that had been abandoned. Briggs ran a good eating house. Nothing fancy, but simple food, mighty well-cooked. Aside from beef and beans, he served up bear meat, venison, and elk.
We saw nothing of the Bigelows, but we heard aplenty. Tom and Ira were the two we heard most about. They were suspected of holding up a stage near Silverton. Tom had killed a man in Denver City, and had been in a shooting in Leadville. Ira was a gambler, dividing his time between Silverton and some other boom camps.
They had made their brags about me. They would take care of me when they found time. I'd as soon they never found it.
Twice I made trips into the mountains and came back down with gold . . . two muleloads the last time.
Esteban Mendoza and Tina came over and built a cabin in town, near the foot of the mountain, and Esteban had two freight wagons working along the Silverton road.
Ange Kerry moved away from our camp and got a little place in town where she lived, and she worked with Joe Rugger in the store, which combined with the post office and Wells Fargo express. She had never been the same toward me since I killed Kitch and his partner.
She was prettier than ever, and mighty popular around town. Nearly everybody sort of protected her. Joe Rugger brought his wife out and they built a home on the back end of the store.
Cap took a long time mending, and he hadn't much energy when he was able to walk, so it was up to me to do what was done.
Of an evening I read what newspapers I could find, and kept hammering away at Blackstone.
Time to time somebody would drift into camp, stay a while, and drift out again, leaving books behind. I read whatever there was. But mostly I worked.
I built us a three-room log house high on the bench, with my old trail up the mountain right behind it, and the spring close by. I built a strong stable and corral against the coming winter, and I oat(?) a few tons of hay in the meadow.
There was snow on some of the peaks now where I hadn't seen it before. A time or two, early in the morning, there was frost in the bottom, and once ice slicked over a bucket of left-out water.
The old barricades I let lie, and I kept the brush trimmed off the mesa. Grass was growing high out there, and there was good grazing for our stock.
When I went to town now there were few whom I knew. Joe Rugger was acting mayor, Allison and Briggs were loyal men. Murchison had come back and started a small gambling house. There were about two hundred people in town, and she was running like a top.
The aspen began to turn yellow . . . seemed like I'd been here years, though it was only a few months.
There was little trouble. Two men killed each Other over a poker game in Murchison's joint, and there was a cutting down on the creek, some private affair over a woman.
One night Cap came in and sat down. 'You stay at the books,' he said, 'and you'll ruin your eyes.'
'I've got to learn, Cap.'
'You take after those brothers of yours. As soon as they learned to read there was no holding them.'
'They've done well.'
'Yes, they have. Married, too.'
I didn't answer right away, but finally I said, 'Well, it takes two.'
'You seen Ange lately?'
'You know I haven't.'
'That's a mighty fine girl. She won't be around always. I hear that Ira Bigelow is paying her mind.'
'Bigelow? Is he in town?'
'Rode in a few days ago while you were in the mountains. Only stayed a few hours, but he managed to meet Ange, and he talked it up to her. He's a handsome man.'
Didn't cut much ice, reading about ethics and all. Inside, I could feel myself getting mean. The thought of any of those Bigelows around Ange . . . well, sir, a thing like that could make me mean as an old bear.
Of an evening I would walk outside and look toward the town lights, but I didn't often go down to the street. And it was time for me to make my last trip of the season into the high peaks. I wanted one more load out of there before snow fell. Not that there hadn't been snow up that high, but I had a hunch there was time for one trip. With the new route in, and no need to go by way of the chute, I might make it in and back.
'Going up the mine tomorrow,' I told Cap. I stood there a moment. 'You know, Ange should come in for a share of that. Her grandpa was hunting it when he died up there ... he had him a map, and one of those dead Spanish men must have been a relative of his ... or one of the live ones.'
'I was thinking that. Wondered if you'd get around to it.'
Picking up my hat, I said, 'I think I'll go talk to her.'
'You do that,' Cap said. 'You surely do it'
Anyway, it was time I bought me an outfit--new clothes, and the like. I had money now.
Turning to leave, I stopped. Esteban Mendoza was in the doorway. 'Senor Tell? I must speak with you.'
He came on into the room. 'I was working at my freight wagons fixing some harness, and it became very dark while I sat there, and when I am through I put out the lantern and then sit for a while, enjoying the coolness.
'Beyond the wagon are several men, and they are talking. They do not know I am there, and so I keep very still, for one of them speaks of you. He says you have gold that is not placer gold, but from quartz, from a lode.
