"When large sums of money are involved it is advisable to trust no one" Agatha Christy

The next two weeks passed quickly for Langly as he began to find his own place among all of these men. Only a handful of men actually seemed to hang around the camp in a permanent way. The rest drifted in and then back out only to be replaced by new men and the occasional woman.

Langly found that the men didn't mind so much that he was polite and they even ignored the way he prayed before mealtime just so long as he was helping them with their guns. And being polite and praying wasn't something he was willing to just give up. His mama had raised him to always be respectful and give thanks and his pa was always respectful, at least to everyone except family, and Langly didn't want to give either of those things up.

Langly was even making fairly good honest money working on the guns and had even set up a makeshift hut to work in so he could have a little more privacy. He was having a good time but Jeremiah seemed to be growing more agitated by the day, the hour, even the minute. It was during one of his pacing rants that he barged into Langly's hut.

"Dammit! We were only supposed to hang around here for a couple days!" Jeremiah exclaimed. "I'm ready to be moving on!"

"Then move on." Langly replied with a sigh as he looked up from the muzzleloader he was cleaning. "I like it here." Jeremiah snorted.

"You know most of these men are using you! They know how to fix their own damn guns and Smoky for sure knows how to clean his own rifle!" he exclaimed pointing at the gun lying over Langly's knees.

"They pay me for doing it for them and I enjoy doing it so it works for me."

"You are a hopeless outlaw! You say ma'am, sir, please and thank you! You are working a job in an outlaw camp! You don't want to lay with whores or steal or cheat at poker! I know I promised your damn pa I'd look out for you but this is getting ridiculous!"

Langly felt an instant of irritation and he bit his lip to keep himself from saying the first angry thing that came to mind. Getting angry and demanding to be treated as an adult while stomping his foot sure wouldn't solve anything or help his case. Instead he looked up very calmly at his uncle and then waved his hand.

"You are more than welcome to go on your way, Uncle Jeremiah. I'll be just fine here without you. I really seem to be fitting in and the men seem to like having me around. What could possibly go wrong?"

"You trust too easily." Jeremiah sighed as he rubbed his hand over his face.

"That's a bad thing?" Langly asked and his uncle nodded.

"Around here it is. You don't have your big bad pa to look out for you around here."

"Nope, I got you." Langly replied with a laugh and a grin. "Uncle Jeremiah, I'm a grown man and I'll be fine. If you want to go then go." Langly was only talking brave because inside he was scared to death to be left all alone out here. He'd never been alone a day in his life. He had a feeling his uncle could see through his big talk because he sighed and sat down hard on a rock.

"I'm not gonna just leave ya because your damn pa would bash my head in with his fist but I'm getting real damn tired of hanging around this camp. Do you think you could close up shop for a week or two so we can go blow off some steam and then we can come back for awhile?"

"Sure, Uncle Jeremiah, that'll be fine." Langly replied. "I'll finish up these three guns I'm doing today and tomorrow we can take off for awhile. Might be nice to sleep in a real bed for a night or two."

"I'm getting tired of the selection of ladies around here too. It'll be nice to have some new tits to choose from." Jeremiah added with a grunt.

"It's amazing that you haven't swept some woman off her feet already." Langly said dryly.

"No not me. I'm a rover." Jeremiah replied with a grin.

888

"Where the hell are you two going?" Hawkins demanded with a smile as he walked over to Jeremiah and Langly's camp the next morning and folded his hands on his big belly. Langly and Jeremiah were nearly all packed up and ready to head out.

"Gonna roam around for a while but we'll be back." Langly replied as he wiped his shirt sleeve across his sweaty brow.

"Maybe." Jeremiah countered with a grunt as he hoisted his heavy saddlebags up onto his horse.

"I guess that means you ain't interested in the job I was fixing to go do." Hawkins said with a click of his tongue. Jeremiah's head perked up and he turned to the man.

"What kind of job?"

"Bank job." Hawkins replied in a whisper.

"Big bank?" Jeremiah asked.

"Small." Hawkins amended.

"Hold on just one minute, please." Langly countered as he came in between the two men. "Are we talking about a bank robbery?" he demanded with disbelief.

"Of course not!" Hawkins replied with a snort.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Jeremiah added with a wave of his hand. "Where's the town?"

"Five hours hard ride to the south. It's a small town, small bank, and just one tiny lawman for miles and miles." Hawkins had a predatory glint in his dark eyes and Langly knew he'd just been lied to about this not being a bank robbery.

"Not much money to be made…" Jeremiah said with a frown and Hawkins shrugged.

"Plenty of money when you figure in the fact that we have almost no chance of running into any trouble." Jeremiah seemed to think hard for a moment while Langly wondered if his dear old uncle had lost his mind. Bank robbery! Langly had definitely not signed up for being a bank robber.

