pudgy man yelled and fell back. But by now, his face smeared with blood, the first man was trying to struggle to his feet. Longarm quickly shifted his weight and kicked the first man under the chin with the toe of his left boot. The man made a groan and rolled over on his back, knocking over one of the wooden stools. Longarm took a quick glance behind him, saw that the smaller man was still on the floor and too groggy to be a danger, and whirled and went over the outstretched form of the big man with the bloody nose, diving more than stepping, and hit the pudgy man as hard as he could in the stomach with his right fist. The man instantly doubled up and sat down. It took a half second to get his feet under him, but when he could, Longarm swung from the floor and hit the man under the chin and knocked him over on his back. At that instant he became aware of an outcry behind him. He turned.
“Hold it! Hold it! Quit that fightin’! I won’t have no fightin’ in here! You are scarin’the wimmen!”
Higgins looked wild, his hair touseled and his shirt out, holding the big shotgun almost at the ready. He was yelling at the top of his voice. “Cut out this quarrelin’! Ain’t no fightin’ in here! By damn i’ll let this cannon off the bunch of you don’t settle down! And i mean right now!”
Longarm watched him with mild amusement. The smaller man was not even conscious yet. The pudgy gunman was sitting up, holding his stomach and looking sick. The man with the heavy shoulders had Propped himself up on one arm and was feeling his nose with the hand of the other. There was no fight to be stopped.
Longarm said heavily, “Herman, I’m damn glad you come out here. They was stealin’ whiskey and fixin’ to whip me in the bargain. Keep that shotgun on ‘em. They is a dangerous lot.” He didn’t know if he sounded dumb enough to be someone working at a relay station, but he was enjoying the lying.
Higgins stepped closer, aiming the shotgun down at the men on the floor and sweeping it back and forth. He said in an outraged voice, “By golly, so that’s how you’ll have it! Why, damn it to hell, I ought to let this here blunderbuss off an’ blow the lot of you to Hell!” He looked up at Longarm. “Stealin’ whiskey, was they?”
Longarm nodded. “Yessir, they was. An’ threatenin’ me with their pistols. I was scairt for my very life.”
From the floor the man with the big shoulders straightened up. He spat out a mouthful of blood and said thoughtfully, “I think that sonofabitch broke my nose.”
Longarm pointed at him. “See how he is cussin’ me, Herman. How come you let such saddle trash in?”
Higgins shook his head sorrowfully. Longarm could see he was really getting into the part he was playing. “I’ll tell you, this is what comes of tryin’ to do yore feller man a favor. They wanted to shade up an’ I let ‘em. Wanted whiskey an’ I give it to ‘em. Wanted to water their horses and I said shore. An’ now look what come of it. Onliest man I’ve ever had would stay out here and work, an’ they take guns to you and go to beaten’ on yore head! Damn my socks! Ain’t I ever gonna learn?”
The one who had been called Frank let go of his stomach long enough to help himself to his feet by leaning on the overturned stool. He said, gritting his teeth, “Old man, look round you. Who done the whippin’ up? You see any blood on yore damned hired hand? You see a lump on him? Is he down on the floor with blood on his face?”
Higgins waved the shotgun at him. “You better not fool with me, boy! You’ve abused my hospitality all I’m gonna stand fer! Dammit, you don’t know how to act civilized, you can clear out of here and right now!”
Frank said to the man who’d thought his nose was broken, “Wayne, the old man wants us to leave. What do you reckon?”
Wayne was trying to get up, holding on to the bar. He said, “I heard him, Frank.” He stared at Longarm. “For a hay forker he fights pretty good.” Then he shifted to Higgins. “We paid for that whiskey. You taken our money.”
Longarm was watching all three. The smaller one was shaking his head and groaning, not fully conscious. But Longarm didn’t like the way Frank and Wayne had their hands too near their revolvers. He suddenly reached out and took the shotgun from Mister Higgins. He took a quick look to make sure the safety wasn’t on and then said, “By damn, don’t you come round here blackening my name! I got to live here. I saw ya’ll sneakin’ whiskey an’ ain’t no use you denyin’ it. Now the bunch of you can gather up yore traps an’ get on out of here! I’m tired of foolin’ with you and this shotgun just might go off by itself!”
Higgins said warningly, “Don’t fool with him, boys! Don’t fool with him! Got a temper on him like a team of mules! Don’t work him up, now, don’t work him up. I can’t answer fer it. He’s got the shotgun. It’s in his hands. Heaven only knows what might happen now!”
The one called Wayne, keeping his eyes on the shotgun in Longarm’s hands, reached down for the small man, who was still on the floor. He got him by the upper arm and lifted him easily to his feet. He said, “Get up, Potts. We ain’t wanted here. Man holdin’ a shotgun on us. Get yore head cleared.”
Behind him Frank, still holding his belly, said to Longarm, “What’d you start this fight for, feller? We wadn’t doin’ you no harm.”
Longarm gave him a thin smile, but kept to the demeanor of a stablehand. “I never started no fight, feller. You three was makin’ mighty free with my whiskey. We don’t get that stuff in here ever’ day. I told Herman here”—he jerked his head toward Higgins—“that the day this place run out of whiskey was the day I went walkin’ out of here. Ain’t that right, Herman.”
Higgins stepped forward. He said earnestly, “Oh, my, yeah! Laws, I never thought. We was runnin’ low an’ I never thought, not bein’ partial to the stuff myself, but Bull here won’t be caught short without it.”
Wayne eyed Longarm. “Bull, huh? Well, Bull, we’ll get out. But they will come another day.”
Longarm lifted the shotgun menacingly. “You better hope for yore sake that day don’t come. You gettin’ off light as is and it’s only cause of Herman here. Now pick up what you’ve dropped and git outten here!”
Higgins said placatingly, “Now, Bull, you done whipped ‘em. Don’t be kickin’ ‘em when they are down.”
“They mouthed me, Herman. They mouthed me. An’ you know I don’t stand fer no mouthin’. They went to joshin’ me like I was some hick. You know I don’t take to that.”
Higgins looked at them sorrowfully. “I’m right sorry to hear ‘bout that. Bull ain’t the man to rag ‘bout his country ways. Nosir! Best not to do it.”
They were all up now, standing in a line with their back to the front door. Wayne said, a little blood still running out of his nose, “He don’t fight like no hayseed.” He narrowed his little eyes sunk deep in their sockets. “He fights like somebody seen a good many saloon brawls. He knew who to throw the first punch at.”
Longarm did not care for the way Wayne was talking. It meant his little act was not going over as successfully as he wanted. He said, motioning with the shotgun, “You just put some money on the bar fer them last drinks that
