Baldwin grinned lewdly. 'Aw, have I insulted your own play-pretty, Uncle Sam? Don't worry. I ain't greedy. You can have my sloppy seconds after I show her what a real man has to offer.'
And then he was flat on his ass in a far corner with a split lip as Longarm rubbed his knuckles thoughtfully and muttered, 'Next time you get kicked. Guess where.'
So Baldwin mentioned his balls in front of a lady, and howled like a kicked pup when Longarm kicked him there as promised.
Norma gasped, 'For heaven's sake, can't you see he's crazy? Don't mistreat him further on my account. You should hear what some men call me when they're delirious with fever back in town!'
Longarm said, 'This one ain't feverish. He's what we call a jail house lawyer. what's misled him about what we can or can't do to a federal prisoner. Are you listening to me, you poor misled or just plain stupid rascal?'
Holding himself by the balls with both legs drawn up as he lay on one side on the concrete, Baldwin whimpered, 'Damn it, Longarm, you ain't allowed to torture me. It says so in the Constitution!'
Longarm smiled down at him and replied, not unkindly, 'Try sassing Judge Dickerson of the Denver District Court, once I get you back to him, if you'd like to see some cruel and unusual punishment. Are you ready to act like a grown man now, or would you like me to hold you down while the doc here gives you an enema for your own good?'
Norma blushed like hell, but laughed and declared, 'I think that's a grand idea, Custis. Anyone can see this wayward youth is full of shit!'
So Clay Baldwin allowed he'd as soon behave more properly, and never said anything dirty as Norma took his pulse and temperature, hunkered down beside him in a way that surely made her white skirt tight across her ample but shapely behind.
Longarm waited until Norma took the thermometer out and said he didn't seem to be running a fever now, before he told the mean-eyed cuss, 'I'll see you get a decent supper tonight. You'll eat the same as Gilbert and me on the way back to Denver. Whether you ride all the way in leg irons and cuffs or just cuffs is up to you. For as I hope you understand by now, I treat a prisoner no better or no worse than he asks me to.'
Baldwin said sullenly he'd only been funning and didn't want to stand trial back in Colorado all busted up. So Longarm nodded and said, 'Bueno. Neither you nor Deputy Gilbert will be called upon to do much more than sit as we work our way home by boat and train. So let's hope Gilbert's as frisky as you come morning, and we might be on our way.'
When Baldwin didn't argue, Longarm added, 'One more thing, though. I've been having repeated problems with some pals of yours, Clay. Hamp Godwynn and Squint Reynolds are both dead.'
Baldwin stared thoughtfully up at Longarm, shrugged, and asked, 'Am I supposed to cry? Never heard of either of 'em. You say you gunned 'em?'
'Only Reynolds,' Longarm modestly replied. 'A Ranger got Godwynn up to Corpus Christi. I don't care how you feel about anyone out there in the dark. My point is that should anyone make any try at taking you away from Gilbert and me on the way out of here, you have my word you'll be among the first to die. Doc Richards here can assure you a really determined cuss can get off more than one good shot with a bullet in his heart. Ain't that right, Doc?'
Norma swallowed and declared, 'Some people can remain conscious for as long as four minutes after heart failure. Don't hold me to how rational anyone might feel full of bullets!'
Longarm smiled grimly and said, 'There you go, Clay. A bright boy like you ought to see the odds are better in court than in the company of a mighty unrational but highly annoyed cuss holding a gun on you!'
Baldwin wiped his bloody lip with the back of one sleeve as he insisted, 'I don't know what you're jawing about. I told the boys I might have herded some stock out for parts unknown if I didn't come back with some money poco tiempo. You know I got double-crossed and turned over to the law. I don't know which way the others rode. We planned to split up with just such a conversation as this one in mind. I couldn't find a one of 'em now if I rode out after 'em myself. But I will say I'd be surprised to find any of 'em anywheres near Escondrijo now!'
Longarm said, 'I might take your word on that if you could explain what you meant by a double cross. Are you saying you had reason to feel Pryce & Doyle might be in the market for stolen beef?'
Baldwin snorted, 'Why, no, I always sell stolen property where I suspect they might call the law on me! Of course I was told that meat-packing outfit sent cold-storage meat to market with neither hides nor brands in evidence! But when I sashayed in to talk money with that prissy Mister Doyle... Hell, Longarm, you know the rest of my sad story.'
Longarm said, 'No, I don't. You never said who told you Pryce & Doyle bought stolen beef on the hoof. Would you care to illuminate me on that?'
Baldwin hesitated and then said, 'Well, lots of greasers are called... Chino. So I reckon it won't hurt to admit it was one of the boys I met here in Texas, the lying son of a never mind.'
Longarm cocked a brow and demanded, 'Chino, or might it have been Gordo? I've a good reason to ask.'
But Baldwin insisted he'd heard Pryce & Doyle peddled stolen beef from another drifter called Chino, and he was right about that being a common enough Mex nickname. So Longarm turned to Norma and suggested they go see about some supper. But she insisted on hauling out some gauze and hunkering down by the prisoner again, observing that his lip should have stopped bleeding by this time if it meant to without any help. So Baldwin allowed, and Longarm agreed, she wasn't such a bad old gal after all.
She was curious as well, asking question after question as they supped together alone in the wardroom after she'd paid another call on young Gilbert and declared him weak but likely on his way to recovery.
As they supped on officer's fare, in this case steak and mashed potatoes with cabbage, Longarm answered her questions until he got tired of talking in circles. 'Sure he did,' Miss Norma. The man's dishonest by definition. Hardly anyone else knew I was on my way down here, even before that storm blew the telegraph lines down. The gunslicks I've nailed down as dead facts seem cut from the same outlaw cloth as Baldwin. There must have been more than two in his gang if they cut out enough stolen beef to matter. So that'd account for some leftover and even more cowardly sniping.'
She poured some canned cream in her coffee, asking if he'd like some before she mentioned that Mexican angle again.
