Longarm and the Colorado gundown

_{Physically the camp was laid out like a soup bowl, the buildings of the town being in the bottom of the bowl and the mine openings and tailings dumps scattered all around the sides and rim. Most ore finds tended to be in canyon bottoms, but a good many too were found in cirques and bowls like this one. Longarm had heard geologists say that such locations were the craters of ancient volcanoes. He couldn’t say that they generally looked much like his notion of what a volcano ought to be, but then he wasn’t going to argue with the experts just because of that, being no experienced hand when it came to volcano recognition. The one time he’d been stony cold abso-damned-lutely certain sure positive that he was seeing a volcano was when he was young and wet behind the ears and was making his first trip into the Yellowstone country. And that, he’d been assured at the time, hadn’t been volcano after all but just a geyser. Right there and then he’d determined to retire from volcano wrangling and leave that business to others who cared about the distinctions a whole lot more than Custis Long ever would.}

_{Whichever it was then, fizzled-out volcano or the remains of a big-ass geyser, Longarm marched into this bowl where Snowshoe was located.}

_{The lamps and lanterns were already lighted and in the windows to welcome him. Or to welcome somebody. He was willing to concede that the merchants of the town likely had workers soon to come off shift more in mind for their welcome than they did the deputy marshal who was going to piss them all off. But he would accept the lights as a nice sort of gesture anyway.}

_{He walked past a slightly startled agent at the Bitterroot and Brightwater depot—the man no doubt was unaccustomed to seeing well-dressed gentlemen stroll in off the tracks—and on to the nearest decent-looking hotel, located predictably enough within easy reach of the railroad station.}

_{“And how long will you be staying with us, sir?” the smiling desk clerk asked.}

_{“Couple nights. Maybe longer. I’ll let you know.”}

_{“Would you care to leave a deposit for the room then, sir?”}

_{“No need for that,” Longarm told him. He dragged out one of the voucher forms he’d gotten from Henry back in Denver and laid it down. “When I check out, friend, we’ll fill this in an’ I’ll sign for the charges.”}

_{The clerk’s smile faded and was replaced by a frown. “And what branch of government do you represent, sir?”}

_{“Does it matter?”}