Longarm and the Colorado gundown

_{Brad Crannock gave Longarm a puzzled look. Then he commenced to talking.}

_{“Are you sure?”}

_{“Dammit, Boo, you oughta know better than to ask that question of a lawman. Ain’t no peace officer ever been sure of anything. Nor allowed t’ be,” Longarm said. “It’s only courts that have the privilege of being sure. But I’m sure enough that I’m willing to make the arrests and let a court sort out the right from the wrong of it.”}

_{“I’m not so sure about the jurisdiction, Long. After all—”}

_{“That part I am sure of. Don’t you worry ’bout that. I can claim all kinds of jurisdiction here. Might have to lay some strange charges down, but there’s reason enough. It will stick.”}

_{“If you say so.” The Snowshoe chief of police didn’t sound particularly happy, though, in spite of the mission Longarm had enlisted him and his people to take a hand in.}

_{But then very few people enjoy being subjected to daylong hikes in the mountains.}

_{Longarm stepped the pace up and moved along at a steady clip, leaving a string of disgruntled Snowshoe men behind, all of them deputized twice over, first on behalf of the town and now under federal authority.}

_{Of course Longarm was sure, though.}

_{He’d been confused as hell to begin with. But no longer. Not since he’d had a chance to talk with old Man Who Breaks Wind.}

_{The Ute headman hadn’t had but a few words of English— the usual assortment of whoa, haw, gee, hello fuck you—but}

_{there was a young warrior-to-be who used to attend Sunday school with the Meeker family who had a fair grasp of the language. He was a bright kid, smiling and agreeable. He was quick to point out that he hadn’t killed anyone during the recent unpleasantness at the agency. After all, killing was wrong. He’d learned that in Sunday school. On the other hand, one of the things he was most proud of was that he personally had raped more white women than any other Ute he knew of. It was a distinction that he believed conveyed a certain amount of honor and dignity. Longarm had had to remind himself that that was water over the dam. Military and civil authority alike had exacted all the punishments that would ever be required.}

_{Fortunately, Longarm’s interests lay in what the old headman could tell him and not in the things the youngster wanted to brag about.}

_{The Utes were more than willing to leave the vicinity of Snowshoe now, and thus alleviate any of the fears that had been stirred up by Ellis Farmer in his newspaper or by anyone else by way of whisperings and innuendo.}