Of course many herds were taken across “wet,” meaning they were driven across the Rio Grande at a secluded spot along the border. The problem here was that the owner had no papers to prove he’d crossed the cattle legally through quarantine, and he was subject to being stopped by any range inspector and having his herd taken away from him. Also, it was very difficult to sell “wet” cattle, since the buyer knew he was not only buying cattle but trouble.
But according to Billy Vail, Austin Davis had gotten the goods on an official at the customs station in Laredo who had apparently found a way to take bribes without getting caught. The cattlemen who had been having their herds infected had appealed to the Customs Service first and hadn’t gotten any satisfaction. Customs had claimed that their investigations showed all their people to be in the clear. After that, the ranchers had turned to the Marshal Service, and Austin Davis was sent to look into the matter. He’d apparently found enough going on to warrant a full scale investigation. And that, as Billy Vail had said to Longarm, “is what is going to put you in Laredo.”
Billy had been about to give his deputy some of the details, but Longarm had waved him away, saying, “Naw. Save that for Davis. Them few little facts is about all he’s going to get to tell me, and I’d hate to deprive him of the chance of swelling around and feeling important.”
Billy Vail had looked a little worried. “Now, Longarm,” he’d said, “we ain’t ever had no killing between our marshals. You ain’t fixing to break that string, are you?”
Longarm leaned back fretfully in the coach seat and yawned. He stared at the blackness out the window, relieved only here and there by a pinpoint of light. Would the damn train, he wondered, ever get to San Antonio? Hell, as bored as he was, he was even beginning to look forward to seeing Austin Davis.
Chapter 2
To Longarm’s great surprise Austin Davis was there to meet him when the train finally pulled in to San Antonio a little before eleven at night. He was waiting on the passenger platform and he came forward as soon as he spied Longarm. He said, putting out his hand, “Hell, Grammaw was slow but she was old. Where the hell you been, Marshal.”
Longarm had to put his saddle down to shake Davis’s hand. He had his saddlebags in the other hand with a small valise hung off his thumb. It was awkward, but if Davis wanted to shake hands instead of getting part of the load, Longarm wasn’t going to complain. He hadn’t made the trip expecting any fun. “How are you, Austin,” he said, “Still wearing that border hat, I see.”
Davis was wearing a black, flat-crowned, stiff-brimmed hat favored by the kind of men who hung around the border for their health. He was also wearing a soft black leather vest with silver conchos for buttons. Davis shook hands and then touched the brim of his hat. “Hell,” he explained, “I got to stay in the role. I’m supposed to be a border desperado dealing in illegal cattle. Supposed to be a bad man.”
Longarm picked up his saddle and slung it over his shoulder. His thumb was about to break off holding the small valise the way he had it. “it suits you,” he told the junior deputy.
“What, the hat?”
“Naw, acting like a desperado. I ain’t so sure but what you ain’t. But if you don’t get this valise off my thumb, you’re going to be a bad man in pain.”
Austin Davis jumped around and took the valise, relieving the pressure on Longarm’s thumb. “Well, hell, why didn’t you say you needed some help? Last time I helped you without you asking, you like to have taken my head off.”
Longarm just gave him a glance. “I want a steak and a bath and a bed,” he said.
Davis chuckled softly. He had a pleasant voice when he chose to use it. “I got you all set. I know you’re a man who likes his comfort. We got rooms over at the Gunther Hotel. Ain’t two blocks from here. And the cook will still be there. I warned him there was a bad ol’ bear coming to town and if he didn’t get a steak or two, he might eat the hotel and everybody in it.”
“Well, that’s a fair start, Davis,” Longarm said. “Could be we’ll get out of this with you still alive. That is if somebody else don’t kill you.”
Davis laughed. “Yeah, and I’m glad to see you, too. Hell, I was scairt you might have changed and turned human. I bet ol’ Billy Vail had to twist your arm plumb off to get you to come down here.”
Longarm looked at him. “Hell, I heard it the other way around. The way Billy told it, you wanted anybody but me. Somebody, I reckon, who didn’t know all your sly ways.”
“Billy’s sly ways,” Davis corrected. “This is kind of a tricky setup we’re going into and I told him I didn’t reckon was anybody else but you could pull it off.”
They had left the train depot and were walking down the street toward the hotel. Longarm stopped dead. “Now listen, smooth-mouth,” he said, “that kind of silver tongue bullshit might sell in some markets, but it won’t fit me. I ain’t rising to that kind of bait.”
Davis shrugged. “You can believe me or not. Don’t make a damn bit of difference to me. Things have changed since you swore me in in Mason County. Now I wear the same badge as you do and they ain’t no place on the back of it where they stamp in the years you got in the saddle. Me and you is equal, partner, and you can like that or lump it. I ain’t smooth-mouthing you about nothing. I don’t have to. I asked for you and that is a fact. And by the time we are halfway through this little deal I expect, unless you get taken by a serious case of the dumbs, that you will see why. But, like I say, it’s all the same to me. We ain’t got to be friendly.” With that, he turned and continued walking toward the hotel, his back very straight and rigid.
Longarm, startled, stared after him for a moment. Finally, when he could find his voice, he yelled, “Hey, wait a damn minute! Davis! Hold up there, you sonofabitch!”
Austin Davis slowed and stopped some ten yards down the street. He turned halfway around. He was still holding Longarm’s valise in his hand. “What?” he said.
Longarm walked toward him. When he’d arrived so that they were facing each other he unslung the saddle from his shoulder and dropped it at Davis’s feet. Staring the other man flat in the face, he said, “I have carried that saddle better than halfway from the station. If we’re going to be partners, it seems only right that you carry it the rest of the way.”
Austin Davis stared back for a half a moment. Finally he shrugged and said, “All right. That sounds square.” But before he bent to pick up the saddle, he held out the valise. “But then you ought to take this.”
“Fine,” Longarm said stiffly.
Austin Davis picked up the saddle and slung it over his shoulder. “The hotel is just another block yonder,” he said.
“I know where the damn Gunther Hotel is as well as you do.”
“You still ain’t shucks as a poker player.”
“Listen,” Longarm said with some heat, “before this job is over I am going to have every cent you got and a lien on your next year’s salary.”