That was the damned Apaches, burning damn near all of Cananea to hell and gone just before we got there. Not much of the place left standing, and a hell of a lot of Mexicans dead.'
'Jesus,' Stuart said, yawning again. Ruggles joined him. He went on, 'How in blazes did that happen?'
'In blazes is right,' Colonel Ruggles answered. 'A couple of the Mexicans who lived-Salazar the alcalde is one of 'em-says the Indians got hold of some kerosene some kind of way, and that clever one called Batsinas poured it in front of doors and such. Then they shot fire arrows into it, and the wind did the rest of the job for 'em.'
'Jesus,' Stuart said again. 'I bet it was Batsinas' scheme, too.' The Apache had been so eager to learn from the white man, and had figured out a way to use some of the white man's products to deadly effect, too. Stuart went on, 'I hope you licked the redskins once you got to Cananea, anyway.'
Glumly, Calhoun Ruggles shook his head again. 'No, sir. Time we got there, they'd all hightailed it toward the mountains.' Even more glumly, he pointed southwards. 'I put men to chasing 'em, but they had a better than decent start on us-and they can move, too. I tell you, sir, they can really move, a hell of a lot faster than I ever thought they could. I reckon they're holed up in the Sierra Madre some-wheres, and I'll be damned if I look forward to digging 'em out.'
Rain pattered down on San Francisco. Having grown up and lived for much of his life in a place where rain was liable to fall any old time, Sam Clemens took it in stride. His wife, a native San Franciscan, did not approve. 'It has no business doing this,' she said. 'It's nothing but a nuisance, especially on a day when you have to go to work.'
'Not that big a nuisance,' Clemens answered. 'If there's one thing about your brother we can count on, it's that he has more than one umbrella. He may even be willing to let me borrow one, provided I post a bond not to stab anyone with it or use it as a swimming hole for sea gulls.'
Sure enough, from an ugly ceramic vase in the front hall sprouted the handles of four or five umbrellas. And, sure enough, Vernon Perkins did not complain about Sam's borrowing one-nor did he ask for the bond Sam had predicted. He was so glad to see his brother-in-law leave his house, he would help in any way he could.
Clemens strode carefully along wet sidewalks and picked his way through puddles in the streets. No matter how careful he was, his feet were wet by the time he got to the Morning Call offices. If he'd been a reporter, he wouldn't have been too proud to take off his shoes and put his stockinged feet close by the fire till they dried out. As an editor, he felt that beneath his dignity. That left him with dignity unimpaired and wet feet.
'Thank God for good coffee,' he said, pulling the pot off the stove and filling a cup. 'I never knew this horrible muddy slop was good coffee till my sister-in-law broadened my horizons. Bath water with cream is what she makes.' He sipped and nodded. 'This, now, this'll grow hair on a man's chest-maybe even on my brother-in-law's. If it weren't that Vern's daughters look like him, poor things, I'd say he was the likeliest man in this town to make his next position harem guard for the Turkish sultan.' His voice rose to a screechy falsetto.
'For some reason or other, Sam, I get the feeling you don't like your brother-in-law,' Clay Herndon drawled. 'Why on earth is that?'
'Why on earth is which?' Clemens asked. 'Why do you get that feeling, or why don't I like the whey-faced, self-righteous, prissy, tight-fisted little horse's ass? I swear to Jesus, Clay, if brains were stream pressure, he couldn't blow his own nose.'
'I'll bet he loves you, too,' Herndon said, laughing.
'Doesn't everyone?' Sam said blandly, which made Herndon and all the other newspapermen in earshot laugh even louder. Sam took another sip of snarling coffee, then asked, 'Has anyone got a Christmas present for me?'
'More sandpaper to keep your tongue sharp, maybe?' Herndon suggested.
'And it's coal in the stocking for the distinguished correspondent of the Morning Call,' Clemens said, at which Herndon made as if to throw his cup at the editor. Sam went on, 'What I'd really like is something closer to peace than this miserable cease-fire we've been enduring. Sooner or later, the CSA will get tired of it, or England will, and then some poor town on the border will catch hell-or maybe catch hell again, depending.'
Edgar Leary spoke up: 'If you look at things the right way, San Francisco is a town on the border.'
