Longarm and the Colorado gundown

_{About the only businesses that were not rushed at this time of day were the honky-tonks and the saloons. Those would not hit their stride until nightfall when the miners came off shift.}

_{Longarm had never been to Silver Creek before. He hadn’t needed to. Hell, he already knew the town well. This one and all the others just like it.}

_{“Hey, you! This stuff belong t’ you, mister?”}

_{He turned. The stagecoach helper was holding Longarm’s gear aloft.}

_{“Yeah, that’s mine.”}

_{“Take it now, mister, or buy it a ticket to Telluride, it don’t make no difference t’ me which.”}

_{“Then I expect I’ll take it, thank you.”}

_{The boy tossed the bag first, then the saddle with Longarm’s scabbarded Winchester attached.}

_{The other coach passengers had already dispersed, the ones who were staying in Silver Creek straggling off in the direction of a hotel in the next block, the men unlucky enough to suffer more jostling throughout the night as the coach went on bolting for the nearest saloon.}

_{Longarm decided against joining either party. What he needed was the terminus of the Silver Creek, Tipson, and Glory Narrow Gauge Rail Road. He had no idea when the next train would be scheduled out, but he intended to be on it. He flipped the butt of his cheroot into the street, shouldered his saddle, and picked up his bag.}

_{Now all he needed was for someone to point the way.}

_{“Say whatl" Longarm barked.}

_{“Hey now, mister, it ain’t my fault,” the man snapped right back at him.}

_{“But I was told—”}

_{“Yeah, yeah, everybody was told. So now I’m telling you. The railroad ain’t here. Yet, that is. Just a temporary little setback, see. It’ll get built direc’ly. Just you wait an’ see that it will.”}

_{“But dammit—”}

_{“Mister, if there was a railroad here, d’you really think I’d lie about it? I mean, that’s the sort of lie a fella could get caught out in real easy. You know? So take my word for it, friend. There ain’t no railroad here just yet. But it’ll be along.” The fellow grinned, turned his head, and spat. “You’re welcome t’ wait for it if you want.”}

_{“Son of a bitch,” Longarm complained.}

_{But of course the man inside the offices of the Silver Creek, Tipson, and Glory Narrow Gauge Rail Road had heard all of that before. Maybe even several times. And it wasn’t going to do anyone any good for Longarm to stand there and argue with him about passage on a railroad that did not yet exist.}

_{“Sorry,” Longarm said. “It’s just—”}