“And Frank Haynes?”

“No. Not Frank. I don't know whether he was there.”

“Damn,” Poke said. “That's bad. The other way around would give you a chance. Not saying you should have killed Frank, but I don't think you want him running around.”

Tom drew lines in the ground with the toe of his boot. “No. We don't really want Frank running around. Listen, Poke. I need to trade you some horses.”

“I don't know, Tom. If there was law involved, I don't much want to be a part of it, though, you know, I side with you on this.”

“I understand that, Poke. I don't want to draw you in on the trouble, but it would be a favor if you could just put yourself in our place for a couple of seconds. We just killed three of Thems, all law. It don't mean nothing that Arizona isn't a death state. Thems's going to make it one just on our account. Hell, Thems is gathering up rope right now. Posse catches up to us, we're dead. There ain't going to be no trial. Trial is the time it takes to tie a knot. If it weren't for that, we'd turn ourselves in. Hell, it was self-defense, Poke. But that ain't going to mean spit to Thems.”

“It's a bad spot. That's for sure. Was this part of that draft business? I mean, I can't see anyone going up into the Galiuros for the draft.”

“Wasn't no conversation, Poke. We was still in our beds. The Old Man got up and went to the door and fell out with a bullet in him. From then on it was all shooting. No talking. It might have been the draft business, but they didn't say. Thems will say it is. I do know that. We tried to sign up for that draft in Redington, but they told us we didn't need to. It might have been the draft, but it was probably gold, too. We was starting to pull some nice ore out of that mine. Thems can smell gold. Thems believes gold is for Thems and no one else. You know that as well as I do. I'm pretty sure it was the gold that started it.”

“I don't know. It seems pretty bold on their part to just come in shooting and taking your mine. What about the whiskey business? You and Kane was in that together with Frank.”

“Thems is a bold people. You know us, Poke. We don't go looking for trouble. But we don't abide others bringing it to us. We was just up there mining our mine. I was pretty much out of the whiskey business. We never did nothing to Thems.”

“Well, that would be most right, too. These your mule and horses?”

“No, these is the law's. Ours got run off, and we didn't have time to go round them up.”