Borden Chantry by Louis L’Amour Page A

his family that murdered man was more important than any president.
    â€œHyatt, self-importance can come to all of us. We have to view things in perspective. I sometimes think that what most bankers need is a few years of reading philosophy, or to get out of the bank and punch cows or trade horses or something.
    â€œBorden Chantry, right at this moment and in this town, is the most important man in our lives.”
    Hyatt stared. Was the judge losing his mind?
    â€œI mean what I say, Hyatt. That young man is all that stands between us and savagery. He’s the thin line of protection, and when he walks out there on the street his life is on the line every minute he wears that badge.
    â€œWe are free to come and go, to make love, do business, buy groceries, play cards, have a drink now and again because he is there. He is our first line of defense…in many respects, the only line.
    â€œThe savage is never far from the surface in any of us, but because we know he is there we fight it down. I don’t lose my temper and strike somebody because he is there. The drifting cowboy with a chip on his shoulder avoids trouble, because he is there.
    â€œWe have freedom, you and I and Priscilla and Elsie and all of us, because Borden Chantry is out there with that badge. To tell you the truth, I think he is the man who should wear it, beyond all others.
    â€œHe would shoot…I happen to know that he has…but he has the cool judgment to know when it is not necessary. He has the quiet strength that makes people believe him. He doubts himself, and that is often good, but he does not doubt his ability to handle a situation. He’s roped too many wild steers, ridden too many broncs, handled too many tough men to do that.
    â€œI trust him, Hyatt, and you had better do the same. Some people believe the law to be a restriction…It is a restriction only against evil. Laws are made to free people, not to bind them—if they are the proper laws. They tell each of us what he may do without transgressing on the equal liberty of any other man.”
    â€œI never thought of it in just that way.”
    â€œI notice, Hyatt, that you do not wear a gun. Why not?”
    â€œWhy, I never thought it necessary. After all, I am a banker…a businessman. I have no need for a gun.”
    Judge McKinney smiled. “That’s right…Ordinarily you wouldn’t have any use for one, and that’s because Borden Chantry does have one and he is paid to use it for you.
    â€œYou can do business because he is protecting you. There was a time when no man was safe in this town unless armed, and that time may come again. In the meanwhile we have Borden Chantry. My advice to you, Hyatt, is cooperate.”
    Judge McKinney brushed the crumbs from his vest. “Hyatt, if Borden wants a court order from me, he’ll get it. Why make it necessary?”
    â€œSuppose I preferred not to accept your court order?”
    McKinney smiled. “You’re too smart for that, Hyatt. Because if you refused a court order of mine, I’d have Borden throw you in jail along with Kim Baca. And, like him, you’d wait for the session of court.”
    â€œYou’d do that to me?”
    â€œWhy not to you? Or any man?” McKinney swallowed coffee and put his cup down. “If you want me to go to the trouble of preparing that court order, you do it, but if I were you I’d just find Borden Chantry and help him all you can. One of these days you may need him almighty bad.”
    After Hyatt had gone, Ed came in from the kitchen. “Couldn’t help but overhear,” he commented.
    â€œNothing secret. A few items the good banker did not quite grasp. You got a couple more of them doughnuts, Ed? They taste mighty good, and Borden’s not here yet.”
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    B ORDEN CHANTRY AWAKENED to a dull head-ache, and for a time he lay still, staring up at the flowered wallpaper. A little sunlight came in