"Let's do it." Jeremiah finally replied.

"Have you lost your mind?" Langly exclaimed. Jeremiah rolled his eyes and growled as he turned to face him.

"No I haven't caught the crazy just yet and I happen to think this is a good idea." he replied and then he turned to Hawkins. "We'll come. When you heading out?"

"Ten minutes." Hawkins replied as he eyed Langly with curiosity. "Is he gonna be a problem?" Jeremiah turned his eyes to Langly who was standing slack jawed and wide eyed, staring at them.

"No, he'll be just fine." he reassured Hawkins. Hawkins nodded and walked away.

"You have caught the crazy, uncle Jeremiah. You for sure have! Bank robbing? I don't think I have what it takes to be a bank robber!"

"Sure you do, you're Marston's kid after all! He's robbed more than one bank in his life. Besides you can be the outside man." Jeremiah said reassuringly as he patted Langly on the back.

"Outside man?"

"Sure the man that waits outside with the horses while the rest of us go in." Jeremiah turned away then and quickly finished getting their things around. Langly remained silent as he followed his uncle through the tents and fires and then found himself part of a six man group heading out of camp.

What the heck was he doing? Bank robbing? He didn't want to rob banks! He wanted to play poker, ride the range, be his own man….. Somehow riding with a gang of dirty men while he robbed hardworking people of their hard earned money didn't seem like the kind of thing the man he wanted to be would do.

Then again Jeremiah had said he could wait outside so he wouldn't actually be robbing anyone… He would just be an observer. There wasn't anything wrong with that…. Was there?

888

"Alright, you wait out here with the horses, Langly, and we'll be back out in a few minutes." Jeremiah said as he and the five other men jumped down from their horses. They were in an alley between the bank and the mercantile of this small town. Langly nodded, still feeling sick at his stomach over what was about to happen. He looked around this quiet town. The sun was shining bright, the air was warm and the streets were pretty much empty save for the occasional woman walking from shop to shop or a man or two lounging in front of the shops smoking while their women spent their money.

"What if trouble comes?" Langly asked and Jeremiah shrugged.

"You whistle, warn us and then we'll all make a run for it. Don't worry, kid, I'll make sure you make it out of here just fine." he assured his nephew with a wink.

"Aren't you gonna hitch your horses?" Langly asked and Jeremiah shook his head.

"No, that'll make it take longer to get away. Just wait out here for us and we'll be back." he said sternly and then he followed the other men around the bank.

Langly sat there on his black gelding with his leg twitching and his hands twisting the reins…. He was full of too much nervous energy to make holding still be a possibility. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and wondered what was going on inside that bank.

He hated not knowing but then again he knew there was no way he actually wanted to be in there! Robbing a bank? He might be a grown man but his mama would tan his hide if he took part in something like that. He jumped off his horse and walked over to the wall of the bank and stuck his ear against it though what he hoped to hear through the brick wall he wasn't sure.

Suddenly, without warning, screams rang out, shattering the peace of the afternoon. Langly's horse spooked and took off for main street. Langly ran for it as his uncle and the other men came out of the bank.

"Come on, Langly!" Jeremiah yelled as he and the other men all whistled and their horses came running. Chaos ensued as a man with a badge ran out of a small jail house waving his gun and shouting. Langly was still struggling to catch his gelding when a shot rang out and he felt a burning pain sear his leg.

"Jeremiah!" he yelled. His eyes locked with his uncles as Langly fell to his knees. For a moment he thought Jeremiah was going to come for him but then his uncles golden eyes turned cold and he jumped on his horse and rode away with the rest of the men.

"Put your hands in the air!" the lawman shouted at Langly. Langly was in a state of shock as he obeyed the order. Jeremiah was long gone having disappeared over a small rise. How could his uncle have abandoned him like that? How could he have just left him shot and bleeding in the middle of the street at the mercy of some law man.

"What's your name?" The lawman demanded as he walked over and kept his gun trained on Langly.

"L… Langly Jacobs." Langly replied shakily as he looked up at the aging lawman for the first time. "Sir, I didn't do anything."

"You were keeping an eye on their horses in that alley, you knew those men and you're the one I was able to catch. That's good enough for me."

The lawman jerked Langly to his feet and cuffed his wrists together behind his back. Hatred burned his gut and turned his stomach sour as the thought about his uncle and Hawkins and the other men he had been starting to trust as friends. It should be them that had been shot and were now getting thrown in jail, not him…. Realization dawned on him and he felt one hundreds kinds of a fool… Outside man his ass. He hadn't been anything but a fall guy.

A/N: And that would be why he can't trust Jeremiah. Hope you enjoyed the chapter