The Heroes of Buzzard's Bend, Part I

Now I know you’ve heard the story of how I all was way back when, when cowboys rode with Indians near our small town of Buzzard’s Bend. Not long after the Civil War, when it was a hot mining claim, the gold ran out and people left save for some diehards who remained. Backwater New Mexico was not the safest place in that time, when Diaz came and took the town nobody noticed, much less gave mind. You’ve heard the things he did to us, turned the people into his slaves, worked them and took all the profits, kept the best women for his play. How he ruled here for eight long months, his band of brigands walking tall, and you’ve heard of the hero who sent all of these thugs to a fall. That’s why it’s still called ‘Mains’ Saloon,’ and his grave is kept, even now, why Hollywood made that bad movie back when big screen cowboys rode proud. Yes, you’ve all heard of Sure-Shot Mains, but that’s not what I will now recount, but rather what you haven’t heard, so grab a drink and gather round. The thing that they do not tell you in this secular world we built is that Mains claimed to hear voices, “Set them free, these words are my will.” Yes, Mains talked much about that night, he believed God commanded him, maybe He did, why else would Mains help strangers against odds so grim? Whatever the case, he rode in to the town like a man possessed, Diaz’s boys saw him plainly, and looked not the least bit distressed. When Mains asked for the man in charge they laughed, thinking it all a joke, who was this unarmed farmer boy to think he could walk with tough folk? When they told Ramsey Diaz this he gave out a loud laugh himself, said, “Hey, if this man wants to talk, why not hear what he has to tell?!” They thought it something of a lark when he walked into the saloon, Diaz said, “Well now, say your piece, then it’s off to the mines with you.” But the young man looked not frightened, and this unnerved Diaz a bit, Mains just look calm, and said to him, “God has sent me to tell you this. “You have to let all these folks go, he’s not fond of your whips and chains, and tells me things will get quite bad if I have to tell you again.” The serenity in Mains’s eyes just enraged Diaz all the more, he roared, “Send this fool to the mine, make him take the place of the horse! “A few days of pulling oar carts will break the ego in this fool. At very least it gives me time to think up something much more cruel!” CONTINUES IN PART II.