There were so many people rushing toward the fire that Longarm had some difficulty following the carriage tracks, which were already being trampled into oblivion. Still, he could see that they were leading out of town heading north.

When Longarm reached the end of town, he staggered to a standstill and gazed out at the northern horizon. He couldn't see anything. Whoever had taken the carriage had driven it out of Wickenburg very fast and was no doubt already miles away and putting more and more distance between him and Longarm with every pa.s.sing moment.

Longarm wheeled around and studied a pair of horses tied in front of a saddle shop. Stealing a horse was a hanging offense, but he was a United States marshal and had the authority to take extreme measures during times of great emergency. Well, this was sure as h.e.l.l an emergency. Longarm chose what appeared to be the biggest and strongest of the pair, then used an extra few minutes to tie his saddlebags and shotgun down. Satisfied, he untied a muscular but jug-headed bay horse and climbed into the saddle with his Winchester clutched in his left hand and the reins in his right.

"Ya!" he shouted, booting the bay into a gallop.

The horse was no prizewinner, but it quickly proved it had excellent speed. Trouble was, the stirrups were far too short, so Longarm had a devil of a time riding after the carriage. Finally, he just let his feet dangle and pushed the bay gelding on to the north just as hard as it would run. And sure enough, in less than two miles he saw the distant outline of the carriage.

Longarm really worked over the bay, and the animal soon closed in on the carriage, whose team was already badly winded.

"Stop!" Longarm shouted.

The carriage slowly came to a stop, and when Longarm drew up beside it, he had his second big surprise of the day. There was no driver and the Spanish treasure box was open and empty. Dan lay sprawled and unconscious on the floor of the carriage.

"d.a.m.n!" Longarm swore, leaping from his saddle and tying the bay gelding to one of the wheels before he dragged Dan back up to the seat.

The old man had been savagely pistol-whipped. Longarm felt for Preacher Dan's pulse, afraid that someone might have finished him off once and for all. Dan was still alive. There was a canteen in the carriage, and Longarm used its contents to wet his handkerchief and then to slowly revive the unconscious preacher.

"Dan! Dan, wake up! Can you hear me?"

"Yeah," Dan whispered, his voice groggy.

"Who did this?"

"I a I don't know. I was hiding under the blanket, remember?"

"And you saw or heard no one?"

"Nothin'," Dan said, still trying to focus. "I was waiting for you to come back, and then next thing I know, you're here and my head feels like it is busted."

"Someone tricked us," Longarm said, shaking his head back and forth. "The Spanish treasure box and all its gold coins are gone."

Dan's eyes popped open and he looked down between his feet at the floorboards. "Gone?"

"That's right," Longarm replied. "All gone."

"Well, who could have-"

"Maybe Victoria," Longarm said, finding it very hard to believe.

"No!"

"Then who the h.e.l.l else?! Victoria Hathaway was the only one who knew of our plan of getting out of Wickenburg without being seen. She alone had the knowledge of how to steal the treasure box."

"I can't believe she'd betray us."

"Me neither," Longarm admitted, shoulders slumping with dejection. "But women can be as cunning as a coyote, and there are plenty of bad ones. Maybe Victoria is one of them and her greed just got the better of her."

"You're wrong, Marshal. My guess is that she just made the mistake of telling a friend who told someone who told someone else."

"We'll find out what happened later. But right now, we need to go to that mining shack and gather our wits. Maybe I can sort things out and not make another big mistake."

"It wasn't your fault."

"Well," Longarm said, feeling rotten, "it was more my fault than anyone else's that I can think of."

"Do you think it was Hank Ba.s.s who pistol-whipped me and took the treasure box?"

"I can't think of anyone more likely," Longarm replied. "Can you?"

"No."

Longarm turned his stolen horse free and, sure enough, the ugly bay went trotting back to Wickenburg. He climbed into the carriage and drove on with Victoria's map in his hand.

