Longarm and the Colorado gundown

_{That, after all, was what this nuisance was all about.}

_{Chapter 12}

_{Hell, Longarm thought as he walked into Snowshoe, this hadn’t been half as bad as he’d expected. The going had been slow but not particularly difficult. Not even getting from the Silver Creek, Tipson, and Glory tracks up to the level of the Bitterroot and Brightwater. That had just been a matter of picking a likely spot to climb, and then going slow and easy on the way up.}

_{Except for that little distance, though, the journey had been a flat, boring hike along graded and ballasted railroad rights of way, walking the tracks of first the one line and then the other.}

_{Longarm would have actually enjoyed the fresh air and exercise if it hadn’t been for having to carry his bag and saddle. Toting those hadn’t been especially fun. His shoulders ached now from the day-long strain, and his hands were just the least bit sore. But there wasn’t anything that a drink and a good supper wouldn’t cure, he figured.}

_{He didn’t have a hand free to pull his watch out and check the time, but his belly told him it was coming supper time. That impression was reinforced by the chill in the evening breeze. At this altitude the days might be nice and warm so long as the sun was shining, but the nights were cold the whole year round, and evening shadows could drive a chill into a man’s bones. The sun had slid down beneath the westerly peaks the better part of an hour ago now, and the daylight was commencing to slowly, almost imperceptibly}

_{diminish like a lamp with the wick being eased lower and lower.}

_{Not that he would’ve been worried about getting lost even if it had gotten dark before he got to the town. Not with the railroad tracks to follow. Still, he was glad to be getting there.}

_{Snowshoe looked from this angle about like any other young mining camp. Which is to say raw and roaring.}