We rode slowly down out of the trees toward Resolution, letting the horses pretty well take us. "Might be easier world,” Virgil said, “everybody was like Stark.”
“Might not be much fun,” I said.
“True,” Virgil said. “But he knows what he is. He’s a fella cuts lumber.”
“Yep.”
“I been reading a lot,” Virgil said.
“You do that,” I said.
“Like to try and learn stuff,” Virgil said. “I’m reading this fella Locke. You know, the English fella.”
“They told us about him at the Academy,” I said.
“You sure don’t talk like a fella went to West Point,” Virgil said.
“Been riding with you too long,” I said.
“Been good for you,” Virgil said.
“Maybe,” I said.
“This Locke,” Virgil said. “If I’m readin’ him right, he says that the law is sort of a contract between the people and the government.”
“Uh-huh.”
“So if either side breaks the contract,” Virgil said, “what happens?”
“I don’t know.”
The horses paused hock-deep in a small stream and drank some water.
“What I was wondering,” Virgil said, “when we was marshaling in Appaloosa, was we the government or the people.”
“Virgil,” I said, “mostly what I remember from the Academy is cavalry tactics.”
The horses stopped drinking and moved on.
“Well, I been thinking about that,” Virgil said.
“I know,” I said.
“I broke the contract,” Virgil said.
“You think so?” I said.
“Ain’t that what happened?” Virgil said. “I hired on to be the law, and I wasn’t.”
“Mostly you were,” I said.
“Mostly is okay for sodbusters,” Virgil said, “or miners, but when you’re a gunman…”
The horses plodded out of the tree cover and onto the cleared slope above the town.
“Wouldn’ta been no law,” I said, “in Appaloosa, wasn’t for you.”
Virgil didn’t answer.
Heading toward the town and the livery and maybe some feed, the horses started to move a little faster.
“Virgil,” I said, “ever since I know you, you been dividing everything into legal and illegal. Maybe there’s other ways to think about it. Everybody don’t go around thinking like that.”
We rode in silence for a little.
Then Virgil said, “I ain’t everybody, Everett. I kill people.”