troubles had a man working for him in her camp. Now he had confirmation of that. There was no reason for this clandestine meeting unless the cook was passing on vital information to his real employer.
'What have you found out, Eli?' Callahan was saying.
The cook shook his bald head. 'Not much, Boss. Miz Mcentire's still all het up about something. Maybe because that marshal fella is still over at the Diamond K, 'stead of with her.'
Longarm saw Callahan's face harden at the mention of him. 'That lawman's caused nothing but trouble,' growled Callahan. 'It would've been all right with me if that ambush had killed him. I don't need him distracting Aurora right now.'
'You plan on makin' a move soon?'
'It looks like I'll have to,' said Callahan grimly. 'Nothing else I've tried has worked. All I can do now is come after her with what she least expects.'
The cook chuckled. 'I reckon Miz Mcentire'll be thrown for a loop, that's for sure. She won't know what hit her, Boss.'
Longarm felt rage building up inside him as he listened to the conversation. Callahan was behind all the mayhem that had infected this part of the woods, and now he was plotting his worst strike yet against Aurora. It was all Longarm could do not to pull his gun from its holster and burst out of the trees to arrest the bastard right here and now. He forced himself to keep listening, though, in hopes that Callahan would reveal something else important.
That wasn't meant to be. The sound of more riders came to Longarm's ears, and Callahan and the cook heard them too. Callahan's head lifted, and he said, 'Someone's coming. You get on back to camp, Eli. I'll talk to you again another time.'
'Sure thing, Boss.' The cook began working to turn the wagon and the team around. Callahan wheeled his horse and rode back the way he had come, veering off the trail and into the woods before the approaching riders could sweep around a bend in the trail and spot him.
Not knowing who the riders were, Longarm had no choice but to stay where he was too. A couple of minutes later, they trotted past, about half a dozen of them, and Longarm recognized them as cowboys from the Diamond K. Seth Thomas was among them. Aurora's cook was still struggling with the wagon and the mules, and as the cowboys moved over to ride past him, they called out jeering comments. Even if they recognized the cook, thought Longarm, likely none of them would think anything about him being on a section of trail where he had no real business being. The cowhands rode on out of sight, obviously bound for Timber City. A few moments later, the cook finally got the wagon turned around and whipped the mules into motion. The wagon rolled away toward the cutoff which would take it back to the Mcentire camp.
Longarm straightened, wincing a little as muscles stiff from long minutes of crouching twinged in his legs and back. Anger still smoldered inside him. All that was left to do now was arrest Callahan, then gather up the cook too, because old Eli would probably be glad to testify against Callahan when he realized how much trouble he was in. With any luck, Longarm could wrap up this case today.
He went back to the roan, jerked the reins loose, and swung up into the saddle. He didn't know exactly where Ben Callahan's logging camp was, only that it was north of Aurora's operation and the Diamond K. Longarm thought he could find it fairly easily. All he had to do was follow the sound of axes.
About an hour later, after checking a couple of smaller trails that branched off the main one, Longarm found the path that led to Callahan's camp. Not only the ringing of axes but also the growl of a steam engine inside a small sawmill led him to his destination. Callahan's operation was smaller and less impressive than Aurora's, but as Longarm rode up to the camp, he noticed that the buildings and the equipment were well cared for, and there was an air of brisk efficiency about the place. Callahan had nothing to be ashamed of here.
Longarm noted another difference between Callahan's camp and Aurora's. There were no guards here--or if there were, they were so well hidden that Longarm couldn't spot them. But then, he reflected, Callahan didn't really need any guards. He hadn't encountered any of the problems that had been plaguing Aurora--because he was behind them.
That didn't stop a couple of the men who were working around the sawmill from picking up axes and strolling over to meet Longarm as he reined in. One of them, a burly fellow with a red beard, looked up at Longarm and asked, 'What would ye be wantin' here, boyo?'
'I'm looking for Ben Callahan,' Longarm answered bluntly. 'Is he here?'
'Have business wi' him, do ye?'
'You could say that. I'm a U.S. deputy marshal, and I need to talk to Callahan.'
The two loggers exchanged a glance, then Redbeard said, 'So ye're the famous lawman we been hearin' so much about. Ye've come here t' put a stop t' all th' troubles.'
'That's the general idea,' said Longarm, growing impatient.
'And ye think Mr. Callahan can help ye?'
Longarm fixed the man with a cold stare. 'I'm sure of it.'
Before the loggers could say anything else, Callahan himself emerged from the sawmill. Longarm had expected Callahan to beat him back to the camp, since Longarm hadn't really known where he was going. Callahan glanced at Longarm in surprise, then said to the red-bearded man, 'What's going on here, Rory? Who is this man?'
'He's a badge-toter, he is, Mr. Callahan, an' he wants t' see you.'
Callahan looked up at Longarm again. 'You're that marshal I've heard about, the one who's working for Aurora Mcentire.'
Longarm suppressed a sigh of frustration. He wasn't surprised that news of his presence had spread through the mountains. After his part in stopping the battle between the Diamond K and the Mcentire loggers, that was only to be expected. But it seemed like everybody around here was determined to jump to the wrong conclusions about him.
'I'm not working for Mrs. Mcentire. I'm just trying to find out who's been causing trouble for her and Matt Kinsman,' said Longarm. 'I've got a few questions I want to ask you, Callahan.'
