It was Longarm?s turn to laugh. ?Now damnit, Morey, don?t get so notional. I like you. But I don?t like you or anybody else so much that I?m willing to make promises I might not be able to keep. I thought you were smart enough to know that.?
Fahnwell?s smile returned. ?Yeah. So I do. Pity them fools back east don?t understand the worth of a man?s word. Me and the boys would?ve had less Injun trouble these years past if anybody back there understood what a man?s word oughta mean.?
Again Longarm could find no fault with the man?s statement. He kept his silence and had another drink of the rye.
?Let?s peg this in place, Longarm. Just so I know what my choices are. You say you didn?t come here to drag me off in irons. What do you want??
?I want you to ride into Snake Creek with me tomorrow morning. I want you to take that grazing fee out of the bank, pay it, and put the receipt in your pocket. Then I want you and me to have a drink together before you come back home and I go off to more important business than the collecting of a few cents per head for cows grazed on government-owned lands.? He took another drink. ?That?s what I?d like, Morey.?
?Do you know how many cows I got on that so-called government land, Longarm??
?I got no idea, Morey. Hell, I?d bet you don?t know exactly how many there are. The bureaucrats claim you?re running four thousand head on public land. That?s the number they want to collect on and that?s the number I want you to pay on.?
Fahnwell was almost able to hide the laughter that was rolling inside his belly. Longarm was willing to bet that the old man was running five, maybe ten times that number of beeve on public land.
?Damnit, Morey, if you up and volunteer to pay double what they want, you?d still be getting a hell of a bargain.?
?It?d still be paying for what I already own,? Fahnwell insisted.
?We both know better, Morey. It?s land you civilized, sure, but it isn?t land you own. Not under the law, you don?t.?
?And that right there is the quarrel between you and me, Longarm.?
?Doesn?t have to be any quarrel between us, Morey. That?s what I?m trying to say here.?
?An? if I don?t roll over and yip for them sons of bitches, Longarm??
?Bureaucrats always win, Morey. In the long run they just naturally do. They?re thick-skinned and thick-headed and they just don?t care about right or wrong. They only care about law. You can fight them, but you can?t beat them. Better to pity the bastards their ignorance than to fight somebody you?ll never even see, much less back down.?
?So if I refuse to knuckle under, it comes down to a war between you and me, Longarm??
?No, Morey. I won?t fight you that way. Not even if you try and push me into it for some crazy, grandiose gesture that?d only end with everybody getting hurt one way or another.?
?You ain?t going to arrest me; you ain?t going to shoot me; you say you ain?t even going to fight me, Longarm. Just what do you figure to do if we don?t take that ride to town tomorra??
?I don?t want to sound like I?m making threats, Morey. I didn?t come here to threaten you either.?
?Damn, but you?re a hard man to pin down, Longarm. So all right. You aren?t threatening. I?m asking. Would you please tell me??
Longarm shrugged again. ?I?ve given it some thought this afternoon, I grant you. What I decided was that if you don?t want to pay the pittance to the fools back east, I?ll wander over to Fort Washakie. They got a bunch of under employed troopers over there with no Indians to fight at the moment. I expect they need something to do. So I guess I?d go round up a couple troops of cavalry and put them to work keeping your cows on your deeded acreage and off the government land. I expect that many cows could manage for a time on the land you do own, and everything would be nice and legal that way, nobody hurt. Of course, it?s always possible that some of them troopers can count. If they turn up with twenty or thirty thousand head of livestock where the paper shufflers thought there were only four thousand, well, word of it could get back to Washington. That?d be a shame. Then those silly bastards would be dunning you for a whole lot more than a few hundred dollars they want as it is.? He swallowed off the last of his whiskey. ?Mind if I smoke in here, or should I go out on the porch??
?You son of a bitch.?
Longarm looked up. Morey Fahnwell was laughing again, his belly shaking with it. Longarm grinned at him. ?You do reach for the short hairs, don?t you??
?Just trying to be fair and reasonable, Morey.?
?By God, Longarm, it?s lucky for people like me that those idiots in Washington aren?t your kind of fair an? rea sonable.? Fahnwell stood. ?Let me refill these glasses an? then we?ll go out to the porch for a smoke before dinner.?
It was after dinner. The meal was long on quantity but otherwise perfectly horrid; Eugenie had not been fibbing about her deficiencies in the kitchen.
The three of them were seated in caneback rockers on the porch enjoying the evening air, Longarm and Morey Fahnwell with drinks and cigars while Eugenie had a cup of tea.
?Longarm will be staying the night with us, dear,? Morey said.
?I?ll air out the guest room for him then.?
?You do that. Then come morning the two of us will be riding to town. We have some business there.? He winked at Longarm but did not explain. ?Mind you, take a minute before we go up to bed. Make up a list of anything you need from town. Or come with us if you?d rather. I?m sure Longarm wouldn?t mind company other than mine.?
?It will be a pleasure,? Longarm said seriously. ?I expect to have good company either way.?
Fahnwell threw his head back and laughed. Eugenie, though obviously uncertain about what all had gone on between these two men, smiled. She stood. ?If you would excuse me then, I shall see to your room, Mr. Long.?
