hit Richfield, Minnesota. Johnny Loco, an ordinary run-of-the-road gunslinger with a mere $50 bounty on his head, might go down in history by setting a record for a one man heist. It was a distinction worth waiting for.
But he’d have to get the road built by September 3, the day the payroll was hauled, and the town needed a labor force and money for the road fund, right now. There wasn’t enough money in the bank to furnish him with the ante to try for a road fund at the poker tables, even if he could play poker.
Play poker! That was a solution.
He turned to Abe, talking fast, “Abe, I’m going to make an official visit to the picnic. Somebody’s got to make Christians out of them Mormons, and it might as well be me. How long will it take you to finish my suit?”
“Ordinarily it would take two hours. If you’re going to wait here for it, it’ll take fifteen minutes.”
“Abe, I’ll see that you’re paid in full for that suit on my first payday, plus a bonus, if you’ll do me a favor.”
“What collateral could you possibly offer?”
“You don’t do me the favor till tomorrow. If I’m killed, you’re only out of the use of the suit for one afternoon.”
“Name your favor, deputy.”
“Accept an appointment as justice of the peace at eight o’clock tomorrow morning.”
“Ian, I’m no judge,” Bernbaum exploded. “The only law I know is the law handed down by Moses, and I observe that it does not apply in Shoshone Flats.”
“Abe, if the law of Moses was good enough for Jesus Christ, it’s good enough for Ian McCloud. This is how it will work. I’ll put a defendant in front of you, and you give him ten days or ten dollars unless I tug my ear. If I tug my ear, that means he’s guilty, so give him twenty days or thirty dollars. I’ll give you a dollar out of every ten dollars I collect.”
Suddenly interested, Abe looked up. “That sounds logical, ten percent of all fines as court costs.”
“However it figures out. Keep sewing.”
Twenty minutes later, garbed in official black, Ian was galloping south on his matching-color stallion, the town’s tax problems on their way to being solved, pending the mayor’s approval; the town’s court set up, pending the mayor’s approval of the appointment; and a schedule set which included, at the end of three weeks, the double robbery of a stagecoach with a payroll and a bank with deposits.
Ian’s mind was functioning at such a peak of creativity it had begun to explore a plan to bring Colonel Blicket and The Sergeant north to get in on the killing, as victims.
Only one problem he could not solve: Where would he find and arrest twelve or fourteen able-bodied lawbreakers quickly enough to get the road started and finished by September 3?
When Ian galloped up to the picnic meadow spread along a curve in the river, he saw Gabriella surrounded by three full circles of Gentile gallants. She spotted him on the heights of Midnight and managed a fluttering wave of her handkerchief. He waved back, unable to see her face below the shoulders of all the tall young men who had come courting after Billy Peyton fell. Liza was there with two and a half circles of men surrounding her.
Ian swung from the saddle after he spotted Mr. Bain, and tethered Midnight to keep the horse from following him into the crowd and stepping on someone’s toes. He cut the saloon keeper from Liza’s herd, led him aside, and went straight to the point, “Mr. Bain, how’d you like to offer a little game of poker as an amusement to the customers of your place?”
“Deputy, I’ve wanted to do that for so long I can taste the poker chips. With only drinking to divert them, the customers are working my poor girls to their bones.”
“How many tables could you set up?”
“Eight, easy. Maybe ten.”
“All right. I’m going to get you poker parlor rights in Shoshone Flats. You take a dollar an hour, the house’s cut, from the kitty at each table, and you play from six
But he’d have to get the road built by September 3, the day the payroll was hauled, and the town needed a labor force and money for the road fund, right now. There wasn’t enough money in the bank to furnish him with the ante to try for a road fund at the poker tables, even if he could play poker.
Play poker! That was a solution.
He turned to Abe, talking fast, “Abe, I’m going to make an official visit to the picnic. Somebody’s got to make Christians out of them Mormons, and it might as well be me. How long will it take you to finish my suit?”
“Ordinarily it would take two hours. If you’re going to wait here for it, it’ll take fifteen minutes.”
“Abe, I’ll see that you’re paid in full for that suit on my first payday, plus a bonus, if you’ll do me a favor.”
“What collateral could you possibly offer?”
“You don’t do me the favor till tomorrow. If I’m killed, you’re only out of the use of the suit for one afternoon.”
“Name your favor, deputy.”
“Accept an appointment as justice of the peace at eight o’clock tomorrow morning.”
“Ian, I’m no judge,” Bernbaum exploded. “The only law I know is the law handed down by Moses, and I observe that it does not apply in Shoshone Flats.”
“Abe, if the law of Moses was good enough for Jesus Christ, it’s good enough for Ian McCloud. This is how it will work. I’ll put a defendant in front of you, and you give him ten days or ten dollars unless I tug my ear. If I tug my ear, that means he’s guilty, so give him twenty days or thirty dollars. I’ll give you a dollar out of every ten dollars I collect.”
Suddenly interested, Abe looked up. “That sounds logical, ten percent of all fines as court costs.”
“However it figures out. Keep sewing.”
Twenty minutes later, garbed in official black, Ian was galloping south on his matching-color stallion, the town’s tax problems on their way to being solved, pending the mayor’s approval; the town’s court set up, pending the mayor’s approval of the appointment; and a schedule set which included, at the end of three weeks, the double robbery of a stagecoach with a payroll and a bank with deposits.
Ian’s mind was functioning at such a peak of creativity it had begun to explore a plan to bring Colonel Blicket and The Sergeant north to get in on the killing, as victims.
Only one problem he could not solve: Where would he find and arrest twelve or fourteen able-bodied lawbreakers quickly enough to get the road started and finished by September 3?
When Ian galloped up to the picnic meadow spread along a curve in the river, he saw Gabriella surrounded by three full circles of Gentile gallants. She spotted him on the heights of Midnight and managed a fluttering wave of her handkerchief. He waved back, unable to see her face below the shoulders of all the tall young men who had come courting after Billy Peyton fell. Liza was there with two and a half circles of men surrounding her.
Ian swung from the saddle after he spotted Mr. Bain, and tethered Midnight to keep the horse from following him into the crowd and stepping on someone’s toes. He cut the saloon keeper from Liza’s herd, led him aside, and went straight to the point, “Mr. Bain, how’d you like to offer a little game of poker as an amusement to the customers of your place?”
“Deputy, I’ve wanted to do that for so long I can taste the poker chips. With only drinking to divert them, the customers are working my poor girls to their bones.”
“How many tables could you set up?”
“Eight, easy. Maybe ten.”
“All right. I’m going to get you poker parlor rights in Shoshone Flats. You take a dollar an hour, the house’s cut, from the kitty at each table, and you play from six
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