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other men around the table, then at Virgil. No one appeared to care.
    “You boys should do what you need to do,” he said. Virgil nodded slowly and looked at me.
    “Everett?” he said.
    “Not like we got something else to do,” I said.
    Virgil kept nodding. He looked back at Speck.
    “Okay,” he said.

    Later we sat on the front porch of the Boston House admiring the rainwashed air.
    “Smells nice after it rains,” Virgil said.
    “Um-hm.”
    Virgil tilted his chair onto its back two legs and allowed it to balance there, its back resting against the hotel wall.
    “You thinking?” he said.
    “Yep.”
    “’Bout Callico?” Virgil said.
    “Yep.”
    Virgil nodded. He allowed the chair to rock slightly on its rear legs, the back tapping lightly against the wall.
    “Me, too,” he said.
    “Ain’t gonna like us taking away his safeguard business,” I said.
    “True,” Virgil said.
    “We kill somebody, be his chance to come after us.”
    “Might,” Virgil said.
    “Other hand,” I said. “If Stringer’s right, Callico’s after bigger things when statehood comes.”
    “So, he might not want to open up the fee question,” Virgil said.
    “Might not,” I said.
    “Guess we just proceed,” Virgil said. “See what comes along.”

15
    V IRGIL AND I took to sitting out on the porch in front of the Boston House, the way we used to sit on the porch outside the jail, when we were the law in Appaloosa. Mostly we sat and watched the life on Main Street. It was handy to everybody we were supposed to be protecting. It was pleasant, especially since Appaloosa hadn’t been all that rambunctious since we signed on. And now and then, Tilda would come out of the saloon to pour us some coffee.
    “Appears to be a parade,” Virgil said.
    I looked down Main Street and saw Amos Callico coming up the street with six policemen carrying Winchesters. The policemen stopped in the street and formed a semicircle facing Virgil and me.
    “No drum,” I said to Virgil.
    “Too bad,” Virgil said.
    Callico came up the steps and sat next to Virgil on the porch.
    “You boys are costing me money,” he said softly.
    “I believe we are,” Virgil said.
    “I want it back,” Callico said.
    “I would, too,” Virgil said. “I was you.”
    “I want you boys gone by Sunday,” Callico said.
    Virgil shook his head.
    “You’re telling me no ?” Callico said.
    “I am,” Virgil said.
    “You’re here after Sunday, we’ll kill you first time we see you.”
    “That sound legal to you, Everett?” Virgil said.
    “Don’t,” I said.
    “I’m the law in this town,” Callico said. “If I do it, it’s legal.”
    “Might cause you a little trouble down the line,” Virgil said. “Sheriff’s bound to look into it. Most likely it’ll be Stringer, and he don’t like you much, anyway.”
    “Fuck Stringer,” Callico said.
    “Everett,” Virgil said. “You think shooting a couple of famous lawmen would look good, if you was gonna run for sheriff, or gov’nor, or God, or something?”
    “Might not,” I said.
    Callico looked silently at both of us.
    Then he said, “You may have a point there, Virgil. Maybe there’s some way we can work this out more amicably.”
    Virgil looked at me.
    “ ‘Amicably’?” he said.
    “Friendly,” I said.
    “Not sure how amicable you and me can be, Amos,” Virgil said.
    Callico looked at the six policemen in the street. They were far enough away so that they couldn’t hear what was being quietly spoken. He took a deep breath.
    “There’s a nice life to be lived here. Pleasant, respectable, and money to be made. There’s enough for both of us. But not if we’re on opposite sides. I’ve just started to develop this arrangement, and there’s a lot more of it to come. If you just get out of the way. I’ll give you a piece of it.”
    “How big a piece?” Virgil said.
    “We can negotiate that,” Callico said. “Be a percentage, I would think. So, as I grow you get