Longarm and the Colorado gundown

_{And however he might have come to be where he now was, it hadn’t been by shuffling papers from one drawer to another. The man’s nose had been battered into a shape approximating that of a turnip, and there was scar tissue over both his eyes and across the knuckles on both his hands. If he hadn’t been a professional pugilist he’d been one hell of a brawler.}

_{The driver released his brake and clucked softly to the mules. The tough little animals tiptoed forward to take up the slack in the traces, then leaned into the load and began drawing the wagon along at a slow roll. It was a nice performance, Longarm noticed, accomplished without any lurch or jiggle. Very pleasant.}

_{This was going to take a while, Longarm decided, so they might as well all be civilized to one another. He turned half around on the bench so he was more or less facing the railroad man. Longarm extended his hand and said, “Custis Long, sir. And you are ... ?”}

_{The railroader acted like he was all of a sudden smelling something that’d spoiled. He gave Longarm a cold, lengthy stare, then lifted his nose into the air and turned his head away without acknowledging the offered handshake.}

_{Longarm chose not to make an issue of it. He sat back on his half of the seat and looked off in the other direction.}

_{The railroader moved, jostling Longarm slightly as the big man reached inside his coat and pulled out a fat, expensive-looking pale-leaf cigar. He took his time about sniffing it, trimming it, wetting the wrapper leaf. Finally he clamped it between his lips and got out a match.}

_{Without asking the lady’s permission, Longarm noted.}

_{The railroader scratched his lucifer aflame, and Longarm began to turn.}

_{A slight motion of the woman’s gloved hand got his attention. Longarm couldn’t see her features behind the dark, heavy veil, but he could see the movement of her hat when she shook her head in a silent warning that he knew was intended for him. No, she was saying, don’t make an issue of it.}

_{Longarm grimaced. For his own satisfaction he might have wanted to. It might be kinda pleasant and personally rewarding to deliver a lesson in manners to this SOB. But that would only distress the lady, wouldn’t it. And that wasn’t at all what Longarm had in mind here. Dam it.}

_{He grunted softly to himself and settled back into the corner of the seat bench again.}