He laughed at her. He said, “Don’t worry about that right now. I know you’ve been under a nervous strain; you’ve ridden a horse astride for the first time in your life and for a long ways. Sarah, you did real good. You not only saved your life, I think you may have saved mine. Now we have to stop Richard before he can get up to any more devilment.”
She looked up at him anxiously. She said, “I know I’m being silly but will you just kiss me before you go?”
Longarm leaned down and gave her a tender, soft kiss on the lips and then he turned. He said, “I have to hurry.”
“I understand.”
He opened the door. “Lock this door behind me and keep it locked unless you know who it is on the other side.”
“Yes.”
Then he was out the door and hurrying down the stairs. He walked rapidly through the lobby and out the front door. The boy from the stable was standing there holding the horses’ heads. Longarm flipped him a silver dollar. The boy caught it in the air. Longarm said, “Take that dun on into the stable and cool him out and feed him up. I’m going to have to use this roan for about another hour or so and then I’ll drop him off at the stable. I want both of them given real special care. You comprende?”
“Si, senor. Yo comprendo.”
Longarm mounted the roan and turned him toward the other side of town where the railway station and the telegraph station were located. He knew the roan was almost played out so he held down the impulse to put the horse into a gallop and only asked him for a fast walk. It was just as well because he knew he had a hell of a telegram to compose and send Billy Vail. He spent the time that it took him to get to the train depot trying to compose the telegram in his head. It sounded confusing even to him. He had no idea what Billy Vail would make of it.
He tied his horse and went up the steps to the telegraph office and asked for a blank. He walked over to the writing desk. From the looks of things, it might just take more than one blank to get this one off.
The telegram was addressed to Billy Vail, Chief Marshal, Denver, Colorado. It requested immediate delivery at whatever location Mr. Vail was at. The telegram read:
URGENT YOU CONTACT FEDERAL BANKING AUTHORITIES IN SAN ANTONIO STOP URGENTLY REQUEST THEY COMPLY WITH ANY SCHEME PUT FORTH BY JUDGE RICHARD HARDING TO EXCHANGE PRISONER EARL COMBS FOR ME STOP HARDING WILL HAVE LETTER FROM ME INDICATING I AM A PRISONER STOP HE WILL ALSO HAVE MY BADGE STOP I EXPECT HE WILL HAVE SOME PROPOSAL WHEREBY HE CAN FREE ME AND ALSO GET THE INFORMATION FROM COMBS AS TO WHERE HE HAS HIDDEN THE $200,000 THAT HE STOLE FROM THE FEDERAL BANKING SYSTEM STOP I AM NO LONGER A PRISONER BUT HAVE ESCAPED AND AM IN LAREDO STOP IT IS VITAL THAT JUDGE RICHARD HARDING NOT KNOW THIS STOP HARDING IS A CROOK STOP HARDING IS A MURDERER STOP HARDING IS THE ONE THAT TOOK ME HOSTAGE STOP IS NECESSARY HE BE ALLOWED TO PROCEED WITH HIS PLAN STOP YOU MUST PERSUADE THE FEDERAL BANKING AUTHORITIES IN SAN ANTONIO TO RELEASE COMBS TO HIM STOP I AM GOING TO INTERCEPT BOTH OF THEM AT THIS END I HAVE EVERY REASON TO BELIEVE HE WILL MAKE STRAIGHT FOR LAREDO STOP REQUEST THAT YOU ALSO NOTIFY ANY U.S. DEPUTY MARSHAL IN SAN ANTONIO WHO IS CONNECTED WITH THIS MATTER TO FOLLOW HARDING AND ANYONE ELSE WITH HIM AND NOTIFY ME IN LAREDO OF HARDING’S MOVEMENTS AND WHAT TRAIN HE WILL BE TAKING AND WHEN HE CAN BE EXPECTED IN LAREDO STOP URGENT HARDING NOT GET WIND THAT I AM FREE STOP BILLY, YOU BETTER NOT LET ME DOWN ON THIS ONE STOP OR I WILL WRING YOUR SCRAWNY NECK STOP I WANT THAT SON OF A BITCH STOP YOU BETTER NOT MAKE ANY MISTAKES STOP URGENT YOU WIRE ME, IMMEDIATELY TONIGHT, $500 STOP YOU BETTER NOT BE OUT OF TOWN STOP
The telegram took three blanks. He took the forms over and handed them to the operator, a vinegary-looking old man wearing black sleeve guards. The surprised operator read the forms over, one by one in order. He glanced up at Longarm. He said, “Who’s sending this?”