"Wait here while I check this out to make sure that we don't get any more surprises," he told his friend when they drew within a few hundred yards of the mining shack.

Longarm stayed low and tried to keep out of sight as he circled around behind the shack and then crept down to it with the big shotgun clenched in his fists. The shack and the nearby mine were empty, and there was no indication that anyone had been in the vicinity in a long time. Satisfied that he was not walking into a trap, Longarm returned to the carriage and drove it up to the shack, then helped Dan inside and made him as comfortable as possible.

"It's pretty humble," he told the preacher.

"Ain't so bad," Dan commented. "I've slept in plenty of worse places. In fact, most places I've slept in have been worse than this shack."

Longarm looked around. There was a tin stove, some pots, pans, and eating utensils as well as a few cans of tinned goods. There was also mice s.h.i.t and a thick coating of dust over everything. The cabin was quite small, less than two hundred feet square, but the roof was intact and it would offer them protection against the hard summer rain and sun.

"You take the bed," he told Dan as he went outside. "I'll get some blankets."

"Wouldn't mind having something to eat and some whiskey to wash it down with," Dan said. "My head feels like it's been hammered real hard."

"It has been," Longarm replied. "And if your skull wasn't so thick, you'd be dead."

Longarm got the fire going and boiled some beans and water for coffee. He opened a tin of peaches and fried some salt pork. Then he explored the area, finding nothing of interest. The mine went about thirty feet into solid rock, and someone had worked for a long hard time out in this desolate area. Longarm saw no signs of gold or silver, but he knew that there must have been some ore recovered from this claim or no one would have continued to work it so long or so hard. He found the usual rusty tin cans, a broken wheelbarrow, rotting rope and leather. It always amazed him how tenacious miners could be once they were bitten by the gold bug. Whoever had first established this isolated mining claim must have worked it for years.

As evening approached and the shadows grew long, Longarm tried to put his setback in perspective. Sure, he'd lost the Spanish gold, but he'd track Ba.s.s down and recover it soon enough. He determined that he would ride one of the carriage horses back into Wickenburg after dark and start asking questions. That was his plan until Victoria arrived just at sundown.

"Why did you come out here?!" Longarm asked, his voice sharp with disapproval.

"To see if I could help you," she replied, dismounting. "And also to bring you some fresh supplies."

"We can get by on what we have for a few days."

Victoria's anger flashed. "After this greeting, you may have to."

"I'm sorry," Longarm said, realizing he was not being very appreciative. "But Dan and I had a very bad surprise in the alley this morning."

"What surprise?"

"Someone was aware of our plan and the diversion. The moment I left Dan, they pistol-whipped him and took the Spanish gold. They were also clever enough to drive the carriage north out of town, then leave it and escape."

"What?!"

"You heard me, Victoria. Dan has a nasty b.u.mp on his head and the gold coins are all gone."

"But who could have known about this other than the three of us?!"

"Your friend, Ann Reed."

"I'll forget you said that," Victoria replied, face turning dark with anger. "Ann would never betray my trust."

"Then she told someone else who took the information to Hank Ba.s.s," Longarm said. "Because someone sure as h.e.l.l had to make a slip of the tongue."

Victoria expelled a deep breath. "I suppose that Ann could have had a slip of the tongue. She is so naive that she trusts everyone and has no secrets."

"All right," Longarm said, "let's give Ann the benefit of the doubt and a.s.sume that she did make a slip of the tongue and it got back to Hank Ba.s.s, who saw his golden opportunity to grab our Spanish treasure. What is done is done and it can't be helped. Tomorrow, I'd go after Ba.s.s, but I can't really leave Dan here by himself."

"Oh, sure you can!" the old preacher argued. "Marshal, I'll be fine. But I'd be even finer if your pretty friend would stay here with me."

"I can't," Victoria told him. "I'm going to help Custis find Hank Ba.s.s."

"Oh, no!" Longarm objected.

"Oh, yes," Victoria countered. "You need me."

