From his vantage point a few paces away, Renshaw lay amongst a thick cluster of gorse. He’d managed to circle the group, and had retrieved his Henry. He now had the men in his sights, the quickly lightening sky allowed him to make the group out much more clearly than would have been the case only ten minutes or so before. He watched everything… the way they beat Cole, how he held out and didn’t utter a single word despite the viciousness of the blows. The boy had sand, of that there could be no mistaking. He did not deserve to die like this, at the end of a lynch mob’s rope.
As Cairns raised his pistol, Renshaw drew in a breath and squinted down the barrel of his rifle. The revolver exploded, the horse bolted and Cole began his grotesque death dance. Renshaw took careful aim and fired.
T
