes.....You handle a team boy?" Asked Temple.  He had a field that needed stumpin' before plantin' time.  He wanted to get a crop in his first year on the place.  He asked Mark if he'd be interested in workin' for him.  He'd pay him fifty cents a day.  Mark got all excited.  "Pa.....you remember that watch I was admiring at Miss Millie's?"  I reminded him he still had his chores at home that needed to get done.  "I know Pa.....but.....", he turned to Temple....."How 'bout I come over tomorrow after I finish my chores!"  "That suits me fine. You gotta be able to hold the team.....keep a steady hold on the reins."  "Yes sir," said Mark.  Mark turned to me for approval.  I told him it was up to him.  I told him it would be hard to hold down two jobs.  He didn't care, he was excited.  Temple started to ride off . "You're sure.....fifty cents?" Mark asks.  "Fifty cents a day," said Temple.  "I'll be there," said Mark.  I reminded him stumpin' a field wouldn't be as easy as the last job he took workin' in a stable.  "That sure is a handsome watch," said Mark.  "Might not be so handsome tomorrow at sundown."

It was a really hot day and clearin' stumps is hard work.  Mark and Temple stopped to get a drink.  Mark couldn't help but stare a Temple's scar.  Temple was aware of it.  Mark apologized.  Some riders started to approach the ranch.  "Mark.....you know them?"  "Yes sir....that's Arnie and Jess Grady. They're the squatters Pa was tellin' you about."      

"You fixin' to dirt farm this poorly land?" Asked Jess.  They came back to see what the old place looked like.  Jess said he heard that some scum bought the land after they were run off.  Jess wanted to know why he doesn't tell people where he came from.  "None of your business," said Temple.  They laughed at him.  "He's mean," said Jess.  "Are you as mean as you are ugly?"  Temple knew there was gonna be trouble.  He told Mark to go up to the house.  Mark wanted to stay.  "He's just like his Daddy, ain't he Arnie?" Asked Jess.  "Standin' there straight up and proud like."  "Only thing he ain't got no rifle standing up next to him," laughed Artie.  Temple told them to get off his land.  They laughed at him.  "You heard what I said," said Temple. Jess got down off his horse.  "Now you listen to me. You tellin' us to git is the same thing as inviting yourself into a hole." "Our Pa and us, we worked this land.  And no driftin, scar face scum is gonna tell us to git!"  Temple looked at him and said....."You're trespassing. Use that gun, you'll hang." "I don't think you've go the stomach to walk up to a rope head on."  He started towards Jess.  "Take one more step and I'll blow your head off," said Jess as he aimed his shotgun at Temple.  Temple wasn't afraid of him he just kept movin' closer and closer to Jess.  The whole time Arnie kept coaxing Jess to shoot.  Temple grabbed the shotgun out of Jess's hands, took the shells out and smashed it.  He then hit Jess hard.  He grabbed him.  "Now you get on that horse and go. Don't you let me catch you on this land again."  Jess got on his horse and the two of them rode off. 

    As I was riding in I noticed a cloud of dust.  I asked Temple and Mark if that was from the Grady boys.  Mark couldn't wait to tell me what had happened.   Temple interrupted and told me what a good day's work Mark had put in.  He invited us to supper.  We accepted his invitation.  He asked which one of us held the tall hand at checkers.  I was gonna tell Temple that Mark did, but he beat me to it and told him I was the best checker player this side of Denver, except when he'd beat me."  Mark said he'd take care of the team.  I went to wash up. 

We had a nice supper.  I told them that I would do the dishes and they could get started on their game of checkers.  Temple told Mark to get the checkers out of the closet.  When he open the closet door there was a Calvary uniform hanging there.  "We're you in the Calvary Mr. Temple?" Asked Mark.  "I saw your uniform in the closet. 4th Calvary, wasn't it?"  "Well I 'um.....quit the army a while back Mark, for good!"  "Well didn't you like it?" Asked Mark.  "I always thought it would be excitin', wearin' a uniform, fightin' for your country," said Mark.  "Don't ask so many questions Mark," I said.  "That's alright Lucas, I don't mind." "A boys gotta ask questions that's the only way he can learn."  "To answer truthfully Mark, I don't think I ever liked the army, least wise not at first." "I grew up on a farm, when I turned fifteen I ran off to join the army. That was a long time ago."  "I fought more times to stay alive then I care to remember. Chickamauga, Shiloh, then after the war the 4th Calvary fought at Cheyenne," said Temple.  "Is that when you hurt yourself," asked Mark.  Temple nodded his head.  "All that fightin' to stay alive there comes a time when I just wanted to die." "I talked to God about it boy.....I purely pleaded with him a tad.....it did no good." Guess he wasn't listenin'."  Temple rubbed his scar.  "This was done to me with fire. Sometimes at night I can feel it crawling.....burning."  I asked him if he was with Willow creek when he was in the 4th.  He said he wasn't.  "We better get on with the game, other wise your Dad will be done with the dishes before we get a king crowned."  We had a nice evening with Temple.  I know Mark hated to see the evening end, I did too.

