The second boom sounded even louder than the first. Perhaps that had been because the second vial had been warmer than the first. When he’d pulled it out of the oilskin envelope, there had been no ice left. His mind had registered that fact even as he was slipping it into the leather pouch, realizing that he was cutting it mighty thin. But he had gotten it away and the explosion had occurred where it should have.
Now he just waited. There was no more rifle fire, either from the shack or from Fisher Lee, but he wasn’t going to raise his head, not for a few minutes. He was going to wait and make certain. He lay there, gripping the derringer in his hand, the slingshot’s usefulness finished.
He heard a shout from the west. He cautiously looked around the rump of his horse. It was Fisher Lee. He was riding toward Longarm swinging his hat in the air and yelling.
Slowly Longarm sat up. Where there had once been a dilapidated two-story ranch house-turned-shack, there was not much of anything except a lot of scattered boards and a few bodies that he could see. Several horses were running around loose behind where the structure had been. There had obviously been a corral behind the house, and now the horses had been released. He wondered if any of them had been hurt.
Longarm slowly stood up and put the derringer in his pocket. It didn’t seem to be of much use. He looked to his right as Fisher came skidding up, still whooping and yelling. Fisher had a big smile on his face. He pulled his horse to a stop and said, “Well, Longarm, you’ve finally made as big a bang as you’ve been trying to do all your life. Hot damn, that was the damnedest thing that I’ve ever seen in my life. Did you know that the first valentine of yours went right through the front door? I know you didn’t aim, I know you were blind lucky like you were playing poker with me last night, but that thing went right through the front door. The roof lifted clean off that place. I can tell you right now, you wasted that second one. If there had been a swinging dick left standing in there, he’d have had wings and a halo, I can promise you that.”
Longarm said, “Well, Fish, for some reason, I didn’t want to waste the time taking a good look. Things had been a mite warm around here up until the time you showed up, so I figured that I better get that second one in there before it went off in my hand.”
Fisher said, “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time something went off in your hand.”
Longarm came around his horse and said, “Speak for yourself, you sonofabitch. Look here, Fisher. They killed my damn horse. I paid three hundred dollars for that horse and it was a good one, too.”
Fisher jerked his head westward. “They fooled us Longarm. That one with the scar on his jaw, that wasn’t Rufus after all. It was a cousin of theirs by the name of Jeremiah.”
“How come he told you?”
“I think he thought it was funny. He was telling me what all they were going to do to you.”
“You didn’t help him talk any?”
“Yeah, well, along toward the end I did.”
“He still alive?”
“He might be.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s tied to a tree.”
Longarm shook his head and laughed ruefully. “They double-dealt us in both cases. That one I thought was Clem, that wasn’t Clem, it was their half-brother Virgil. They shot him, he’s laying over there. I grabbed him and got my derringer in his back and was trying to make a get-away, thinking I had Clem and that I was safe, and they up and shot the sonofabitch. What do you think about that?”
Fisher looked thoughtfully at the remains of the old ranch building. “I think their double-dealing days are over with, Longarm. I think this country is now rid of the Gallaghers once and for all.”
Longarm said, “Yeah, but it took long enough, didn’t it? How many people did they kill and how much money did they steal and how many horses and cattle did they rustle? Hell, Fisher, I can’t blame you for not wanting to be a lawman. We don’t do a very good job sometimes.”
Fisher said, “Oh, cut out that horseshit. You know better than that. You just did a hell of a job and you know it.”
They were standing there, fifty yards away from the destroyed building. Longarm said, “You know I owe you my life, don’t you?”
“We going to start talking like that? About who owes who what? We’d have to go back a long time to figure out who saved who last.”
“Nevertheless, I was a cooked goose until you laid down that distracting fire. You know, that wasn’t real bright, Fish. There were five rifles firing from that shack, and there were windows on the side that you were on and you were as exposed as hell. The only thing that you done was left your horse back a little. How come you had that much sense?”
Fish said, “I wasn’t planning on homesteading that particular ground that I was laying on. As soon as I got off a few shots and got you some relief, I was getting out of there. You could either take advantage of it or not, but I wasn’t going to stay there.”
Longarm chuckled. “Well, I reckon that we ought to go up and see what there is to see, but before we do, I want to make mention of something. There is a large sum of rewards due on the Gallaghers. I’m going to certify them as killed. Most of the rewards, obviously, are dead or alive. As a deputy U.S. marshal, I am going to put you in for those rewards.”
Fisher said, “That ain’t quite the straight, is it, Longarm? I didn’t kill or capture any of them.”
Longarm answered, “As far as I am concerned, you killed Clem and Rufus with rifle power into that shack.”
Fisher looked at him with rounded eyes. “You know, you’re probably talking about a pretty good piece of change. There’s been rewards laid up for these boys back when I was a lawman.”
“I would reckon it to be around five or ten thousand dollars all told.”
“Longarm, you’d better think about this.”
“I don’t have to think about it, Fish. I’d be rotting in the sun by now or else in their hands if you hadn’t done what you did. The only thing that I ask is that when you collect the money, I want the three hundred dollars back for my horse that they killed. Bastards!”
Fish said, “Longarm, you are the strangest thing that I’ve ever seen. I think you’re about half crazy.”
“You have to be. Well, come on and let’s walk up there and take a look at the damage. I hate to look at men that’s been blown apart, but I think that’s what we’re going to find. Damn, that stuff is powerful!”
“Yeah, but ain’t you powerful glad you had it?”
“it turned the trick, there ain’t no question about it. I think we’ll have good news to give Simmons. I think he can build his railroad now and ship his ore.”
“Deputy Marshal, you done good, but you still can’t beat me playing poker.”
“Aw, hell, Fisher. Just because you quit your job, you automatically think that you’re a professional poker player. You ain’t no better poker player now than when you were a sheriff.”
“You just wait until we get back to Taos. I’ll play you some heads-up poker when there ain’t no heat on and we’ll see how well you play. Hell, I was distracted, that’s the only way you beat me. You sitting over there with God knows how much explosives and expecting a man to play cards.”
They were walking slowly toward the shack. Longarm stopped once to pick up his revolver. He said, “Look at this. Dust up the barrel, dust in the cylinder. My God, it’ll take me an hour and a half to clean this revolver.”
Fisher said, “Well, that’s better than having dust up your nose and dust up your mouth and dust up your ass. That’s what buried people get.”