am
already."
"Then stop on by
before you climb aboard that train," the telegraph operator
suggested. "Mr. Vail might even surprise you."
"He can do that,"
Longarm said on his way out the door.
Longarm returned
directly to the Outpost Hotel. The moment he walked into his
room and saw Milly, he knew that something was amiss.
"Custis!" she
cried in alarm. "They came here wanting to arrest
you!"
"Who?"
"Sheriff Cotton!
He's got a couple of men and they're looking to put you behind
bars."
Longarm didn't
wait to figure out the whats or the whys, He was pretty sure that
Clarence Huntington must have paid a judge to get an order for
his arrest. Whether it was legal or binding meant nothing.
Longarm knew that Cotton was just fool enough to try to arrest
him and that the more people involved, the more likely people
would be killed.
"What are you
going to do?" Milly asked.
"If I stay and get
arrested, I'm cooked," Longarm decided out loud. "I can't catch
Eli Wheat and I can't do my job."
"Then you should
go."
"I hate the idea
of leaving you alone."
"Who said that
I'll be alone?" Milly replied, with a wink of her long
eyelashes.
"You'd get a man
in here after-"
"No, silly! Not
at first anyway. I've got a lot of girlfriends that owe me
favors for one thing or another. It might even surprise you to
know that I've got some respectable women as close
friends."
"Nothing you say
or do surprises me," Longarm confessed.
He kissed her
cheek and then grabbed his Winchester rifle and bags. "I'll be
back again when all this blows over and I've brought the outlaws
to justice."
"Don't get
caught!" she pleaded. "Now hurry up and go!"
Longarm guessed
that he had better scoot. He'd killed two men already in this
town, and he sure didn't want to spill the blood of a couple more
fools.
CHAPTER
10
With Ike Cotton
and a group of deputies looking to arrest him, Longarm knew that
the railroad depot would be covered and that there was no chance
of escaping on the train. That meant that he needed to reclaim
his horse from Jimmie and leave on the run.
Longarm kept to
the alleys most of the way to the livery, hoping to avoid any
confrontation. When he saw Jimmie working with a pen of horses,
Longarm hurried over to the man.
"Jimmie, I need my
sorrel gelding saddled in a hurry."
"You're running
from the likes of Sheriff Ike Cotton?" Jimmie asked with
surprise.
"I'll be back.
But I can't do a damned thing in jail and I don't want to have to
gun down the sheriff or any of his fool deputies."
"Where are you
going?"
"Better you don't
ask."
"Ned Rowe climbed
on his horse about an hour ago."
This offhand
remark caught Longarm cold. "He left town?"
"That's right. I
watched him galloping northwest on his Palomino. He sure was in
a hurry and he wasn't heading for Cheyenne."
Longarm studied
the man. "You're still convinced that Ned is caught up in all
this, aren't you?"
"I didn't say
that," Jimmie replied. "But nothing that Ned does would surprise
me."
Longarm followed
Jimmie into the barn and helped him bring out and saddle the
sorrel. "Any idea where Ned is going?"
"Nope. But he has
a habit of hammering the ends of his horseshoes to a point. You
won't have any trouble picking his tracks out. There's a big
lightning-shot pine tree about a half mile southwest of here.
Ned passed not fifty feet to the north of it and then headed
directly toward the north fork of the Laramie River. My hunch is
that he's skirting the Union Pacific."
"You think he
might be planning to join the gang and help stage another
robbery?"
"That possibility
has entered my mind." Jimmie toed the dirt. "That fella that
you shot, he must have been part of the gang. My thinking is
that Ned set him up for you to kill so he could get his
share."
"You've got a real
suspicious mind," Longarm said. "You should have been a
lawman."
"Ain't got the
stomach for it. But I do know Ned Rowe. He's no damned good and
he's a
already."
"Then stop on by
before you climb aboard that train," the telegraph operator
suggested. "Mr. Vail might even surprise you."
"He can do that,"
Longarm said on his way out the door.
Longarm returned
directly to the Outpost Hotel. The moment he walked into his
room and saw Milly, he knew that something was amiss.
"Custis!" she
cried in alarm. "They came here wanting to arrest
you!"
"Who?"
"Sheriff Cotton!
He's got a couple of men and they're looking to put you behind
bars."
Longarm didn't
wait to figure out the whats or the whys, He was pretty sure that
Clarence Huntington must have paid a judge to get an order for
his arrest. Whether it was legal or binding meant nothing.
Longarm knew that Cotton was just fool enough to try to arrest
him and that the more people involved, the more likely people
would be killed.
"What are you
going to do?" Milly asked.
"If I stay and get
arrested, I'm cooked," Longarm decided out loud. "I can't catch
Eli Wheat and I can't do my job."
"Then you should
go."
"I hate the idea
of leaving you alone."
"Who said that
I'll be alone?" Milly replied, with a wink of her long
eyelashes.
"You'd get a man
in here after-"
"No, silly! Not
at first anyway. I've got a lot of girlfriends that owe me
favors for one thing or another. It might even surprise you to
know that I've got some respectable women as close
friends."
"Nothing you say
or do surprises me," Longarm confessed.
He kissed her
cheek and then grabbed his Winchester rifle and bags. "I'll be
back again when all this blows over and I've brought the outlaws
to justice."
"Don't get
caught!" she pleaded. "Now hurry up and go!"
Longarm guessed
that he had better scoot. He'd killed two men already in this
town, and he sure didn't want to spill the blood of a couple more
fools.
CHAPTER
10
With Ike Cotton
and a group of deputies looking to arrest him, Longarm knew that
the railroad depot would be covered and that there was no chance
of escaping on the train. That meant that he needed to reclaim
his horse from Jimmie and leave on the run.
Longarm kept to
the alleys most of the way to the livery, hoping to avoid any
confrontation. When he saw Jimmie working with a pen of horses,
Longarm hurried over to the man.
"Jimmie, I need my
sorrel gelding saddled in a hurry."
"You're running
from the likes of Sheriff Ike Cotton?" Jimmie asked with
surprise.
"I'll be back.
But I can't do a damned thing in jail and I don't want to have to
gun down the sheriff or any of his fool deputies."
"Where are you
going?"
"Better you don't
ask."
"Ned Rowe climbed
on his horse about an hour ago."
This offhand
remark caught Longarm cold. "He left town?"
"That's right. I
watched him galloping northwest on his Palomino. He sure was in
a hurry and he wasn't heading for Cheyenne."
Longarm studied
the man. "You're still convinced that Ned is caught up in all
this, aren't you?"
"I didn't say
that," Jimmie replied. "But nothing that Ned does would surprise
me."
Longarm followed
Jimmie into the barn and helped him bring out and saddle the
sorrel. "Any idea where Ned is going?"
"Nope. But he has
a habit of hammering the ends of his horseshoes to a point. You
won't have any trouble picking his tracks out. There's a big
lightning-shot pine tree about a half mile southwest of here.
Ned passed not fifty feet to the north of it and then headed
directly toward the north fork of the Laramie River. My hunch is
that he's skirting the Union Pacific."
"You think he
might be planning to join the gang and help stage another
robbery?"
"That possibility
has entered my mind." Jimmie toed the dirt. "That fella that
you shot, he must have been part of the gang. My thinking is
that Ned set him up for you to kill so he could get his
share."
"You've got a real
suspicious mind," Longarm said. "You should have been a
lawman."
"Ain't got the
stomach for it. But I do know Ned Rowe. He's no damned good and
he's a
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