Chapter 13
Longarm walked George Two Ponies out to the corral, and then waited while the Paiute saddled his horse and got ready to depart Helldorado. Neither of them had said much while they’d shoveled a huge breakfast of steak and potatoes down their gullets. Longarm wasn’t sure, but he thought that George was upset about leaving him without a friend in this outlaw town. “I’ll be fine, George. Stop worrying.”
“If they kill you, I’ll never get paid.”
Longarm snorted. “Is that what you’re upset about? Hell, I thought you were worried about my health!”
“Worried about hundred dollars too.”
“All right,” Longarm said, digging into his pockets. “Here’s the ten dollars I got from Randy for that buckskin, plus half the money that I got from Killion. There’s sixty dollars altogether, and if I survive this, you’ve got another forty coming.”
George brightened considerably as he counted the money. Grinning, he said, “Longarm watch his back. Many bad peoples here. Bad spirits too.”
“I know,” Longarm said. “Here, I’ll open the corral gate for you.”
George mounted his horse and rode into the corral. He quickly drove the ponies out and had no difficulty in lining them north. Longarm suspected that the mustangs would head for their home range around Pyramid Lake with little urging. In fact, the real risk was in their running on ahead of George.
“He was a pretty good friend, huh?”
Longarm turned to see the kid. “Yeah. He was a good friend.”
“How’d you meet him?”
“Mustanging.”
“That’s what you did after prison?”
“Among other things.”
Longarm watched George and his mustangs disappear into the empty and barren Nevada hills. They would, he knew, go straight to the Carson River, where there was still some grass and lots of water. After a day, they would push on to Pyramid Lake, and he was pretty sure that George would buy his wife and children many nice things with that sixty dollars. It was probably more money than the Indian had made in the last six months.
“Dean says he’s going to shoot you on sight,” Randy said matter-of-factly.
“Thanks for the warning. Some men just have to learn the hard way. I expect that Dean is just one of those men.”
“You need someone to watch your back.”
“Who’d be willing to do that?”
“I might,” Randy said.
Longarm looked at the kid. “And why would you want to help me?”
“I don’t like Dean. He’s a bully and he likes to hurt and even kill people.”
“Have you killed yet, kid?”
“No,” Randy said quietly, “not yet.”
“But your father and brother have.”
It wasn’t a statement, and Longarm wanted to see what kind of reaction it would generate from the kid.
“My father has a lot of enemies. So does Clyde. I expect I have a few as well.”
“But not like them,” Longarm said pointedly. “Not the kind that want to kill you for murdering their friends and family.”
Randy toed the earth and looked uncomfortable. “I’m a Killion.”
“Yeah,” Longarm said, “but you’re also your own person.”
Randy’s brows knitted. “What are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying that you don’t have to be like someone else just because you have their last name.”
“Are you talking down my father and brother?” the kid asked, heat creeping into his voice.
“No,” Longarm said quickly. “I’m not talking anyone down. I’m just saying we’re all individuals with different ways of handling things. What might work for your father or brother might not set as well with YOU.”
The kid tried to look angry. “What are you going to do now?” he finally said.
“I dunno. Your father told me to give you a few tips about fighting.”
Randy looked embarrassed. “I was sort of curious about how you were able to whip Dean without seeming to make much of a fuss over it. Up to then, I’d never seen or even heard of anyone whipping him.”
“He’s big, strong, and a bully,” Longarm said. “He tried to bully me, but I called his bluff.”
“Sure, but he wasn’t bluffing, Custis. Dean is tough, and he’d have shot you through the gut if given half the chance.”
“I knew that,” Longarm said. “And that’s why I didn’t give him the chance. I hit him first, not after he’d knocked my teeth in. And when I hit him, I made the first blow count. I hit him as hard as I could where I knew it would do
