gold bullion?”
Higgins laughed. “I can answer that easy enough. Lord, yes. Don’t you see, that was the whole purpose why the line was set up. Passengers is just a kind of extra freight. Not that we don’t carry considerable freight. We do. Sometimes they’ll hook up two stages in tandem and put maybe twenty mules on and carry a passel of freight.”
“So they ship bullion? Pure bullion?”
“Yessir. Smelted down right there at the mine so’s to make it as small a load as possible. They tell me they even get the silver outten it so’s it be pure gold.”
“How long has this been going on?”
Higgins shook his head. “Wa’l I can’t say prezactly, but a good little while. Three, four years. Soon as them mines down there in them mountains close to the border commenced paying off, why, the company went to thrashing around to find a way to get the gold north to the mint to sell it to the government. I believe they first off tried sending it in armed caravans, but that never worked. Might as well have held up a sign tellin’ the world they was transporting gold. Mexican bandits liked to have got fat off such stunts. Lot of men got killed. Finally the company set up this stage line. Course they’d of much rather had a railroad, but ain’t nobody got the money to lay track across some of that country. So they started in the stage business.”
Longarm said, “And the idea is that nobody knows which run is carrying the gold, is that about right?”
The old man nodded. “Ain’t no flies on you, Marshal. But that ain’t the biggest trick. The strongbox they send it in is what is the tough nut to crack. Why, they ain’t a chisel made can get through that hardened steel. Hell, the safe itself weighs near five hundred pounds, and you add a half million dollars worth of gold to that and you got yourself a load. Ain’t ten men, if everyone of ‘em could get a holt, could lift it. And ain’t no way to get past the lock. Nosir. They got a key down yonder they lock it with and one up yonder in Buckeye they unlock it with. In between times she stays shut tighter’n an old maid’s cookie jar.”
Longarm thought, unless you have a Mr. Carl Lowe handy. But he said, “How can the stage handle that kind of weight?”
“They built for it. Extra stout with extra wide-rimmed wheels.”
“Don’t the ones bearing the gold cut a deeper track?”
Higgins laughed. “Ever’ one of them stages is carrying a safe. And ever’ safe has got something in it. Some of ‘em got gold inside and some of ‘em got a load of lead.” He gave Longarm a wink. “Ain’t no flies on them folks pays me a salary. That’s why we use such big teams and have the relay stations so close together. Regular stage might use just four mules, maybe six, and put the stations forty miles apart before they changed teams. Nosir, this here is a first-class outfit.”
“You ever been held up?”
Higgins said, “Well, I can’t speak about that, Marshal, because I don’t know. But I do know that the company let it be advertised far and wide what kind of safes they were using and just what a tough nut they were. Newspapers carried articles about how the safes had to be loaded and unloaded with a block and tackle. What’s the good of holding up one of our stages if you can’t make off with the goods?”
Not, Longarm thought to himself, unless you’ve got a man who can open the safe on the spot and then all you got to transport is the gold. It made sense to him. The only problem was that he didn’t have the slightest idea where Carl Lowe was or when he and his gang, and Longarm had no doubt a gang of some kind had been formed, intended to strike.
“Who knows there is gold being loaded down at the south end?”
“Well, I don’t exactly know the who.”
“Do you know when a shipment is coming through? I’m just asking.”
“Good heavens, no! My stars and garters. Ain’t but damn few knows that. None of the drivers or guards knows. I guess the men who load it up know, but they don’t know till the last minute, and I’ve heard they get locked up for the next twenty-four hours after they’ve built a load. Course that may just be talk.”
“Then who does know?”
“Well, I reckon they is two or three fellers down in the south knows. And then they is a couple up in Buckeye on the lookout fer it. Least that is what I heered.”
“How do they know?”
Higgins sipped at his coffee and picked at bread and biscuit crumbs on the table. “They say they wire up from the south to the folks in Buckeye. But that’s just talk.”
“But wouldn’t that put the word out? Telegraphing like that? Everybody on the line would know.”
“Aw, they supposed to use some kind of code. They is messages goin’ back and forth all the time so you never know which one is about the gold. They might wire up to Buckeye and say they is runnin’ short on pickaxes and that might be the signal the gold is going the next run.”
Longarm drained his cup and stood up. He said, “Herman, I got a bad feeling that the stage coming in tomorrow is not carrying lead bars.”
Higgins looked instantly distressed. “Aw, no. I shore hope it is. Seein’ as you and Miss Rita Ann gonna be on that stage. You shore?”
Longarm shook his head. “A hunch. Just a hunch. But it is a strong one.”
“What had we better get to doing?”
Longarm smiled. “Nothing I know of, Herman. It’s just a hunch. I’m not recommending you wire down to the border and tell them to hold off. Frankly, it’s mainly about that fellow I had you telegraph about. The one broke out of prison. He’s got me jumpy. Likely I am fighting my head. I wouldn’t worry about it.”
Higgins stared at him for a second. “Man says they is a rattlesnake likely loose in the house, an’ then says not to worry. My stars and garters, Marshal, robbin’ means guns and guns means killin’. I got my old woman to worry about.”
