The Outlaws: Rafe Read Free

cleared his throat and launched into a telling of how he had come upon the pair of outlaws after the killings and chased them away before they could make off with the money from the strongbox.
    "See, I told you," Angela gloated.   "Rafe wouldn't harm a flea."
    Rafe stifled a grin.   Obviously Sister Angela didn't know a damn thing about him if she thought that.   Suddenly the mob shifted restlessly and the horse beneath him grew agitated.   Rafe squeezed his legs in an effort to subdue the animal's flightiness.   He breathed a sigh of relief when the horseflesh beneath his thighs quivered, then quieted.
    "Everything I told you is the truth," Rafe vowed.   "I emptied my guns at the outlaws, not into the passengers or driver."
    "Is Sister Angela your intended bride?" Sheriff Tattersal asked.
    Rafe looked down at the sweet-faced angel who for some unknown reason had lied through her teeth to save his life and wanted to grin from ear to ear.   Instead, he composed his features with difficulty and said, "Sister Angela has no reason to lie.   Think about it.   She's an evangelist, a holy woman who spreads God's gospel.   If I were guilty would she go out of her way to lie?"
    Pete glanced at Sister Angela and looked away, as if ashamed of doubting her.   But he still didn't look convinced.
    "What's going on here?"
    The booming voice belonged to Reverend Conrad, the man responsible for bringing the revival to Ordway.   Rafe felt his muscles tauten as he watched the Reverend push his way through the mob.   He stifled a grown, certain that the preacher's interference would seal his fate.   The fire and brimstone preachers he had known in the past held a dim view of theft and murder, even though Rafe had committed neither.
    Reverend Conrad saw Angela standing at the center of the mob and rushed to her aid.   "Sister Angela, what's going on?"
    "Thank God you're here," Angela cried.   "You have to talk some sense into this unruly mob.   They're going to hang an innocent man."
    Rafe stiffened as the Reverend fixed him with a steely gaze.   "What makes you think this man is innocent, Sister?"
    Sister Angela looked at him squarely, neither flinching nor backing down.   Rafe marveled at her temerity.   She lied with such ease that had he not known better he would have believed he actually was her fiancé.
      "Rafe Gentry is my fiancé, Reverend Conrad.   He's the man I was to meet and marry in Pueblo.   We were to travel to my father's mine as man and wife.   I had no idea he decided to meet me in Ordway instead.   Rafe couldn't have held up the stage and killed innocent people.   It had to have happened just like he said.   He came upon the outlaws and chased them away.   Regrettably, he arrived too late to save the passengers and driver."
    The Reverend returned his attention to Rafe.   "Is that true, young man?"
    "Yes sir," Rafe said without hesitation.   He could lie as easily as Sister Angela when it meant his life.   "I decided to meet Angela in Ordway instead of Pueblo."   His silver gaze bored into Angela.   "We've been parted a long time and I grew impatient to see her again.   That's the only reason I happened to be on the road when the stagecoach was attacked."
    "I've known Rafe all my life," Angela added.   "He couldn't kill anyone."
    "That's it, then," Reverend Conrad intoned authoritatively.   "Sister Angela has no earthly reason to lie.   Obviously you have the wrong man, sheriff."
    Disappointment made the mob restive and they surged forward.   They had been primed for a hanging and Rafe's greatest fear was that they didn't give a hoot if he was innocent, as long as they were provided with entertainment.
    Reverend Conrad must come to the same conclusion for he turned to the crowd and held up his hands for quiet.
    "My good people," he intoned in a deep voice that commanded instant respect.   "If Sister Angela says this man is innocent, that's good enough for me.   If any of you wish to