Longarm said, “It’s signed Custis Long, U.S. Deputy Marshal.”
“How am I supposed to know you’re a deputy marshal?”
Longarm pulled out the revolver he had taken from Chulo. He didn’t like the feel of it. It was not a .44 caliber, but a .45. It didn’t have the same feel in his hand and it didn’t fit his holster, which had been handcrafted for his own pistol, a revolver. He reminded himself that Richard Harding had taken it from him and it was probably at the damned ranch. But the .45 would have to do. He showed it to the telegraph operator.
Longarm said, “For the time being, this is my badge. Now send the damned telegram or do I have to do it myself?”
The skinny operator swallowed visibly, his Adam’s apple going up and down. He said, “Well, you ain’t got to get huffy about it, Marshal.”
Longarm said, “I ain’t huffy. I’m just in a hurry. It’s nearly eleven-o’clock. That makes it midnight in Denver. The man I am sending this to goes to bed with the chickens. I’d hate to have to wake him up too late, it might stop his heart.”
The operator said, “You ain’t supposed to say ‘son of a bitch’ in one of these wires. This here is U.S. government wire it’s being sent over, even though it belongs to the telegraph company.”
“That’s fine. ‘Son of a bitch’ is a federal word being sent by a federal officer over federal wire. Now send it!”
The operator swallowed again. He said, “Yes, Sir.”
The telegraph came to $12, which Longarm believed was the most he had ever paid to send a wire. He could, of course, claim government privilege, but he had given the man such a fright that he had decided to pay it anyway. It would just be another thing for Billy Vail to bitch about on his expense voucher. When the telegraph was gone, Longarm said, “Now, I’m down at the River Hotel. Any wires that come for me, Custis Long, had better reach me. Fast.”
The operator looked up at him, surprised. He asked, you the one they call Longarm?”
Longarm said, “Yes.”
The telegraph operator said, “Well, why in the hell didn’t you say so in the first place? I would have been glad to have this thing sent off ten minutes sooner. Hell, word is that you’re a pretty good man.”
“Well, this pretty good man is about whipped. I need some supper and about half a bottle of whiskey and a bath and some decent clothes.”
As he was about to turn away, the telegraph operator said curiously, “Is Judge Richard Harding really a crook?”
Longarm whipped around. He said, “You know what will happen to you if word of that goes outside of this office.”
The telegraph operator said, “It ain’t going outside this office, but what you said in this telegram just goes along with what a lot of folks in this town have been thinking.”
Longarm nodded. “I’m glad to hear that. Now where is there a haberdashery open this time of night where I can get some clean clothes?”
The telegrapher said, “Well, should be a couple of places down near the middle of town still open where you can get some jeans and a shirt, if that be all you’re wanting. But say, Marshal, something you might want to know. I ain’t been on duty all that long but seems like I heard that Judge Harding come in on the afternoon train. I didn’t see him myself, you understand?”
Longarm squinted his eyes at the man. He asked, “You just heard it?”
“It was just kind of passed on, you know, like it was not of any importance. I heard one of the loading-dock employees say something about having seen Judge Harding.”
Longarm bit his lip. He said, “What the hell is today, anyway?”
The telegrapher said, “Friday.”
Longarm wheeled around on his heels. “Thanks.”
He went out the door and down off the platform and mounted the tired horse. If Harding had come in, there was nothing he could do about it. He simply had to wait until he could get confirmation from whatever federal officer Billy Vail could reach in San Antonio. Maybe he would hear tomorrow. It was a big country and he couldn’t go dashing here and there looking for a shadow. But he did need to get out of that shadow’s clothes. If he was sick of anything, he was sick of wearing Judge Richard Harding’s ill-fitting clothes. He went to the store and bought new clothes.