The Long Gun

Most afternoons Sheriff Baker rode that beautiful palomino down the street. Then a loud crashing shot sounded and a large bullet hole was in the sheriff's chest. Someone had killed him with a big bore gun. Steele Morgan had long ago served as a town marshal but it wasn't something he was looking to do again. Then the deputy came riding down the lane with a call to duty. He responded. Duty called, but the sheriff's office was in disarray, and then a neighboring deputy was killed. With a large bore gun. Then his sheriff was shot off the train platform in Kampsville. Steele went to a sleepy town in Greene County and learned that it wasn't nearly as sleepy as he'd thought. And who shoots large caliber rifles like the buffalo hunters use? A forgotten, old cabin in the woods, a horse that likes to bite and the beautiful Jeanette are part of the mix. Oh, and there's Charlie Hayes with a bag of peanuts and a congregation of squirrels. The old man out east of town who built the first Sharps rifles gets into the mix as he takes Steele to school. Westerns aren't always located in the Old West, as out readers learn when Steele Morgan heads for home in Southern Illinois. And sometimes a cowboy comes home with the reputation as a fast gun, a hunger to just settle down and be a gunsmith. But life doesn't always give us what we want. Sometimes it rears up and bites us with that old word DUTY. So it is with Steele Morgan. He'd make a good neighbor, friend and citizen. But when he's crossed, then another Steele Morgan comes to the fore and he is indeed a threat to the evil doers. Like "Going Home" this novel shows that people with a creed that is similar to the men who founded our nation still exist. Steele Morgan is just such a man. His adventures are ones that we can all relate to. His love of country and the tenets that founded it are not just words. They are deeply ingrained and steadfast.