I went over to Marshal Burks to tell him what was going on.  He didn't like it. He felt if she knew about it others did to.  I told him that was the chance we had to take.  He wanted to find another way to get McKee.  I told him this was my decision, and I wanted to play it out.  McKee had already told me enough to hang him; all we needed was to catch him in the act.  The Marshal agreed.  It was seven thirty.  I told him I was going to get something to eat and wait for Ross.  I went out the back door and went to the saloon.  As I was going in the saloon, Finny was coming out.

   Finny went looking for Aggie.  He finds her tied and gagged in my room.  She was mad.  She was going to expose me to McKee.  Finny had a change of heart and tried talking her out of it.  He reminded her how McKee had treated her and him.  He told her that I was here to get McKee.  "Let him!" Said Finny.  He felt this was for the best.  Just then Ross entered the room. He overheard part of their conversation.  "What don't you want her to tell McKee?" Ask Ross.  When Finny tried to tell him nothing, he knocked him out with his gun.  "Now.....how about you?" "You're gonna tell me, ain't cha' Aggie?" 

I had just finished my supper when Ross walked in.  He motioned to me.  We then went to meet McKee at the Trading Post. 

The Marshal saw us.  Just as we went into the Trading Post, Finny came staggering out of the hotel.  He was badly beaten.  He collapsed.  The Marshal ran over to him.  He told the Marshal what had happened. 

 "McCain, I've been thinking."  "You don't strike me as a professional killer," said McKee.  "You strike me as a man who plays both sides against the other."  Are you sure there isn't something you wanna tell me?"  All the time Ross held his gun on me.   McKee knew all there was to know about me.  McKee then walked over to the door to the other room and opened it.  There was Aggie.  Beaten badly.  "Aggie was never any good at keeping secrets."  "You're through McCain."  "Nobody knows anything."  He then hit me.  I told him the Marshal knew.  McKee said the Marshal never had any proof until now.  He told me I was his proof.  "But your gonna be dead!"  He then hit me again, this time in the stomach.  He said I would disappear.  Aggie bumped the door and it slammed shut drawing their attention away from me.  I then kicked them away as the Marshal entered the room.  Ross shot the Marshal.  I shot McKee, then Ross.  The Marshal was wounded.  I then went to Aggie.  She was barely clinging to life.  She told me he made her tell him.  She wasn't going to.  I told her it was alright.  With her last breath she told me, "Lucas, I wish I was going away.....with you."  Aggie was dead.

Now that my work was done here, it was time to head home.  I was anxious to see Mark, Micah and Millie.  I knew how Mark was hurting when I left and I was concerned.  Now I could tell him everything!  I knew he would understand why Micah and I had to be secretive.

Millie was outside her store bagging up grain when Micah and Rafe, our blacksmith, approached her.  Mark had traded his horse, Blueboy for a plow mule.  He gave Mark the difference in cash, about $15.  Mark had told Rafe he was going to try farming.  She thanked him for telling her.  Millie and Micah headed out to our ranch. 

On my way home I came across this cattle ranch and I stopped and bought us a heifer and a bull.  Boy is Mark ever going to be surprised!  We're going to get our new start.  Now I couldn't wait to get home and show Mark what I had bought!

 When Millie and Micah got to the ranch Mark was sweeping out the homestead and getting rid of the cobwebs.  "Mark, what on earth are you doing?" Asked Millie.  Micah stopped her and motioned for her to sit down.  "I'm cleaning the place up."  "Wouldn't it be a lot easier to wait, I mean.....till you father comes back?" Asked Micah.  "He's not coming back."  "Oh Mark," said Millie.  "Well.....it's been most of two months. He hasn't written a word.  Didn't wanna be a dirt farmer.  There are no cattle around here," said Mark.  "Lucas will be back, you've gotta believe that."   "You've gotta have faith," said Millie. "I tried!" Cried Mark.  "You must believe in you father.....after all, look at what your doing," said Millie.  "I figured on maybe movin' back in."  "By yourself?" Asked Micah.  "You can't do that Mark. You're staying with Millie.....that's the way Lucas wanted it."  "Pa's not here anymore."  He walked over to the plaque I made and stood there looking at it.  "This house rebuilt by Lucas McCain and his son Mark."  "Guess that makes it half mine and since Pa doesn't see it fit to live in anymore.....why.....why.....I guess that makes it all mine now."  He started crying.  "Course I'd rather be a cattle rancher."  "But you can't do that without any cattle."  "And.....beside.....I don't see anything wrong with being a dirt farmer."  "You eat good.....and.....beans.....are always good for the market."  "I like beans.....and I was figurin' on some corn too."  "And who knows.....I heard that people are startin' wheat around here."  Millie was tearin' up and all this was getting to Micah.  "Mark, please," said Millie.  "When are you gonna do all this boy, after school?" Asked Micah.  "You can't do it alone, somebody's gonna have to help you."   "Of course there's another thing.....dirt farming's like cattle raising."  "Man's gotta have faith like Miss Millie said."  "I don't think you've got enough Mark, not if you lost faith in your own father."  "Micah," said Millie.  "Keep quiet Millie," said Micah under his breathe.  "Mark, you're just a boy and I've seen grown men buckle up and try and do what you're trying to do."  "Men like Lucas who lost everything they had, except this house and a piece of land."  "Goin' off doing whatever they can to save it and then coming back trying again."  "Now Mark, that's faith!"  "I tried to think he'd come back," said Mark.  "But how much faith is a person suppose to have?"  "I lost everything when he did, didn't I?  I even lost him."  "What am I suppose to.....suppose to.....suppose....."  He stopped talking.  He just stood there.  "Pa?"   "Mark, what is it?" Ask Millie. 
"Pa?"  "What's a matter boy?" Asked Micah.  "Pa.....Pa!"  He turned and looked, he saw me coming towards the ranch.  He started running to me and calling me.  I got off my horse and ran to him.  He jumped into my arms, hugging and kissing each other.  I can't describe in words how I felt just then.  But all you had to do was see us together. 

We went into town the next day and got Blueboy back.  "Son, tell me something.  Do you think you would have liked being a dirt farmer?"  "Well.....no more then you liked going to Wyoming."  "You know something Mark, that horse is gonna look a lot better under you then that mule did," said Micah.  "Yup, you know something Micah; you were right about what you said."  "What was that?" I asked.  "Oh just a little something between Mark and me," said Micah.  Just then Millie called to us....."Lucas, suppers on the table. You boys comin?"  "Yes ma'am! Last ones a rotten egg!" Yelled Mark.  Looks like Micah's the rotten egg!