Longarm and the Colorado gundown

_{' “Causing no harm,” Longarm repeated. He took a drag on his cheroot and stared toward the ceiling while he slowly expelled the smoke. “An’ who is it, Billy, who decides if these here Indians are causing harm or not?”}

_{Vail gave him a tight-lipped smile. “That is what cuts to the heart of it, Longarm. As long as any Indian anywhere in this country wants to go to war with us whites, most whites are going to assume that any Indian off any reservation is out for scalps and glory. The interpretation of intent is where things get complicated.”}

_{“Sounds t’ me like there’s a disagreement over the intention o’ some Utes,” Longarm guessed.}

_{“In a nutshell, yes. A small group of Utes have been detained by lawful authority in a town called Snowshoe. I gather there is one faction in town that wants those and any other Utes in that part of the country rounded up and shipped back onto their reservation lands. Others, 1 understand, think the problem would be best served by hanging the ones in custody and shooting all the ones who aren’t.”}

_{Longarm grunted.}

_{“We come into it because some lawyer named Ab Able is sharper than you are when it comes to case law. Able filed a request for the habeas corpus writ before Judge McFee, citing the Dundy precedent in support of the petition. The writ was granted. And you’ve been asked to serve it.” “Filed it in Nebraska, not here.”}

_{“For obvious reasons,” Billy said.}