No Name on the Bullet Page #4

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who have I killed?

It doesn't make any difference.

My price is high.

The man who hires me

makes a considerable investment.

The death of a man without guilt is

seldom worth that much money to anyone.

You don't understand me,

do you, Physician?

Are you trying to tell me

that the men you've killed deserved to die?

Let's say, uh, most of them.

Even if I admit that there are men who

have done things deserving punishment...

I wouldn't grant you

or anyone else the right to punish them!

That's up to the law.

Take two men.

Say they have robbed and lied

and have never paid.

A man whom one of them has robbed

comes to me and says...

Kill that man

who has robbed me."

And I kill him.

The other man becomes ill and would die,

except for a physician...

who returns him to health-

to rob and lie again.

Who's the villain in this piece?

Me or the physician?

Don't look as though

you think I'm insane.

You think about it.

Stop tellin' me what you want me to do,

and tell me how to do it!

Now, what am I gonna

charge Gant with?

You know as well as all of us.

He's responsible for Thad killing himself.

And you're worried

he'll be coming after you next.

We're not asking you to jail him.

Just get him out of town.

Oh, sure, Henry, sure.

I'll tell him you haven't been

sleeping nights. That oughta do it.

He's got a cute answer

for everything.

Buck, we're through arguing.

It's up to you and your deputy

to handle this situation...

and if you can't do it, we've been

paying the wrong men long enough.

Don't tempt me

to turn in my badge, Earl.

That idea's been running through my mind.

I'm not a bit proud of it.

Hal, it looks like you're

elected along with me.

Whatever you say.

- Let's go see how we make out.

- Buck.

Whatever you have to do, I'll see that the town

council backs you up and makes it official.

- Can I depend on that?

- Yeah.

Well, that gives me an idea. Thanks.

Mr. Gant, I'm Sheriff Hastings.

I'm gonna have to

ask you to leave town.

Why should I leave?

We've just put a law on the books

against a public nuisance.

Mr. Gant, you're a public nuisance.

Go away.

If you won't leave of your own accord,

then I'm gonna have to-

Why didn't you kill me?

I wasn't paid to.

Let's put this on.

All right.

There you are, Buck.

- You'll be as sound as a dollar in a few weeks.

- Sure.

Even now it won't interfere

with your work, if you're careful.

Oh, I'm always careful.

Didn't you know that?

Well, Luke, what do we do now?

We don't even have any law.

Of course we do.

What's a bad arm to you?

Oh, no, it isn't the arm.

It's what it stands for.

Word gets around, you know?

- I understand, Hal.

- Buck, I'm sorry.

It's all right, son.

I don't blame you at all. I'll take it.

Buck's twice the gun I am.

I'm not gonna get myself killed!

I sure wish I could

hand my badge in that easily.

No, you don't, Buck.

We couldn't do without you.

No, Luke, I'm no good.

I can't help you.

The law can go only so far.

But you know, in a way I ought to

be kind of glad about this.

It means he didn't

come here for me.

- Maybe he didn't come here for anyone.

- Maybe not.

- Men are startin' to die anyway.

- 1 know it.

He could be as innocent as a baby, but the

things that are happening are still his fault.

You're right.

Well, it's out of my field, anyhow.

It's more your kind

of a problem than mine.

The most useless man in town right now

is a man that's good with a gun.

I can't tell you

or anyone else what to do.

All I can tell you

is that my way isn't good enough.

If we're gonna get rid of Gant

and stop these killings...

we've just got to find

some other way, that's all.

Oh, uh, thanks

for patching me up, Doc.

It's too bad about Buck.

He's a good sheriff.

We'll never find

another one like him.

But I wouldn't blame him

if he resigned.

And now you want

to know what to do.

With Buck helpless,

we've got to do something.

Because if we don't-

Well, I've told you

the way things are in town.

I'm getting tired of coughing.

I'm sorry, Judge. I wish there

was something else I could do.

You've done all you can.

Luke, I haven't sat

on the bench in ten years.

The laws on the books may have changed,

but the law itself hasn't.

Law is the manifest will

of the people...

the conscious rule

of the community.

And when the mechanics of law enforcement

break down, they must be re-established.

- Nobody would take Buck's job now.

- Of course not.

So it's up to

the citizens as a whole.

- You mean vigilantes, Dad?

- That's mob rule. I don't like it.

It doesn't have to be.

It usually winds up that way.

Well, here's an alternative, I suppose.

What?

Make it easy for Gant to finish

what he came here for. He'd leave then.

That's ridiculous.

He came here to kill.

It would be one man's life against the life

of the town. Wouldn't it be worth it?

Of course it wouldn't.

You're not serious.

What sort of a man is Gant?

I don't really know. Why?

Just curiosity.

I don't like that vigilante idea.

There's gotta be another way.

Well, if you find one,

let me know.

Luke, how-

- How long did you say I've got left?

- Dad!

I don't think

we ought to talk about it.

Let's be adult, Luke.

Anne knows all about it.

Well, anything can happen.

- It was about six months, wasn't it?

- Maybe, if you're careful.

You're not thinking

of doing anything foolish?

I quit doing foolish things long ago.

Judge, I'm sorry I worried you with this.

You forget about it.

It's a hard thing to forget.

I like this town.

Luke, I'm glad about you and Anne.

So am I, Judge.

You try those new compounds

and try and get some sleep, huh?

I'll wake you for dinner.

All right,

what's on your mind, Henry?

I'm fed up with this guessing game

of who Gant's after.

Now that Hastings has bungled the job,

we've got to do something.

Got any ideas?

Some of your drivers are good men.

I've got a few friends.

We get everybody together,

Gant won't stand a chance.

Maybe, if everybody goes with us.

Mr. Reeger, you'd better come back. Lou Fraden's

getting himself liquored up for trouble.

He says Gant's here after him, and he's

getting drunk enough to try to take him on.

You go on back, Sid.

We'll be over in a minute.

There's a good chance that Lou may be

right. I don't know much about him.

- Maybe Gant did come after him.

- Who'd pay good money to have him killed?

I said it was a small chance,

buy why interfere?

Suppose he does go against Gant.

He just might get lucky.

Lou. Lou, I want to talk to you.

Gant!

I'm through running.

I've taken all I'm gonna.

Sam Ellis never was a man.

He wasn't man enough

to keep his own wife!

Now he ain't man enough to do

his own killin'. He's gotta send you!

You'd better go away, little friend.

Sendin' a vulture like you

won't get him back. You tell him that!

No, you can't tell him that.

You'll be dead.

- Lou, don't be a fool.

- Shut up, Doc!

If nobody else is man enough

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