“It appears to me that we’re going to be about half an hour late. I calculate it’s still four or five miles to the border and it’s after two and at the pace we’re going, we’re not going to make it. Why don’t you gallop on up there and see if you can keep the situation in hand.”
“I can promise you that I am more than willing. Do you want me to bring the other brother back—Rufus, the one with the scar on his jaw?”
“I doubt that he would come until they got me. I wouldn’t get too close to them, Fisher. Just keep within shooting distance and let them know what is happening, let them know that I will be along in no less than half an hour. Don’t go up there and get yourself taken prisoner, do you understand me? If they act hostile, get your ass out of there.”
“Longarm, you’re still talking sensible. I think there may be hope for you yet.”
“There’s one other thing that we need to get settled before we come up on them. Let’s assume that everything goes smooth and Rufus comes on this side with you and I go off with Clem. As soon as you get out of sight of us, I want you to take care of Rufus.”
“Do you mean kill him?”
“Not unless you have to. I’ll leave that to your own judgment, but as quick as you can, I want you to get the drop on him and knock him on the head and tie him up. Do something so he will stay where you leave him. As soon as you are finished with him, I want you to come toward where I am and kind of scout around.”
Fisher gave him a sly look. “So it turns out that you figure that you might need my help. Is that correct, Mister Deputy Marshal Custis Long?”
“Yes, Fisher. I am reduced to such a level that I might even need your help. I hate to admit it, but that’s the case. I don’t know what I’m going to run into. But if you do see that I am in big trouble, don’t try and get me out of it by yourself. Go for help, do you understand? Wire Billy Vail at Denver and get every damn marshal you can to get me loose from whatever bear trap they got me in.”
“That part I think I can handle.”
“Well, that’s it then. You better get to kicking.”
“my friend, that’s something I can do.” With that, Fisher put spurs to his horse and started off in a high lope, heading east to the Oklahoma border.
As his friend grew smaller in the distance with every passing moment, Longarm realized that he had never felt more lonely in his life. The two ounces of clear liquid trailing along right behind him were no comfort at all.
Chapter 8
He made better time than he previously thought he would. By three-thirty, he could see several figures in the distance. He assumed they were somewhere around the line between the two territories. It had become brutally hot, and Longarm was aware of just how fast the extra ice that he stuffed into his saddlebags was melting and leaking out. He hoped that the ice that was packed in the oilskin packets was faring much better. He could look back and see how the water had stained the leather of his saddlebags. Of course, it wouldn’t do to ride up to the Gallagher brothers with water dripping out of his saddlebags.
The figures were coming near enough now, but he could see one much closer. As he watched, the man raised his arm and he could tell that it was Fisher Lee. Some two hundred yards past Fish, two other men sat on their horses. Longarm could only get an indistinct impression of them through the shimmering heat waves that rose from the desert plains. He noticed, about a mile further on, some kind of structure sitting out in the middle of nowhere. He couldn’t tell if it was a house or a barn or some sort of warehouse. At the moment, he wasn’t concerned. His only concern was making sure one of the Gallaghers went with Fisher while the other Gallagher brother stayed with him.
As he neared, Longarm saw Fish turn his horse and lope toward him. In a few moments, his tall, lanky friend was near enough to speak. Fisher said, “Well, I see you’ve made it this far.”
Longarm said, “Better keep your voice down. What did you tell them?”
“I told them that your horse was lame. I told him that I thought that he had bowed a tendon and that you’d be here if you had to carry the horse.”
“How close did you get to them?”
“Very damn unclose.”
“Were you able to tell if one of them had a very long white scar along his jaw?”
Fisher said, “Kind of It looked like it, but then again, I just told them I would hold my ground until you arrived. Naturally, they invited me to come on over for a parley, but I chose to tell them that it was my bound duty to keep an eye out for you.”
“Do they still seem agreeable to the terms?”
“Yeah, as far as I can tell.” Fisher was looking at Longarm’s saddlebags. “Marshal, I don’t know if you know it or not, but your saddlebags is kind of a dead giveaway that you’re carrying something in there that most folks don’t normally carry.”
Longarm said, “I’m going to pull my horse up and I’m going to dismount. While I am looking like I’m busy getting some kind of ointment out of them, in reality I am going to be emptying some of the extra ice. I want you to take a look at my horse’s front leg and pretend that it really was a bowed tendon.”
Fisher said, “You want me to get off this horse and stand by your horse while you go to fooling around with the nitroglycerin that’s in your saddlebags. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
Fisher sighed and dismounted. “I’m going to a doctor when I get back. There is something seriously wrong with a man who would do things like this, especially for the money. Do you realize that you have some of my money from that poker game? That wasn’t supposed to happen, Longarm.”
“If I ever get you to sit still long enough, I’ll own all your money and your soul and what little brains you have.”
They both dismounted, and while Longarm cleared out the last of the ice that was not contained in the oilskin packets, Fisher made busywork out of looking at Longarm’s horse’s front legs. Longarm took a peek inside each oilskin pouch. The situation in them was much better. There was still a pound of ice in each packet and if they did melt, the oilskin bags were watertight and nothing would spill out.
Nonetheless, the sun was getting hotter, and it wouldn’t be too much longer before the nitro would become more of a hazard to the man carrying it than to anyone it might be aimed at.
Longarm buckled the flaps of his saddlebags and remounted. He said, “Well, let’s go ahead and get this over with. It doesn’t look like more than a mile. You ride on out wide ahead of me so that we don’t make too inviting of a target. Don’t take your carbine out, but have your hand on it. If they do anything funny, take a shot.”
Fisher said, “Why in hell don’t we shoot them now?”
Longarm said, “Because I am not sure it’s the two Gallaghers. it would be like them to send two substitutes in their place to see what we are going to do. It wouldn’t mean a damn thing to them if we shot a couple more of their men. No, there’s no use in showing any more of our hand until we are sure that we have the goods. The only way that we can make sure is to find the one with the big scar on his jaw.”
Fisher said, “Yeah, according to your girlfriend. I wonder how many men can call her their girlfriend?”
“That ain’t the point, Fisher. I just don’t think she is smart enough to lie to me.”
“Longarm, when it comes to you and women, hell, you’ll believe anything if it gets you between their legs.”
“That’s a hell of a thing to say to a man, especially one of my taste and discrimination.”
“You’re discriminating, all right, and you have taste, all right, although most of it is in your mouth. I’d say that you discriminate. If she’s a woman, she’s got to have a pulse.”