“Yes. I guess I have. I would also like to leave a few of these with you.” McBride took a small stack of 3-by-5-inch postcards with a photograph of himself atop his dappled horse, Big Boy, McBride's sidearm and rope in clear view. It could have been a publicity still for William S. Hart.

Ike motioned to the right side of the store's counter. “You can leave them right there.”

“They're postal cards,” McBride said, smiling. “You can send them to your friends, if you want. A note to your mother won't be a commitment to vote.” Ike simply glared, and McBride, smiling again, walked out, nodding to the idlers he passed.

He was climbing into the truck he had borrowed from a neighbor when he heard his name. He turned, and the sandy-haired cowboy from the store had come up behind him. McBride hadn't heard a thing.

“Mr. McBride,” the man said, “I just wanted to make your acquaintance. I'm Tom Power.”

There were a few names that caught the attention of every lawman in Graham County. Wootan was one, Power another. They weren't necessarily troublemakers, but they always seemed to be around when trouble happened. Trouble seemed to follow them like a cloud of dust followed a truck.

“And I didn't want you to waste your time.”

“Waste my time?”

“In there.” Power nodded toward the store. “You ain't going to win many votes in there.”

“I believe I knew that,” McBride said.

“They ain't your kind. Not many of your kind down here.” Power went on as if McBride hadn't responded.

McBride wasn't sure what Power meant by his “kind.” Mormon? Certainly, this southern district wasn't a Mormon stronghold. Or did he mean something else?

“You ain't got a Chinaman's chance around here.”

McBride nodded in comprehension but also uncertainty. This was all pretty obvious, and he wasn't sure why Power was letting him in on the obvious.

“And you can't win with just the Safford and Pima bunch, either. You got to get votes out of the rest of the county.”

This, too, was fairly obvious, though he was impressed that the young cowboy was smart enough to understand that. He would have a big lead in the major towns in the northern precincts, but Alger was going to be strong in the south. He had determined early that they were nearly evenly matched, and to win, one would have to cut into the other's territory. But Klondyke was beyond a long shot. It was an impossibility. He was here only because he wanted people to see that he didn't give up on things. He would come into a bad situation and try to turn it to his advantage, whether he could or not.

“Yep,” Power said. “You got to carry some of this part of the county or you ain't going to have a job come November.”

“I believe I understand that, too. That's why I'm here.”

“Wasting your time.”