“What do you plan to do about it?”
Longarm poured himself another drink, pushed his hat back, and sat back in his chair. “There’s the rub, Fish. I ain’t at all sure what to do about this. I am on unknown ground against an unseen and uncounted enemy. I’ve got unknown intentions to deal with-“
Fisher interrupted him. “I don’t think there is anything unknown about their intentions. Their intentions are to get you the hell out of the way.”
“Maybe so, maybe not. Fish, they haven’t been able to carry on this long without being a little bit smarter than a stump. Do you reckon they’re willing to kill a federal marshal in cold blood, knowing the whole entire marshals service would come down on them like a ton of bricks?”
“Well, the story you told me was that they had you chained up in that barn until they could get there to kill you. That sounds like serious intent to me.”
“Maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t.”
“You know this could just be a double opportunity to them,” Fisher said.
“Double how?”
“Well, don’t forget you killed their brother.”
“I didn’t kill their brother. The dynamite did it.”
“Don’t try to call a spade a diamond to me. Who set off the dynamite? It was you. You killed their brother.”
Longarm said, “Yeah, but they don’t know it.”
Fisher gave him another look. “How can you say that?”
“Lily Gail told me that she didn’t tell them that it was me.
Fisher slumped back into his chair. “Have you lost your mind, Longarm? Have you got any sort of identification on you? I want to make certain you’re really the man I used to know. You’re sounding to me like a man who has his head up a pig’s ass. You’re not seriously telling me that you put stock in that woman’s truthfulness, are you?”
“Hell, she ain’t smart enough to lie to me.”
Fisher said, “I don’t believe what I am hearing.”
Longarm shook his head from side to side. “That’s just it. I’m as confused as hell. I don’t know if I believe myself right now.”
Fisher said, “Well, there’s one thing for certain right now. With this new information you’ve got, we have to change this about it being just you and me.”
“No, Fish. It’s got to continue just as it was. I don’t know what we are going to do when we get there, but the matter has to be handled the way it has been agreed to by both sides.”
“You’re not talking to me about keeping your word with that murdering bunch of outlaws, are you?”
“It ain’t a question of me keeping my word to them. I wouldn’t keep my word any faster than I can spit, but an arrangement has been made that gives me a shot at them and that’s all I am looking for. I might have an ace in the hole.”
“What kind of ace?”
Longarm shook his head. “I don’t reckon that, right now, it’s something you need to know.”
“If I am going along with you, then anything that involves my neck I most certainly need to know.”
Longarm was thinking about the nitro. He said, “Well, I’ll tell you at the right time. How’s that?”
“When will that be?”
“At the right time.”
“I don’t much like the sound of that.”
Longarm reached over and patted his friend on the shoulder. “What’s the matter, Fish? Have you gotten to the point that you don’t trust me?”
Fish laughed. “What do you mean, trust you? I never have trusted you. You’re crazy.”
“Let’s go take a walk down to the depot. I want to take a look at the cars on that narrow little railroad they have. I want to make sure they can accommodate our horses in pretty good style.”
Fisher got up reluctantly. “I called you crazy a while ago. That’s a mistake. I’m the one that’s crazy. I got out of law work because I didn’t like the hours, the pay, or the work, and here I am planning on getting up at the crack of dawn just so I can be close enough to hear the gunshots when that bunch of cutthroats shoots you.”
Longarm was about to walk off when he turned around and looked at Fisher. “What did you just say?”
Fisher said, “What did you have in mind particularly? I said a bunch of things, most of which had to do with me being crazy.”
“No, the part about you having to get up at the crack of dawn.”
“Well, I will be if we’re going to take the eight o’clock train out of here. It takes me a while to get my long underwear on, if you recollect.”
Longarm stood there, thinking. Finally, he got out his watch. “It’s just a little after three. Go pack your gear and get your horse. We’re going to take that six o’clock Silverado huffer-puffer into Springer this evening.”
Fisher said, with his mouth wide open, “What? What brought this about?”
