that we’re isolated. We’re four and five miles apart, some of us even farther. What happens when a crowd of them ride up in your front yard and go to shooting in the windows and you’ve got your wife and children under the beds, hiding, and you’re only one gun by yourself? What do you do then, Marshal? You do what a lot of them have done. You take what they’ll let you have or else you load the wagon and leave. I reckon we’ve lost maybe twenty families in the past year or two.”
Longarm adjusted his hat and grimaced. He said, “I see what you mean. They’re organized, and you’re not.”
“And there’s not a hell of a lot we can do about it. I’m holding on here by the skin of my teeth. I’m doing it more out of plain old stubbornness than anything else. I’ve sent my wife and kids back to Junction where we came from. She’s gone back to teaching school and I go in and get what little groceries I need about every two weeks. I don’t know why I don’t just give up.”
Longarm looked around. He said, “Probably because this is yours, and nobody is supposed to be able to force you to give it up.”
“Marshal, I can build a house, I can build a barn, I can train a horse, I can farm, I can run cattle, I can shoot, I can help my neighbor, and I can damn near deliver a baby, but I can’t fight the odds I’m up against now. I can make a living back in Junction, but I don’t want to work for the other man. I want my own place, and this is it. Right now, I’ve been thinking mighty hard about just riding into Barrett’s place and calling him out. I’m not that good of a pistol shot, and there’s a good chance that he’d kill me, but that’s the way I feel right now.”
Longarm shook his head. He said, “No, Mr. Hunter, you don’t want to be doing that. In the first place, from what I understand, Mr. Archie Barrett is not the kind that’s going to be called out into a fair fight. You’d be dead before you got to within a half mile of him. This is my kind of work. I can’t build a house, I can’t run cattle, and I can’t farm, but I can take care of folks that are making other people’s lives not so good. You’re going to have to leave this one to me.”
Tom Hunter sipped at his coffee and looked doleful. He said, “Well, Marshal, I wish you luck. I would point out that there’s just one of you, but I reckon you already know that. Something is going to have to happen pretty soon. There’s too many like me, barely getting by from day to day. Some of them have made their peace with the Myerses and the Barretts, and they just stick to their own homesteads, but they can’t make a living off of what little land they hold in deed. They have to use the government land, and they ain’t allowed to. It’s just simple arithmetic. You need so many acres and so much water for every head of stock you’ve got, and when the government said 160 acres was a homestead, they were thinking of raising corn. I know they weren’t thinking about raising half-wild longhorn crosses. Hell, even purebred cattle would have a tough time rustling it out on what little land we have here. I’ve got three homesteads—480 acres—one in my name, one in my brother’s name, and one in my oldest boy’s name. Of course, he’s only six. I hear tell that Barrett is going to challenge a lot of our claims like the one that I got in my boy’s name and the one I got in my brother’s name. Man, you know the law. A man’s supposed to prove up his own claim. Well, hell, I could prove up 480 acres myself. I can work that much myself, but that ain’t what the law says. So, I guess if they wanted to, they could go to Austin with their money and their lawyers and the next thing we’d know, we’d be getting chucked off our own land because damned near every settler around here is just like me. We’ve got three or four homesteads in different names. Hell, we’ve got to. Of course, the Myerses and the Barretts ain’t no different. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t even have some in the name of some of their dead relatives, but there’s nobody that is going to challenge them at the land department.” He shook his head. “We’re just the little fellows, Marshal. All we can do is hang on and fight.”
Longarm said, “Is it mainly the Barretts deviling you the worst?”
Hunter nodded. “Yeah, but that’s just because of where I’m located. I’m nearer to them. They’re about four miles to the southwest of me and the Myerses are six or seven miles in the other direction. I think they kind of split it up amongst themselves. I’m sure you knew that before we came in here to settle they were doing a pretty good job of having a feud between themselves. They’ll probably go back to it, once they get us all run off. But right now, we’re the live meat.”
Longarm leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling for a moment. He said, “How many good men are there in this valley? How many settlers could I count on for gunhands?”
Hunter frowned. He said, shaking his head slowly. “Not many, Marshal Long. There’s the Goodmans—a father and son—on the other side of town, about eight or nine miles west of here. He’s a tough old bird of about forty or forty-five, and his son is about twenty-five. They’re both tough. They’re holding off Myers and his crew. In fact, I’ve heard they’ve killed several of them. Then there’s a man named Swanson. He’s got a brother and a cousin with him. Most everybody has sent their women away, and those that haven’t, have made their peace and are sticking to their own ground.”
“Mainly, what do they do to you? Kill your cattle?”
Hunter made a face. “Oh, they kill them, they run them off, they steal them, or they beef one out if they feel like having a barbecue. Like I say, I’m down to ten, and I keep pretty close tabs on them. Of course, I’ve already told you that they dammed up that stream. Now, there’s plenty of water around here and if I could let my cattle roam free, they could get to water. I think there ought to be some kind of law against damming up a public stream like that.”
Longarm said, “You can’t dam a stream that crosses a county line where the stream is being used downstream. You can’t dam it up for your own purposes. That’s against the law. You can break that dam down anytime you want.”
Tom Hunter laughed without humor. “Yeah, and get shot three or four times for my troubles. They’ve got a couple of men guarding that thing. But how come you’re asking me about how many guns you can count on? You thinking about maybe deputizing some folks and taking them on?”
Longarm shook his head. He said, “No, not right yet. To tell you the truth, Mr. Hunter, I’m still seeking information. I don’t know yet how to proceed. I was told that you were a steady man with a good head on your shoulders, and I came out to get some information from you. I wish I could say that I had a plan right now that would offer you some help in a hurry, but I don’t.”
Tom Hunter said, “I appreciate your honesty, but quite frankly, if I don’t get some help right quick, I’m not going to last.”
Longarm stood up. He said, “Well, I need to be getting back to town. I’ve got business there, or rather, I’ve got business to keep out of town.” He smiled. “I don’t want the Myerses or the Barretts to be buying anything in town. I’ve made it clear that their money is no good in town.”
Tom Hunter cocked his head. “You’re kidding.”
Longarm said, “No, I’m not, and they’ve already found that out. I need to get back there and see if I’ve stirred any thing up.”