"Why?"

"Because, unlike yourself, I know almost everyone in this part of Arizona and I have enough money in my saddlebags to buy the information you'll need to catch Ba.s.s."

"Marshal," Dan said, "those are pretty good reasons."

"Yes," Longarm had to agree, "they are. But, Victoria, things can go wrong. If you go with me, you could get shot, even killed."

Victoria's eyes flashed. "Hank Ba.s.s and his gang put me through h.e.l.l and I'll do anything and everything I can to see that he is brought to justice. You need MY help and it serves no good purpose to be stubborn."

"All right," Longarm agreed. "But only on the condition that you do exactly as I say."

"I accept those terms," Victoria said. "When can we start searching for Hank Ba.s.s?"

"We'll leave tomorrow morning."

"Fine," Victoria said, nodding her pretty head. "Now, why don't we get some food cooking and enjoy a campfire before we turn in for the night."

Longarm thought that an excellent idea. Victoria soon proved herself to be a good cook, and it didn't hurt a bit that she had brought an apple pie out for dessert. Dan consumed most of that, and then, with a loud and satisfying belch, he fell asleep. Since the night was warm, Longarm moved his bedroll outside and stretched out underneath the starry desert sky.

"Good night, Victoria."

She came over to lie beside him. "Do we have to just go to sleep?"

"Isn't that what you'd like to do?"

Her reply was a pa.s.sionate kiss. "Does that answer your question?"

"It does." Longarm studied her in the moonlight. "I just thought that, after what happened with Ba.s.s and his gang, that you'd a"

"I'd hate all men?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"I hate men who act like animals," Victoria said, unb.u.t.toning Longarm's shirt. "And after what happened to me, I want to thank you in the best way I know how. You really saved my life, you know."

"I was acting in the line of duty, Victoria. You don't owe me a thing."

"Maybe not," she said, beginning to work on his belt, "but I need to make love to a good and brave man like you. It would a cleanse me. Make me feel good again. Does that make any sense at all, Custis?"

"Yes, I suppose it does," he replied, crushing her In his arms with his own pa.s.sion rising to a fever.

Minutes later, they were making love, and Longarm found that he was not as tired or as battered as he'd thought. Victoria was pa.s.sionate and more than eager to please. Longarm drove his rod into her and Victoria gasped with pleasure, then locked her lovely legs around his waist. After that, they both lost themselves in an intense pleasure that kept building and building until they were lunging and bucking and their pa.s.sion was finally extinguished.

"You were even better than I thought you'd be," Victoria later whispered in his ear.

"You should see what I can do when I'm rested."

"I'm afraid that you'd quickly wear me out, Custis."

"It would be fun to try."

They lay content in each other's arms until almost midnight, and only once did they speak and that was when Victoria asked, "Do you think we can find Ba.s.s and kill him before he spends all that Spanish treasure?"

"I hope so."

"Me too. So much good could come of it despite its tragic history. I think that it should be used to save lives, or at least improve them."

"That was Dan's intention and I fully approve," Longarm said. "Poor Jimmy c.o.x would have just spent it all in the saloons, but Dan will put it to good purpose."

"If it isn't all gone before we recover it."

Longarm nodded and drifted off to sleep. He was too exhausted to ask Victoria where she thought they could best take up the notorious outlaw's trail. Oh, well, they could talk that over tomorrow morning.

Chapter 18.

Hank Ba.s.s had vanished like smoke in a high wind. Longarm and Victoria had returned to Wickenburg and done everything in their power to gain some hint of where the man had gone to hiding. But no one knew or was about to tell on the outlaw's whereabouts. Part of it was fear, but Longarm wondered if Ba.s.s had simply holed up in some isolated place where it was very unlikely he would be found.

"He's smarter than I'd figured," Longarm said one hot afternoon as they left Tucson drifting south and asking questions of everyone they met. "Ba.s.s hasn't even spent any of those gold coins."