Garrett's Duty

Eighteen-year-old Garrett Shaw and his father spotted the rustlers and pulled their Winchesters. They kept their muzzles pointed away from the three men who were stealing eight steers from their small ranch to give them a chance to leave peaceably. When they were close, Garrett's father shouted for them to just go and he wouldn't notify the sheriff.The rustlers responded by pulling their pistols. When they started throwing lead, Garrett and his father began returning fire. Garrett hit one of the rustlers just as his father's horse went down. As the wounded man raced away, Garrett shot a second a second rustler before he reached his father.The rustlers had run off leaving the family's cattle, but his father's leg had been crushed by his horse. Hours later, as the doctor examined his father's injury, Garrett knew that it was now his responsibility to provide for his crippled father, mother and sisters. Any hopes he had for starting his own family would have to wait.