One by one, they wrote their signatures. Longarm finished the confession by writing:
Given into my hand this 16th day of May, willingly, by Archie Barrett and Jake Myers and witnessed by the above.
Then he took the confession, folded it carefully once he was sure the ink was dry, and buttoned it into his shirt pocket. After that, he put the agreement for the Settlement Association in front of the two men. He said, “Now this.”
Mr. Myers looked annoyed. He said, “Hell, that’s a lot of money. Fifty thousand dollars.”
Longarm looked over at Tom Hunter. He said, “Tom, how much money do you reckon these settlers have been robbed of by these two scoundrels?”
Tom Hunter shrugged. He said, “I couldn’t count it, but it’s a hell of a lot more than fifty thousand dollars apiece. Besides, how do you put a price on a cabin that a man built with his own hand and how do you put a price on a man’s life? How do you put a price on how a wife feels when she loses a husband? Or the children?”
Longarm held the pen out to Jake Myers. He said, “Sign it.”
Myers sighed, dipped the pen, and wrote his name and handed the pen to Archie Barrett. Barrett didn’t even hesitate. In a tired hand, he scrawled his name.
Once again, Longarm had each of the men present, including Hawkins, witness the document, and as before, he wrote at the bottom that he, as an official of the United States government, had received the document into his hand at such a time and on such a date.
Archie Barrett looked up at him. He said, “Now, is that it?”
“Not quite.” Longarm shook his head.
Barrett said, “I ain’t doing another damned thing until I get some food and some whiskey.”
“Your job ain’t done yet, Barrett,” Longarm said. “Remember, you’ve got to get fifty thousand dollars over to a bank in Junction. Did you bring your checkbook with you?”
Barrett looked furious. “Whether I’ve got my checkbook with me is none of your affair.”
Hawkins said, “Oh, he’s got his checkbook, all right, Marshal. I saw him special put it in his pocket, thinking he could buy that saddle of that assassinated president of Mexico. Yeah, he’s got it. I bet if you go in there and look in his jacket, you’d find it.”
Barrett looked livid. “You better not touch my personal belongings! As it happens, I do have a checkbook, but it’s not on an account that I’ve got that kind of money in.”
“Then you both better send to your headquarters, and you both better get a check, because you ain’t getting out of here until an account gets open in Junction with one hundred thousand dollars in it. Now, is that clear? And you ain’t going to get a bite to eat or a drop to drink until I see those checks on the way. You comprende, hombres?”
Jake Myers was looking more and more tired. He said, “How are we supposed to get our drafts-“
Longarm interrupted. He said, “I suggest you send one of your men back to each of your places and have him locate wherever you keep your checkbook and have him get on back here. That’s the fastest way, as far as I’m concerned.”
They both shrugged. Jake Myers said, “Why not?” He turned around in his chair and looked out the door. “I think my son James is out there. If he is, one of you call for him.”
Longarm looked at Barrett. He said, “What about you?”
“Any of my men will do. I know that neither one of my brothers are out there, but they can give him the checkbook. Just call for one of my men.”
“I think you had better do that,” Longarm said. “Stand there in the door in case anybody’s got an itchy trigger finger. Call for James Myers and for whoever you want.”
Barrett stood up. He said to the marshal, “You think you’ve won, but you might yet regret this.”
Longarm smiled. “Oh, I generally regret everything I do. But the funny thing about it is that the other fellow usually regrets it more. Now, get busy.”
Within half an hour, two men had been dispatched to both ranches to fetch back the checkbooks. Archie Barrett said, “Now, I want some food and a drink of whiskey.”
Longarm said, “There’s only one last thing, Mr. Barrett, and I’m sure you won’t mind doing this since it’s for your own good.” He turned to Tom Hunter. “Tom, would you give me two more pieces of paper?”
While he was waiting for the paper, he turned to George Hawkins and said, “Mr. Hawkins, what’s one of your top saddles?”
Hawkins thought for a moment. “Well, I reckon that would be the Cheyenne model. It’s a double girthed, deep seated saddle with a high roping pommel. Comes with a matching breastplate.”
“What does it sell for?”
“We generally sell it, shipping charges included, for around one hundred and forty-five dollars.”
“Good.” Longarm took the two pieces of paper and wrote out an order for ten saddles to be bought by Mr. Myers and ten saddles to be bought by Mr. Barrett. He handed Mr. Myers the pen and said, “You just bought ten saddles. My deputy has been put to some considerable trouble on your account, and I think he ought to be compensated.”
Myers looked up at him with rage in his eyes that slowly dissolved to resignation. He signed the order and then shoved it away from him. In a moment, Archie Barrett did the same. Longarm took the two orders and turned around and handed them to George Hawkins, who cackled in glee.
Longarm said, “See, you tell me that the law business don’t pay? Why sure and you’ll get your two dollars a day on top of that.”
Hawkins said, “Well, you never did explain it to me that way before. If you had explained it before, I would have just volunteered.”
“Volunteered? You wouldn’t have volunteered, George, if I had thrown in a velvet easy chair to go with it.”
An hour later, Tom Hunter and the two Goodmans were riding for Junction with the two checks in hand. Longarm’s instructions to them had been simple. There would be three people who would sign each check: Tom Hunter, Robert Goodman, and Mrs. Thompson. Before they had left, he had promised Myers and Barrett what would happen to them if there was any problem with the checks. He said, “You don’t want to find out, that I promise you.”
But all that was over now, and the Settlement Association was well on its way to being a working institution. Longarm said to Jake Myers and Archie Barrett, “Now, all right. Get your gear, get your clothes, and get anything else you’ve left here, including your stink, and get the hell out of here. Take those men down the hill with you. And you better hope that I don’t see either one of you again, because if I do, it’s going to be for the purpose of killing you. Understand me?”
Neither man would look at him. Myers never had gotten any food, and Longarm had said, “You certainly ain’t going to get any of my whiskey. I barely will allow close friends to share that. You can imagine just how much chance you’ve got.”
Now there was no one left but Longarm and Hawkins. Together, they gathered up their gear and walked across the floor that was littered with brass cartridge cases. They went out, saddled their horses, and started the slow ride to town.
Hawkins said, as they started down the hill, “You know, Longarm, sometimes the leather business gets a little dull. It kind of does a man good to get some excitement in his life every once in a while.”
“George, what do you think Mrs. Thompson is going to think about all this?”
“I think she’ll be right pleased. If we hurry along, we should get there in time for supper, and you can tell her all about it.”
Longarm said, “We’ll both tell her about it. You had a big hand in this, George. I’m going to see to it that you get a medal and two dollars a day.”
“How many days I got coming?”
“Oh, three.”
Hawkins shook his head. “Six whole dollars. I don’t have any idea what I’ll do with that kind of money.”