'No, Edgar,' Sam said gently. 'If you look at things the wrong way, San Francisco is a town on the border. That's what worries me more than anything else: I can see some British admiral down in the Sandwich Islands making sure his fleet has enough coal to get from yon to hither, so he can leave a calling card in President Blame's-uh, Blaine's-front hall, just to remind him that England doesn't care to leave her business lying around unfinished.'
'Trouble is, the calling card would be aimed at Blaine, but it would land on us,' Clay Herndon said.
'That's what war is about,' Clemens agreed. 'The people on top are stupid-you have to be stupid, to want to be on top-so you have to kill a lot of ordinary folks before you get their notice. Till you've done that, they keep on the way they always have. Why not? They aren't the ones who are bleeding.'
He finished the coffee, poured more into the cup-not quite so much this time, to leave room in case he felt like fortifying it from the whiskey bottle in his desk drawer-and carried it away to get some work done. Edgar Leary followed him. He didn't look on that as a good sign; Leary sometimes put him in mind of a puppy slobbering on his shoes-which, he thought, were damp enough already. Hoping to forestall the young reporter, he made a production out of getting one of his nasty cigars going.
Leary showed no signs of disappearing, not even when Sam (close enough to accidentally, he could say it was and sound as if he meant it) blew smoke in his face. Sighing, Clemens gave up and asked, 'Well, what have you got for me today, Edgar?'
'Sir, you remember how you told me to nose around and see what I could come up with about where the rebuilding money here was going?' the youngster asked.
'Oh, yes, I remember that,' Clemens agreed. It's kept you out of my hair for weeks. I'd hoped for longer, but this isn 't bad.
'I've found a few interesting things,' Leary said. 'May I show them to you? I hope you're not too busy.'
Sam's desk was disappointingly uncluttered. If he claimed excessive work, he'd make himself a liar so blatant, even Leary could see right through him. 'Yes, show me what you've got, Edgar,' he said, doing his best to sound enthusiastic about whatever trivial nonsense the cub would lay before him.
Beaming, Leary hurried away. He unlocked a drawer in his desk, took from it a fat manila envelope, and hurried back to Clemens, who manfully suppressed a groan: if Leary was going to show him nonsense, why did there have to be so blasted much of it? The young reporter pulled a stack of papers about half an inch thick from the envelope. 'Here you are,' he said. 'Why don't you start with these? They'll give you a general idea of what I've dug up. I've arranged them chronologically, so you can start at the beginning and work right through.'
'Thanks,' Sam said tightly. He started flipping sheets of paper. The first few were invoices: construction firms billing their patrons for amounts that didn't seem too far out of line, considering how urgent all the repairs were and how far a lot of things had to be freighted to San Francisco. Sam was about to start asking rude and pointed questions when the invoices gave way to letters. With an editor's eye, he first noted the bad grammar in the topmost one. Then he saw it was about sharing the profits on a substandard piece of construction. Once he'd spotted that, his eyes flew down to the signature. They widened.
'My God!' he breathed. 'Crocker is one of Sutro's right-hand men.' He shook his head. 'No, that's not right. Sutro is a finger or two on Crocker's right hand.' He looked up at Edgar Leary. 'Where in blazes did you come up with this?'
'Which one are you talking about?' Leary looked over his shoulder. 'Oh, that. That's not even a good one.' He waved his hand in disparaging fashion. 'Why don't you keep going a little longer?'
'I don't know. Why don't I?' Sam murmured. Keep going he did, now with interest kindled. By the time he was halfway through the stack of papers, he kept pausing every so often to stare at Leary. When he was all the way through, he let out a long, shrill whistle. 'You realize what you've got here means the penitentiary for about half the city government of San Francisco?'
'Only if the other half has the best lawyers in the country,' Leary answered, and patted the manila envelope. 'There's still a lot in here you haven't seen, don't forget. The only thing missing'-he looked disappointed-'is anything directly tying His Honor to the graft.'
'It doesn't matter,' Clemens answered. 'I never thought I'd say that, but it's true. It doesn't matter. The only question left about our magnificent Mayor Sutro is whether he'll poll even fewer votes in San Francisco in his next