I got up earlier then usual.  I wanted to get a nice breakfast around for Mark before starting off on a hard days work. "Come on Mark, time to get up.  Time to get your chores done and Temple will be expecting you later."  Mark sat up on the edge up the bed, he asked if he could do his chores when he got back from Temple's place.  I was hesitant.  He promised me he would do them as soon as he got home.  I agreed.  I went over and set down beside Mark.  I told him that I went ahead and ordered the watch from Millie that he had wanted.  I told him he can pay me back when he earns enough money from Temple.  "I want you to know I did it for a reason, Mark. I'm not only proud of you for the way you've carried yourself like a man ever since you went to work for Mr. Temple. I'm proud of you for something else. You've learned not to dislike a man because he's unfortunately scarred and look kinds of unsightly."  "I know what you mean, Pa."

Mark and I were having breakfast when we heard a knock at the door.  It was Lt. Vaughn.  He was from the 4th Army Provost.   Micah had told him how to get to my ranch.  He told him that I could tell him how to get to Will Temple's place.  I told him how to get to his ranch.  He asked me what kind of a guy this Temple was.  I told him I didn't know much about him, but I judge he's a pretty good man.  He asked me if Will Temple was his real name.  I questioned that.  He told me the army is looking for a man, William Trader.  He had been trailing him for the better part of three months.  He told me Trader had passed thru here a while back, about the time the marshal said Temple settled here.  Mark had over heard the lieutenant and came over to see what was going on.  He told us he was a deserter. Mark felt this couldn't be the same person, he wouldn't desert, not his friend.  Lt. Bond told us that the 4th Calvary lost nearly a whole troop at Willow creek.  Trader was the man who told the Cheyenne where the troops were hidden.  They captured him while he was riding patrol.  Mark was upset.  "I don't believe it's him!"  The Lieutent asked about the scar and if it looked like it was done with fire.  This was the Cheyenne's way of branding a man a coward.  As long as that man lives the Cheyenne will recognize him a coward.  "I don't care what you say! He's not a coward and he not a deserted!" Exclaimed Mark.  They had captured a brave after the attack and he told them the Cheyenne turned Trader loose after they hit Willow Creek with a full war party.  Trader never reported back to his company.  Trader figured the army thought he was dead.  The Lieutent thanked us and said he had to be on his way.  He remembered Millie gave him something to deliver to Mark.  He handed Mark the watch that Mark wanted.  Before he left he said to Mark, "You know you could be right about your friend son, I hope you are!"        

Mark was all broken up. It sure looked like his friend was Trader.  As much as he didn't want to believe it.  "There's a time when every man wants to be alone, Mark.  Is this one of those times Mark?"  "Yes sir."  I went in the house and left Mark alone with his thoughts.  He saddled up Blue Boy and headed over to the Temple Ranch.  He wanted to confront Temple.  "What's your name? Your real name, I mean?" Asked Mark.  He sure didn't waste anytime.  "I'm not ashamed of this scar and what it stands for, that's not the reason I ran away." said Temple.  "I stood up to everything the Cheyenne did to me. When I told.....I don't think I even knew it, not then. You see boy, God didn't make us the same as he did the red man. I guess we're just not as strong inside."  "You didn't have to run away, you could have told them how it was." said Mark.  "I could have, but every man in my company knew the Cheyenne mark. They would have wondered.....wondered just how much I endured before I told. I knew I couldn't go back. The old faces are gone,  Jason, Hardy, Bellows. Men I rode with a long time Mark. They're all gone. It was a one man's weakness, mine!"  Just then they heard Carney call to Trader.  He told Mark to stay in the house.  Trader went outside.  Carney told him he was in the barn.  "What's a matter Trader, are you scared?"  Just as Trader reached the barn, Carney stepped out from along side of it.  Carney told him he followed an army man over a thousand miles across the wasteland knowing that it would lead him to Trader.  Trader told him he would give his life it wouldn't been meant to be.  Carney told him he should have seen what his brothers looked like after the Cheyenne was done with them.  Carney waited for him to come back. 

I saddle up Razor and headed for the Temple's Ranch.  I came across Lt. Vaughn on the road.  He was hurt bad.  I asked him who did this.  He said it was a man by the name of Carney.  He had been waiting for him at the fork of the road.  He had rode scout for the fort.  He said that Carney had been following him ever since he left the southwest.  Carney had lost two brothers at Willow Creek and swore he'd get Trader if it took him the rest of his life.  The Lieutenant died.  "Get it done with Carney. I'll not crawl for you," said Trader.  He was getting ready to shoot Trader when I rode up.  I asked if Mark was alright.  Temple told me he was in the house.  I got off my horse.  "Alright mister this is none of your affair, get movin'. I said you best get movin' I don't want to have to kill you too," said Carney.  "You've done all the killing you're going to, you best drop that rifle," I said.  "I've come a long way mister and I haven't finished what I come here to do," said Carney.  "I'm going to have to take you to town Carney. Now do you want to go lying across your saddle or sitting on it?"  Carney turned, we both shot at each other.  Carney was dead.  I walked up to Trader.  "Will, I think it will go better for you if you turned yourself in."  He went to saddle his horse. 

That evening Mark was sitting by the fire.  I went over and sat by him. "Pa. What will they do to Mr. Temple when he gets back?" Asked Mark.  "Court marital. After that I don't know. Turning himself into Micah will be in his favor."  "And he's not a coward, is he?" Mark asked.  "No Mark, he's not a coward."  "I couldn't think bad of him no matter what. Will he be alright?" Asked Mark.  "As long as he keeps making friends like you Mark, he'll be alright."  "What time is it," I asked.  He pulled out his new watch.  "Nine o'clock," said Mark.  He realized it was bedtime.  "Good night Pa," said Mark. He kissed me goodnight.