“When?” McBride asked, feeling defeated and deflated. “When are we going to do this?” He looked at the papers as if there would be some clue to the thought process that had brought this about. There were official deputizations of himself and Kane Wootan and two warrants for the arrest of the Power brothers, one for John and one for Tom.

“Tonight. We go up early evening so they don't see us. We make the arrests in the morning.”

“Tomorrow? Tomorrow's Sunday.”

“No day of rest for us.”

“It will likely snow.”

“Sheriff,” Haynes said evenly, “what kind of job, exactly, was it you thought you were getting here? This here's a seven-day-a-week job.”

“When there's a need,” McBride said. “And I don't see the need. I don't see the need at all, and I certainly don't see the need to do this on a Sunday with a storm rolling in. It will likely be rain here, but you know it's going to be snow in the mountains.”

“Well, that's the federal government for you, isn't it? Wants its work done regardless of the inconvenience to the locals. I got my orders, and now you got yours. I thought we'd head out about four this afternoon.”

“I don't have animals ready. That's a long, hard climb. I'd like to have my horse reshoed.”

“Been taken care of. We'll take my truck. We'll have horses waiting for us at Klondyke, at Haby's place, courtesy of the US government. What have you got in the way of weapons?”

“The usual.” He nodded back toward the gun cabinet. “.30-06s, two shotguns, an assortment of handguns.”

“Bring what you want, but bring rifles and a couple of handguns. And bring plenty of ammunition. Don't bother with the shotgun. This isn't going to be a short-range affair. We want to knock them down, kill them if we can.”

“I thought we were going to arrest them?”

“That's the plan. But they might not go along with it. This is ‘dead or alive,’ whatever way they want it to go. If we have to lay siege to that cabin, that's what we're going to do.”

“This is crazy. These aren't violent criminals. They're not murderers. I can have them safely in my jail by the end of next week. We don't need to be doing it this way.”

“Government says we do. You answer to who you answer to. I answer to the one that pays my bills.”

“It's crazy. It's stupid.”

“Think what you want. I don't really care what you think. Your opinions here don't carry much weight, I'm afraid. I'll be back at four. You be ready.”

“And Kane.”

“Kane will be with me.”

“Frank,” Martin Kempton said, “take me with you.”

“I need you here, taking care of the office. It's Saturday night.”

“But it's going to rain. It will be slow. The cowboys won't make much of a presence here. No one wants to ride twenty miles in freezing rain.”