“Me and George are hungry and thirsty. So’s these fine horses we’re selling so cheap.”
“Food and water don’t come free,” Clyde said. “We got hay and grain, food for you and the Injun too, but everything costs plenty out here in Helldorado.”
“We got money,” Longarm said, “and I’m willin’ to pay a fair price. How about we corral and take care of these ponies and then we help ourselves to some whiskey?”
“How much money do you have?” Clyde asked. “Probably not more than fifty cents between you, judging from your outfits.”
“Oh, no!” Longarm protested. “We sold some ponies in Carson City and I got almost a hundred dollars.”
Clyde’s eyebrows shot up. “A hundred dollars?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Let’s see the color of it.”
Longarm dug into his pants and came up with a wad of greenbacks. He made sure that he kept them in his left hand while his right hand stayed very close to the butt of his six-gun as he said, “Mister, I told you we have cash money.”
“And so you do,” Clyde said. “I guess that it wouldn’t hurt anything for you to ride in, provided you enjoy a friendly game of poker.”
Longarm didn’t want to appear too eager or too stupid. “Well, sir, we’ll play a little poker but I won’t gamble everything. We’ve been mustanging for near on three months and it’s getting to be winter. Got to find a warm place to winter in this year and need some money for eats and such.”
“Bring your money and your ponies,” Clyde ordered. “We’ll sit you beside a potbelly stove and we’ll pour you good whiskey and you can show us the color of your money. But the Injun, he stays outside.”
Protest flared in Longarm’s eyes. “But he likes whiskey as much as me.”
“He can drink in the street or in the livery barn,” Clyde said in a hard voice, his eyes challenging either Longarm or George Two Ponies to make an issue of this decree.
“Yes, sir,” Longarm said. “But I sure hope we can sell you some ponies. They may not look like much but they’re sound and George can break ‘em to ride.”
“I wouldn’t be seen on one of them sorry bastards,” an outlaw growled. Longarm managed to look chagrined, and then he climbed back on his own horse. The ten men parted and allowed the mustangers and their weary ponies to pass on to a big corral.
“Will this be all right?” Longarm asked, struggling hard to sound meek.
“Sure.”
“Gonna need some water buckets and hay.”
“You’ll get ‘em,” Clyde said. “Pen them mustangs and we’ll worry about taking care of them later.”
Longarm nodded in ready agreement, knowing that his Paiute friend George would not abandon the mustangs until they were well fed and watered.
When Longarm stepped down from his horse, a young man in his teens appeared to open the gate to the pen. He nodded in silent greeting to Longarm, and held the gate open until all the mustangs were inside.
“I guess I might as well unsaddle our horses and turn them in with the others,” Longarm said as he dismounted.
“If I were you, mister,” the kid said softly, “I’d keep my saddle on and my cinch tight.”
Longarm knew at once that this was the youngest Killion, the kid named Randy who the marshal in Reno had said was a breed apart from his father and older brother.
“Why’s that?” Longarm asked.
“In case you or the Indian decide to leave real sudden,” Randy said quietly.
“And why would I want to do that?”
“You just might.”
“Hell, kid, I’m hear to stay for a while. Me and George are plumb worn down to nothing.” Longarm turned and surveyed the fire-ravaged and blackened town. “You must have had a hell of a fire here not so long ago.”
“Been a couple of years,” Randy said. “That was before my father took over Helldorado for good.”
“Helldorado,” Longarm repeated. “I like the sound of that. How’d it get its name?”
“There was once a lot of gold found right here, but even then, it was miserable as hell,” Randy said. “Now, if you’ve asked enough questions, I reckon you best get some eats and then play poker.”
Longarm ducked his head behind his horse and untied the cinch. He dragged the saddle off and tossed it up on the cedar-pole fence. He led his horse into the pen and turned it free with the mustangs as George brought over the first of many buckets of water that he would tote for the thirsty horses.
“Say,” Longarm said out loud enough for everyone to hear, “how come everyone here is so eager for me to play poker? You boys wouldn’t be thinking I’m going to play against a stacked deck, are you?”
Longarm asked the question with an easy, temper-diffusing grin that kept anyone from taking serious offense.
“Hell, no!” Clyde said. “If we wanted your money that bad, we’d just shoot you. Don’t need to go to all the bother of cheating to get your money.”
“Glad to hear that,” Longarm said, looking nervous.
