Chapter 11

I was about halfway back when I spotted them. They were camped in a little hollow but it offered little in the way of concealment or defense. There was a low ridge right above it and a man could ease on top of it and it would be like shootin’ fish in a barrel.

In fact, that’s just what I did. I could see the whole camp from the ridge and it looked pretty rundown. Whoever these people were they weren’t really equipped for the trail. When the woman spoke I knew who they were. Grinning, I stood where they could see me.

“Hello the camp!”

It was kind of funny watch them scramble around for weapons and places to take cover.

“Who are you and what do you want?”

It was Elsa that spoke.

“Well a cup of coffee would be nice, maybe some talk with some old friends would be a bonus.”

Elsa stood, peering up the ridge. “Bradley Walters! As I live and breathe. I though I’d never see you again.”

“And I thought you’d all be on a ranch in New Mexico by now.”

She sighed. “Yes, well, our situation has changed. Come on in and we’ll tell you all about it.”

I rode back down from the ridge and swung into their camp. It was a pretty sorry affair. They were extremely embarrassed when they admitted they had no coffee, and I just grinned and pulled a bag out of one of the packs along with the grinder. “Elsa, make sure you grind enough for breakfast. It’ll save us some time in the morning.”

Once everyone had a full cup, they told me their tale of woe.

“We were the happiest we’d been in a long time. The gold we found would buy us a nice spread and leave enough for some cattle and a few horses, enough to make a start. We were just full of plans.”

She sighed, thinking. “They showed up a week later, just appearing around us. We had no idea anyone else was even in the same territory. They took every bit of gold we had, our pack animals, even our mining tools.”

“Wow.”

Elsa sighed. “Yeah, wow. We’ve thought about it since then. They knew we had gold, even knew exactly which pack animal it was on. Then a couple of weeks later we got word Murphy was found at the claim, shot in the back. Twice. There was nothing left of the camp and even his boots and coat were missing. There was no sign of Willie so I’m thinking the worst, that he decided to take it all and then track us down for the rest of it.”

We made it back to a town. Dad took a job as a swamper at a saloon. It was all he could find. Gallison chopped wood and I worked at a waitress but it just barely gave us a living. We left when Dad lost his job defending a drunk customer from the owner’s son. His sister owned tthe diner so I lost my job, and Gallison ran out of work. We took what little we’d managed to scrape together, bought what gear and food we could, and left. We’re about out of food so we thought we’d hit the next town and look for work, enough to buy some more supplies and start again.”

I thought about that for a while after everyone bedded down. It came to me I had a opportunity here. I could hire them to help me mine and pay them a good wage, enough for them to get a stake. They would be set by the time Zeke got back and it would be that much more gold we wouldn’t have to split with any syndicate.

I hit them with it after breakfast, cooked mostly from my supplies. “I got an offer for you. We found a little gold. Zeke is going to be gone for a while on personal business and I could use some help. We’ll pay a good wage, furnish everything, tools, supplies, that sort of thing. Interested?”

I rode ahead and let them talk it over. An hour later Elsa trotted up. “We’ll do it. It solves our short term problems, gives us a chance to get a decent stake and go out on our own. How long we talking here?”

“Two to four months, dependin’. That’ll give you plenty of time before winter hits to get set up on your own claim. Zeke and I may even help you look for a good spot before we leave.”

“You think your claim will be played out by then?”

I grinned, thinking of that big seam in the tunnel. “Maybe. We’ll have to see.”

We talked it over the next night and decided to send Gallison back to the nearest town to pick up more supplies. I wasn’t counting on feeding three more people so what I bought would not last. We parted ways the next morning, after I gave him sixty dollars in coins and paper. It would be more than enough. I told him to buy what we needed and anything that caught his fancy, warning him to keep a low profile. I looked them over and took him aside, giving him another sixty dollars. “You use this to get some warm coats. We can’t have any of you getting sick. I’m thinkin’ leather with sheepskin linin’. Might want to get some new boots if you know everyone’s size. I suggest engineer boots. They’ll be a lot more suited to what you’ll be doing than regular ridin’ boots. Get anything else you think you guys might need. Consider this a signing bonus. You don’t have to pay me back.” He had tears in his eyes and was struggling to say something when I walked off.