After all, he was a public servant. Underpaid, overworked but damned happy with his own humble role in life, unlike a lot of much wealthier men.
Chapter 15
The trip back to Wickenburg was slow but happily uneventful. Longarm tried to pick the easiest trails, but there were many times when he was forced to cross dry arroyos and other obstacles which gave the badly injured preacher a very difficult time. But the old codger never once complained, and although he was very weak, he was obviously on the mend by the time that they arrived in Wickenburg very late one warm evening.
“Don’t get the tooth puller!” Dan gritted. “Just get me to bed and maybe a little whiskey to thicken my blood.”
“Sure,” Longarm said with a wink, “but I never knew a drinking preacher before.”
“And you probably never knew one as shot up as me,” Dan grunted.
“That’s for certain. Here’s the Trevor House,” Longarm said, drawing his sorrel up to the closest hitching rail and then wearily climbing out of his saddle. “I’ll get us a couple of rooms, Dan.”
But Dan had fallen fast asleep. Longarm thought that was just fine. Sleep was an essential part of healing, so Longarm made sure that his old friend was comfortable and that the Spanish treasure box was still wrapped in canvas so that it would not attract any attention, then went inside the hotel.
There was no one behind the desk, so Longarm rang the bell loudly for several minutes until a sleepy-eyed clerk appeared. The clerk’s expression was sullen and uncooperative until he recognized Longarm, and even then he had a tough time mustering a smile.
“Welcome back to town, Marshal. You … you look like you’ve traveled a long hard trail.”
“I have,” Longarm said. “I need a room—no, two rooms. Make them adjoining.”
“You have a friend?” the clerk asked.
“Yes. Preacher Dan, who has been shot.”
“So have you,” the clerk said, coming awake fast. “What in the name of
…”
“The rooms,” Longarm interrupted shortly. “I’m in no mood for talk tonight.”
“Of course!”
Longarm got his two rooms and went outside, where he unlashed Dan from the travois and then carried him back into the hotel. Dan hardly weighed anything and it was easy enough to get him to bed. After that, Longarm hurried back outside and unlashed the Spanish treasure box. He was glad that he had wrapped it in canvas because his appearance had caused some excitement even at this late hour. A couple of men, watching with intense curiosity, even volunteered to help Longarm carry in his belongings.
“No thanks,” Longarm growled. “Why don’t you boys all go back to your business, whatever that might be at this late hour.”
“You find the Spanish treasure?”
“No,” Longarm lied.
“Who shot you and old Dan up so bad?” another asked.
“Someone who got a fatal case of the curiosities,” Longarm replied testily.
The man and his friends hastily retreated. Longarm hauled all of his valuables into the rooms and then went back out once more to water the horses and give them the last of the grain he had in his saddlebags.
“I’m sorry I can’t unsaddle you and put you in some pen to roll around in tonight,” he told the weary animals, “but I’ll make up for it tomorrow morning.”
Longarm made sure that each horse was taken care of and then, feeling his own exhaustion, he trudged back into the hotel, wanting nothing more than a hot bath, a bottle of whiskey, and then a long, restful sleep.
“Marshal?”
“Yeah?” he said, turning to the clerk.
“I suppose that it’s too much to hope that you will pay for your stay here with more Spanish gold coins.”
Longarm paused in the middle of the lobby. In truth, he wasn’t sure how he would pay for the rooms, but neither was he worried. It was something he could think about after a few days when his mind and body had rested.
“What about Mr. Potter?”
“The banker?”
“That’s right.”
“He died of his gunshot wounds.”
“Did they ever reopen his bank?”
“As a matter of fact, they did,” the clerk said.
This was good news. Maybe now Longarm could finally get his hands on the government travel money that Billy Vail had promised to wire.
“And what about the banker’s fiance, Miss Victoria Hathaway?”
“The one you rescued.”
“The same.”
