“Yeah, I know.”
“All right, but my question still stands. Where did you find out about them?”
“Same way I came up with one hundred rifles,” Harris said. “I have a contact with the Colorado Home Guard.”
“Where are the guns now?” Bryans asked. “And how do we get them?”
“They’ll be goin’ by wagon from Denver to Ft. Junction,” Harris said.
“With the whole army guardin’ ’em, no doubt,” Richland said. “I can’t hardly see the army shippin’ a couple of Gatlin’ guns out without havin’ a lot of guards.”
“Only four guards,” Harris said.
“How do you know?”
“How do I know? I know for same reason I know that they are comin’, and even when they are comin’.” Harris took a telegram from his pocket and showed it to the others. “Like I said, I have a contact with the Colorado Home Guard. This here telegram is from the telegrapher at Ft. Junction.”
“How’d you get it?” Bryans asked.
“He sent it to me.”
“Do you trust him?”
“Yeah, I trust him. The telegrapher is my cousin, Graham Potter. He’s in for a share,” Harris said.
“A whole share?” Richland asked.
“A whole share.”
“That ain’t no way right,” Richland said. “I mean, what with us doin’ the work and him gettin’ a whole share.”
“There wouldn’t be nothin’ to share at all iffen Potter hadn’t arranged to get the guns in the first place,” Garon said.
“Garon, you go along with this?” Richland asked.
“Yeah,” Garon said. “I go along with it.”
“All right, if you don’t have no trouble with it, then I don’t reckon I do either.”
“What about you, Bryans? Do you have a problem with Potter gettin’ his share?” Harris asked.
Bryans shook his head. “No,” he said. “As long as I get my share, I ain’t got no problem with that.”
“Good.”
“What else has your cousin told us that we can use?” Richland asked.
“There’s only goin’ to be five men with the shipment, the driver, who is an old man, and four guards. They are treatin’ this like an ordinary supply run, figurin’ if they do that, it won’t raise no suspicions.”
“Ha. And it would have worked, too, if it hadn’t been for your cousin’ lettin’ us in on it,” Garon said.
“When are the guns bein’ shipped?” Bryans asked.
“They get to Denver on the ninth,” Harris answered.
“You’re sure we can get two thousand dollars apiece?” Richland asked.
“Tell him, Garon,” Harris said.
“Cut Nose said he wanted the guns. Clete here told him it was goin’ to cost him a lot of money. Cut Nose said he had a lot of money.”
“Where do the Injuns get the money?”
“Ha. They’ve robbed army payrolls, they’ve attacked wagon trains and took ever’thing, they’ve killed prospectors and express riders and taken ever’thing. And since they don’t spend the money among themselves, over the years, the money just builds up,” Harris said.
“All right, sounds good to me.”
“There is one little detail that I haven’t mentioned,” Harris said.
“What is that?”
“The Sioux are up in Montana somewhere. We’re goin’ to have to go up there and find them in order to deliver the guns to them.”
“Yeah,” Garon added. “And I’ve been hearin’ that the army is plannin’ to get after the Injuns this summer.”
“That’s right,” Harris said. “So that means we’re goin’ to have to find ’em before the army does. Otherwise, there ain’t likely to be anyone left to buy the guns.”
“Wait a minute,” Richland said. “You plan to give them Gatling guns, knowin’ the army is goin’ after them?”
“Yeah,” Harris said. “That’s my plan.”
“But, if the Indians have Gatling guns, won’t that be helpin’ Indians kill white men?”
“You got ’ny kin in the army?” Harris asked.
