“When did this message arrive?”
“I dinnae know, sir. Mr. McGinnis, he just gave it to me a few minutes ago. Is it bad news?”
“You mean you dinnae read it?”
“I dinnae read it, sir, for ’tis nae my job to read the messages what come in.”
Somerled returned to town with the young messenger, then went into the telegraph office.
“’Tis sorry I am for your loss, Sheriff,” McGinnis said. “Will ye be wantin’ to send a response?”
“Aye,” Somerled said and he quickly scrawled out a note.
It was the next day before Somerled got a reply.
KILLED BY MACCALLISTER STOP SEND MONEY STOP
Malcolm had been using the Commercial National Bank of New York as his address, and when he called a day later to inquire as to whether or not he had received a cablegram, a smiling teller presented him with it.
TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS IS NOW ON DEPOSIT AT COMMERCIAL NATIONAL BANK OF NEW YORK STOP YOUR TASK REMAINS THE SAME STOP INFORM ME SOONEST UPON CONCLUSION STOP SHERIFF ANGUS SOMERLED
Malcolm read the cablegram, then looked up at the teller. “Is this right? Has the money been put in my account?”
“Indeed, it has, sir. You now have quite a tidy sum of money.” The teller looked at a book and ran his fingers down the figures. “Yes, sir, you have one thousand two hundred and seventeen dollars and fifty-one cents.”
“Good. I want to withdraw.”
“Yes, sir,” the eager teller said. “How much money do you want to withdraw?”
“I want all of it,” Malcolm said.
The smile on the teller’s face was replaced by a look of confusion. “All of it, sir?”
“Aye, all of it.”
“But, sir, if you take all the money, it will close your account.”
“Aye, that’s what I want, a closed account.”
“Very good, sir,” the teller said. He filled out a form, then slid it across the counter to Malcolm.
“If you would sign this, sir?”
Malcolm signed the form, gave it back to the teller, and the teller counted out all the money as he passed it across to Malcolm.
“That is a great deal of money to be carrying on your person, sir,” the teller said. “Do be careful with it.”
“I intend to be,” Malcolm replied.
From the bank he took a hansom cab to Grand Central Station, where he bought tickets to Denver, Colorado.
“Ha,” he said to himself as he took a seat in the cavernous waiting room to wait for his train. “Duff MacCallister, you are going to be one surprised man when you see me.”
Chapter Ten
Three days earlier, Duff had left New York via the New York Central Railroad. The train traveled along the Hudson River for a while, then passed through Buffalo, Cleveland, and Toledo, and finally, Chicago. At Chicago, he changed from the New York Central to the Illinois Central, which took him south to St. Louis. There he boarded the Missouri Pacific Railroad to Kansas City, paralleling the Missouri River across the state. At Kansas City, he realized that his clothes seemed out of place with the type of clothes worn by most of the men here, so he visited a clothing store to update his wardrobe. Here, he bought three pair of blue denim trousers, a pair of boots, and three six- button shirts, one red, one white, and one blue.
The store had a hardware department including a gun store. Duff wandered through the gun store and though he initially was drawn by curiosity only, he saw a display of Enfield Mark 1 Revolvers.
British Enfield Revolver
Sidearm of British Officers
and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
You can own this fine weapon
for only $20.00
This was the pistol Duff had carried during his military campaign in Egypt. He was familiar with it, and particularly liked the potency of its bullets, which were slightly over .47 caliber. When he picked the piece up, its heft and balance felt familiar to him.
“You know anything about that gun, Mister?”
“Aye, I know a bit,” Duff replied.
“Here now, and are you English?”
“Scottish.”
“Well then, maybe you do know something about it. To tell the truth, we just got an order in. Most of the folks comin’ through here are buyin’ Colts, Remingtons, Smith and Wesson. Ain’t nobody bought one of these yet. Are you lookin’ to buy it?”
“I don’t know.”
“If you buy it, I’ll throw in a box of ammunition.”
“Make it three boxes, and I’ll also buy a belt and holster for it,” Duff said.
