The armed deputy prodded Buchanan out of the cell. "We're taking care of scudders like you who try to buck the law. We're putting you on trial. A judge, a jury, the whole shebang."

And the whole shebang was a frame-up. The self-appointed judge was a madman, part-time sadistic sheriff and part-time lunatic preacher. And the jury he'd appointed was made up of doddering old men either too drunk or too deaf to hear the "evidence."

"You know what the jury's going to do to you?" the deputy sneered at Buchanan. "That jury is going to hang you. Hang you by the neck."