"Look out, now. You're going to make me proud, and if there's one thing I can't put up with it's a man that's vain." Before she could continue the conversation, he went on, "We can't take time to visit, Flo. We've got to get on with what we set out to do. Now, I got one more chore to do down there at the bottom of this hill. You take your time about coming down there to meet me. What I've got to do's something you don't want to see."
He rode Tordo up the hump and down the other side to where the dead rurales lay, stopping at the midpoint of the downslope to pick up the rifle and pistol of the man he'd shot first. The unwounded horse that had bolted wasn't too far away; Longarm hazed him easily back to where the two dead men lay. He loaded their weapons and ammunition belts on the spare horse, tying them with its saddle strings. For all he knew, Ramos's main force might have wiped out Nate and John and be riding fast for the river.
With the captured horse on a lead, Longarm and Flo set off again at a gallop toward the Rio Grande and Los Perros. The clanking of the weapons that had belonged to the dead rurales rang in their ears, a constant reminder that the shooting wasn't over yet.
Chapter 18
"Well," Longarm told Flo, pointing across the slick, green, rolling surface of the Rio Grande, "there it is. That's Los Perros."
She grimaced. "It doesn't look like much."
"No. And when you come right down to it, it ain't much. But it's all we've got to lean on." Longarm nudged Tordo and the tired dapple moved slowly through the chamizal toward the ford that was still a short distance upstream. Flo followed after. Longarm said, "It's better'n nothing at all, I'd say. But we might still have to do a lot of leaning to get Sheriff Tucker to do what we got to make him do."
They'd hit the river at midafternoon, and with the stream as a landmark, Longarm had quickly located the rustlers' trail that led them to the ford. Nothing had happened after the brush with the rurales. They'd ridden across the plain that sloped gently down to the river, and though they'd looked back often, they'd seen no sign of Nate Webster and John Hill. They could only assume that before nightfall the two men would arrive, and that Ramos and his rurales would be there a little later.
Longarm led the way across the ford and turned south on the sandspit. When they reached the shanties and entered the town, the little procession they made drew stares from everyone who saw it. Longarm led on the gray, his chin stubbled with a week's beard, his frock coat ripped in several places and stained with the grime of the trail. The rurale horse was next, festooned with rifles and pistol belts and bandoliers. Flo brought up the rear, her blond hair streaming down her back, her flared skirt draped over her horse, as badly stained as Longarm's coat.
As much as he felt like stopping at Miles Baskin's saloon for a comforting drop of Maryland rye, Longarm rode around the building and reined in at the hitching rail in front of the sheriff's office. Wahonta, the Apache girl, was standing beside the door. She looked at the riders with her opaque obsidian eyes, her face expressionless.
"Is Tucker inside?" Longarm asked.
"Yes. Him there," Wahonta said. She stood aside to let Longarm and Flo enter.
When he saw Longarm and Flo, Sheriff Tucker's eyes goggled. "Custis? Where the billy-blue-hell you been? I've had Spud and Ralston out looking for you the past three-four days, now."
"Had to make a little sashay over the river," Longarm said shortly. "To save you asking, this lady's Miss Florence Firestone. From New York. Flo, this is Sheriff Tucker."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, miss. You're a friend of Mr. Custis's, I take it?"
Longarm had briefed Flo on the situation they'd be stepping into at Los Perros. She didn't blink an eyelid when she replied, "I am now, Sheriff. He rescued me from a very unpleasant situation."
"Welcome to Los Perros, then, Miss Firestone. Any way I can he'p you, just call on me." Tucker laid the Southern gallantry on a bit thicker than Longarm remembered having seen him show it before. The sheriff returned his attention to Longarm. "You ain't the only one missing, either. You wouldn't happen to know anything about my deputy, Lefty? He dropped outa sight about the same time you did."
"Wish I could say I'd brought him back with me, Sheriff, but I can't. You'll have to find him yourself, I'm afraid."
Tucker's eyes narrowed. "If he don't come back soon, I'm goin' to be a man short. Remember what we talked about the other day? You was goin' to think on it."
"I've been too busy with my regular job to do much thinking."
"That railroad figurin' on building into Mexico, too, is it? You didn't mention that, Custis."
"Let's say I had my reasons." Longarm winked. He didn't know what reasons the sheriff's crooked mind would dream up, but that didn't matter much. He went on, "Right now, we've got a spot of trouble that I'm going to ask you to help out with."
"I don't go back on my word. I told you that since we're going to do business together, I'd he'p you any way I can. What kind of trouble you talkin' about?"
"Well, in about two or three hours, maybe less, there's going to be a bunch of Porfirio Diaz's rurales come galloping up, and they'll be after my hide. Miss Firestone's, too."
Flo said sweetly, "And you said you'd help me, too, Sheriff. Just a minute ago, remember?"
Tucker whistled. "Rurales? You mean you got crossways of 'em while you was over there?"
"Afraid I did. Now, my guess is that the rurales won't pay much attention to that river. They'll be mad and mean, and if you let them get into Los Perros, you're not going to have much of a town left when they get through."
"What d'you expect me to do? I got two men, with Lefty gone."
"You'll have to muster up a bunch of special deputies. If I was in your place, I'd deputize every man I could, and stop 'em cold on their side of the river."
"Hold on, Custis! Damn it, you're askin' me to start a war with Mexico!"
"No, I wouldn't put it that way. If you line enough men up on our side of the river, the rurales won't cross. I don't imagine they'd want it said that Mexico started a war, either. The thing is, you're the duly constituted authority here. It's your duty not to let those rampaging hombres come into your town."
Longarm could see that his cool, matter-of-fact way was baffling Tucker. That was what he'd set out to do. Getting the sheriff off balance, convincing him that his help was in his own interest and not a life-or-death matter to Longarm had been his objective from the beginning.
Tucker said, "Look here, Custis, I better find out what you been doin' over in Mexico before I start a fight with them rurales. For all I know, you might've broke some of their laws, maybe be a fugitive from justice. If that's so, the rurales might have some kind of right to come over here after you."
"Sheriff, your rights stop at the river, don't they?"
"Well, sure, I guess that's so."
"Then, damn it, theirs stop on the Mexican side. And, like I mentioned, if a bunch like that comes storming into town, you're not going to have a town left here. Now, if you don't~"
Longarm's argument was interrupted when the jail door swung open. Spud, Tucker's chief deputy, came swaggering out. He started talking before he saw Longarm.
"Ed, that little greaser bitch don't know a thing about Custis. I had to knock her around a little bit~" He saw Longarm and his words faded out. His eyes stuck out even farther than had Tucker's. "Damn you, Custis! Where you been? And what'd you do with Lefty? I know damn well~"
Tucker cut Spud short. "Shut up! I already asked him about Lefty. He don't know any more'n you and me does."
"I want to know something about who you've been knocking around back in that jail, though," Longarm told Spud coldly. "Far as I know, there's just one woman in Los Perros you might think'd know something about me." Spud didn't answer. Longarm raised his voice and called, "Lita! That you back there?"