Longarm and the Colorado gundown

_{After all, the band had been on their way out of the mountains when they’d seen those peculiar white men and first gotten into trouble.}

_{Longarm’s interest had definitely quickened when Man Who Breaks Wind brought up the band’s confrontation with a group of whites.}

_{Because by then Longarm believed he knew what was coming. But he waited for Man Who Breaks Wind to confirm what Longarm already suspected.}

_{A few matter-of-fact sentences offered by Man Who Breaks Wind. A few routine questions by Longarm. Then the tall deputy had stood and reached for cheroots to share among the Utes.}

_{“You are free to go in peace, Grandfather,” he told Man Who Breaks Wind. “May your spring hunt be a good one. May all your wives be fertile. You have been much help to the Great Father in Washington.”}

_{“Big help?”}

_{“Big help.”}

_{Man Who Breaks Wind grinned and said something to the people who had gathered close behind to listen in on the conversation between their own leader and the trusted white man they knew as Long Arm.}

_{Longarm had gone through the motions of formally presenting Brad Crannock with the writ of habeas corpus that granted the Utes their freedom.}

_{Then he’d said, “Now, Brad, you’d best take me to Chief Bevvy about as quick as you can. If you think he’d like to clear that train robbery off his books and maybe make some recovery of the stolen gold, that is.”}

_{“If I think he’d ... shit, I reckon. Grab your guns and let’s go, boys,” Crannock had said.}

_{Now, half a day later, Crannock’s men, Boo Bevvy and his posse, and Longarm were all footsore and sweating, but were still marching along at a steady rate.}

_{With any kind of luck, Longarm figured, they should have everything over and done with before the witching hour tonight.}

_{With or without bloodshed. Longarm frankly didn’t much give a damn which.}

_{“I’m going to report you to your superiors. I want you to know that,” the conductor hissed.}

_{Longarm plucked a pencil stub out of the conductor’s pocket, borrowed a scrap of paper from Boo Bevvy, and wrote down Billy Vail’s name and office address. He handed it to the train conductor. “If you want to go any higher than that try the Attorney General. I don’t know the address offhand, but I reckon you can look it up. Someplace in the District o’ Columbia” .}

_{“Don’t think I won’t report you,” the conductor threatened again. “You’ve commandeered this train under protest, sir. Under protest.”}