Smoke nodded at him, then walked over to the bar. The bartender was wearing a clean white apron and a clean shirt, the sleeves of which were held up by garters. He had slicked-back coal-black hair, and a waxed handlebar mustache.
“Beer,” Smoke ordered, and he smiled as he saw the bartender, very meticulously, select a new, clean mug, then hold it under the spigot. The bartender was careful to build a head, but not spill any of the beer. The difference between the New York and the Lost Mine could not be more strikingly manifested than in observing the procedures of the two bartenders.
With his beer in hand, Smoke crossed over to join Bobby Lee at his table.
“Anything?” Smoke asked.
“Nothing. How about you?”
“I didn’t hear anything usable either,” Smoke said, just before he took a swallow of his beer.
There were three men at the nearest table, and something one of them said caught Smoke’s attention.
“I can’t believe they would put in the paper about carryin’ all that money on the train. Don’t they know that’s just askin’ to have someone rob it?”
The speaker holding forth was a big, bearded man. The two men with whom he was sharing the table were also bearded and nearly indistinguishable from each other except for a large mole on the face of one, and a three- corner scar on the face of the other. The speaker’s face, though rough hewn, was unmarked.
“I know people who have been workin’ the mines for near fifteen years, good productive mines they were too, and they haven’t taken out as much money as is goin’ to be on that train. All a fella would have to do is rob that train and he’d have enough money to spend for the rest of his life.”
“You want to rob a train, Cooley?” one of the others asked, and all three laughed.
“Hell, no, I ain’t no train robber,” Cooley said. “I’m just sayin', it don’t make no sense to me for the newspaper to put in a story about shippin’ one hundred thousand dollars. Just ‘cause I ain’t no train robber don’t mean there ain’t folks who won’t do it.”
“That’s true. But I’m sure they’ll have it guarded. I figure anyone who plans on robbin’ that train is goin’ to have to be awful smart, or awful dumb.”
“Yeah? Well, I know a feller that sure fits that description,” Cooley said. “If he finds out about this train carryin’ all that money, why, he’ll rob it in a heartbeat.”
“You’re talkin’ about Frank Dodd, aren’t you?”
“Maybe I am, and maybe I ain’t,” Cooley said. “To my way of thinkin', it ain’t none too smart to be throwin’ that fella’s name around.”
“No, I ain’t goin’ to be throwin’ it around neither.”
“Tell me, Owen, what would you do if you had that much money?” Cooley asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe buy some new equipment for my diggings,” Owen said.
Cooley laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“Hell, if you had that much money, why would you spend any more time trying to scratch a living out of a mine that ain’t hardly payin’ noth-in’ at all?”
“Yeah,” Owen said. “Yeah, you’re right. I’d probably go back East somewhere, maybe get me a haircut and a beard trim, some new clothes, and then eat me a lobster.”
“A lobster?”
“Yeah, I’ve always wanted to eat me a lobster.”
The other two men at the table laughed.
* * *
“Did you hear that?” Smoke asked Bobby Lee. Smoke’s question was asked quietly, so that only Bobby Lee heard.
“Yes, I heard it. Something about a train carrying one hundred thousand dollars.”
“We need to have a look at that newspaper,” Smoke suggested.
“I saw someone bring a pile of them in a while ago. He left them on the end of the bar. I’ll go get us one,” Bobby Lee said.
Bobby Lee walked up to the bar, picked up a paper, and dropped two pennies into ajar that was sitting beside the papers. Taking the paper back to the table, he and Smoke began looking through it.
“Here it is,” Smoke said. “It’s reprinted from the
“It’s just under a hundred and fifty miles,” Bobby Lee said.
“Do you know the route?”
“Not really, but back in our Reno office, we have a map of every railroad in Nevada. I just remember seeing it.”
Bobby Lee looked back at the paper, then noticed another article of interest.
“Smoke, look at this!” he said excitedly. “Here is a reprint of an article from the
