He didn’t want to think about it too severely at the moment, but he was pretty sure he should have handled the situation differently. If his horses had had one more mile in them, he’d have ridden around the cabin and looked it over from the rear. That way he’d have had Shaw boxed in, unless he cared to flee on foot, which wouldn’t be very smart.
Longarm wasn’t sure if he was going to get out of the mess he’d gotten himself in, but he desperately dreaded having to write the report that would be due following the outcome. His boss, Billy Vail, who delighted in any stumbles Longarm made, would never let him forget it.
Shaw said, “Reason I mentioned about that packhorse of yours is that if he comes wanderin’ over here and wants to get in a line between us, I’ll have to drop him before he can do that. You be close enough now. I wouldn’t care to have you come rushing forward and using the animal for cover.”
“Still thinking ahead, eh, Jack?”
“Never be as good at it as you are.”
“Yeah. That’s why I’m in this ditch and you’re in the shade.”
“Ain’t gettin’ hot, is it?”
“No, no. Fact is I was just wishing I had my ducking jacket. Getting a little chilly out here.”
He heard Shaw laugh. He could feel his shirt getting resoaked for about the third time that day. He reckoned the garment was mostly salt by now. A drop of sweat fell off his nose as he wiped his brow, trying to keep the salt out of his eyes. He glanced up at the relentless sun, trying to gauge how long until dusk. He said, “What time you got, Jack?”
“Why, you got a train to catch?”
“Just curious. My watch stopped.”
He could hear Shaw chuckle. Then the outlaw said, “I reckon you are calculating on how long it is to dark. I think you got it in your mind to maybe make some kind of play in the blackness. Well, friend Longarm, I’d chuck that one out the window. Gonna be moon bright. Moon going to be as full tonight as it gets. Going to be that way for two, three more nights. Hell, if you had one, you’d be able to read a newspaper be so light.”
Longarm cursed silently to himself “Well, I’m glad to have your word on that, Jack.”
“What the hell you think I’m doing still here with the border no more than a day and a half away? Waiting for a dark night. I’d just as soon folks kept on looking for me around here instead of stirring up the Mexican authorities. You know that Mex law, Longarm. They don’t give a damn about me, but if they get word about how much gold I’m carrying, they are likely to take a right smart interest. So I kind of planned to be just as quiet and easy when I cross on over. Sort of keep it my secret.”
“Well, looks like we’re going to have plenty of time for a good visit, Jack.” Shaw said, “Well, I don’t know about that, Longarm. I got a look at the size of that canteen you was toting when you scrambled for that ditch. Even if it was full, which I doubt, you’d have a hell of a time making two days on that piddling amount of water. That sun will sweat the fluid out of you, Custis. I know. It’ll draw it right on out like a whore suckin’ the money out of your pocket. Or maybe suckin’ something else out of you, if you take my meaning.”
Longarm was quiet for a moment. Then he said easily, “Well, Jack, when you come right down to it, we might not have to wait long at all to settle this little question. You are sitting in there in a square rock cabin and I got a real good angle at two windows and a door. I got steel-jacketed cartridges in this carbine, and it occurs to me I might go to letting some shots off through them windows and those steel slugs might get to ricocheting around and around in that little room and one of them might pass through your body. I know it ain’t exactly precision shooting, but it’s the best I can come up with under the circumstances.”
Shaw said, “Aw, hell, Longarm, let me get these jeans off so you can pull my leg better. You ain’t got the ammunition for that kind of play. You hit the ground with a pistol on your hip and a carbine in one hand and a canteen in the other. Unless you was carrying cartridges in that canteen, you got just what you’ve got loaded.”
“You wouldn’t care to bet your life on that, would you?” Longarm waited a moment. “You know, them cartridge heads get to flying off rock and sometimes they split apart and they’ll be rock fragments flying. Might get a bit warm in there.”
Shaw laughed. “I got to give you credit, Custis. YOU still ain’t lost your touch. I bet you talked more men down in a fight than you ever gunned down. And it takes a man of your reputation—fairly earned, I might add—to do that. But there is one slight error in your plan. They is a root cellar in here and the first time you let fly, I am going to be down in it with a gun in each hand waiting for you to walk through the front door.”
Longarm thought a moment. His legs were starting to cramp up from the fixed position he’d been lying in. He didn’t reckon he’d ever been so uncomfortable in his life. Then he said, “You wouldn’t be lying about that, would you, Jack?”
“No more than you’re lying about your ammunition.”
They were both quiet for a time, thinking it over. Finally Longarm said, That whiskey making you sleepy, Jack?”
“Oh, no. No, no, no. I’ve had me a good rest. Got here early last night and been sleeping and dozing ever since. How about you?”
“Oh, the same. Fact of the business I’ve had too much sleep.”
“Slept, did you, whilst you was trailing me?”
“Aw, yeah. Soon as I had you lined out, I just pointed the horse and relaxed in the saddle and slept most of the night away. In fact I overslept breakfast. Horse wouldn’t stop.”
They were both quiet for a while. Then Shaw said, “This is mighty good whiskey, Custis. Shore you won’t have some?”
“Jack, you know what I reckon? I reckon we got us a standoff here. I guess you’d call it a Mexican close as we are to the border.”
Shaw laughed. “Now who be doing the bull-shitting? Hell, Longarm, I can get on a horse and ride out of here anytime I’m of a mind.”
