“I’m sure that it was a good thing when they were building the transcontinental railroad,” she concluded. “But Bailey McPherson has used it to steal land. Now we know that she had no intention of ever building a railroad in the first place, but it’s too late to do anything about it.”
“Why don’t you go to Addison Ford and tell him what has happened?” Libby asked.
“Ha! A lot of good that would do,” Pamela said. “Ford is in it up to his bottom lip.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.”
“Yes, but now that there isn’t going to be a railroad, won’t the land be returned to the original owners?” Lulu asked.
Pamela shook her head. “I doubt it,” she said. “It would take an act of Congress for the government to admit it made a mistake. At least we’ve got the water back now, thanks to Hawke and a few of our cowboys. And without the excuse of the railroad, I don’t see how they can possibly rebuild the dam. So our cattle won’t die of thirst, but they will have a lot less range to roam around in.”
“Well, that’s something, at least,” Jay said, and paused as the waiter came in, carrying a tray with several small bowls.
“Ahh,” Jay said. “Dessert.”
“Desert?” Pamela said. “Oh, I’m so full, I don’t think I could eat another thing.”
“Oh, but you have to try their bread pudding,” Lulu said. “It is simply wonderful.”
“It does look good,” Pamela admitted as she examined the bowl put before her.
Abruptly, Libby stood. “Would you people excuse me? I just realized, there are some things I need to do before we leave.”
“Are you sure, my dear? Before dessert?” Jay asked.
“Yes, this is something that has to be done. Please excuse me.”
“Of course,” Jay said.
“Libby, I’ll bring your pudding to your room,” Lulu offered.
“Thanks,” Libby called back as she left the dining room.
“Hmm,” Jay said when she was gone. “That was strange. I wonder what she had to do that was so important?”
“Really, Pamela, your mother would be rolling over in her grave if she knew that you had lunch with doxies,” Dorchester said.
“They aren’t doxies, Father,” Pamela insisted.
“Oh? Then, pray tell, what are they?”
“They are whores.”
Dorchester laughed out loud. “Whores, you say? Well, is there any difference?”
“They seem to think so, don’t they, Hawke?”
Hawke, who was in the parlor with them, laughed and held up his hands. “Wait a minute, you aren’t going to get me into this.”
“What do you mean, don’t get you into this? You are the one who introduced me to them in the first place.”
Dorchester laughed again. “I do believe she has you there, Hawke.”
Wilson stuck his head in the room then and discreetly cleared his throat.
“Yes, Mr. Wilson.”
“This telegram has just been delivered to you, sir,” he said, holding out a piece of paper.
“My word, a telegram for me?”
“What is it, Father? Not bad news I hope,” Pamela said anxiously.
“Did you give the delivery boy a gratuity?” Dorchester asked as he opened the envelope.
“I did, sir.”
“Good, good.”
Pamela and Hawke studied Dorchester’s face as he read the telegram, trying to discern its contents.
“Good Lord, can this be true?”
“What is it, Father?” Pamela asked again.
Dorchester began to read aloud. “‘Effective this day all land unjustly seized by the government is hereby returned to the original owner stop. U. S. Marshals are being sent to Green River to place under arrest the perpetrators of this fraud stop. Signed Congressman Thomas Ashby of North Carolina stop.’”
“Oh, Father, that is wonderful!” Pamela said.
“Yes,” Dorchester said. “It is, isn’t it?” He looked at the telegram. “But to think our salvation would come from a congressman from North Carolina. How very odd.”
At about the time Dorchester was reading the telegram, Rob Dealey was stepping into the Royal Flush saloon. The livelihood of every patron in the saloon depended upon ranching in one way or the other, and though they did not yet know that the land was being returned, they did know about the water. And the return of a steady supply of water was very important to them. Because of that, Rob was greeted with a cheer.
“Jake,” one of the men said. “Rob’s first drink is on me.”
“No, sir,” Jake said. “His first drink is on the house. The second drink is on you.”
“And the third is on me,” another patron said.
“Hey, Rob, tell us all about it.”
“Tell you about what?”
“How you and some of the other fellas rode out to the dam and just…
“Well, Hawke is the one that took us out there,” Rob said.
“Hawke?”
“Yeah, he’s the foreman now.”
“I thought you was the foreman.”
“I was, but I’m not ’ny more,” Rob said sheepishly. “I’m just lucky that Mr. Dorchester took me back at all. I mean, bein’ as I took off on him to look for gold.”
“The gold that wasn’t there,” someone said, laughing.
“Yeah, well, it ain’t that funny when you spend more’n a month lookin’ for somethin’ that wasn’t never there in the first place,” Rob said.
“So, you was tellin’ us about blowing up the dam,” someone said.
“Yes, tell us how you blew up the dam.”
Rob turned with a big smile on his face, but the smile evaporated when he saw who had asked. Ethan Dancer was standing by the front door, having just come in.
“It, uh…was nothing,” Rob said. He turned back to the bar.
“Oh, I don’t think it was nothing,” Dancer said, taunting him. “I’ve been hearing all over town about how a bunch of…brave men…blew up Miss McPherson’s dam and got the water back. You were one of those brave men, weren’t you?”
“I, uh…was one of the men who did it,” Rob said. He was very nervous now; he didn’t like the way this was going. “I wouldn’t say that it was all that brave.”
“You do know, don’t you, that I work for Miss McPherson?”
“I, uh, heard that, yes,” Rob said.
“So, you can understand why I’m not taking it all that kindly that a brave man like you would blow up her dam.”
“I told you, I’m not a brave man,” Rob said, swallowing his humiliation in order not to push the situation any further.
“Oh, but surely you are a brave man,” Dancer said. “You are either brave, or you are a coward. Which is it?”
By now everyone in the saloon realized what was going on, and they began drifting away from Rob, even those who a moment earlier had wanted to stand next to him and buy him drinks.
Rob looked into the mirror behind the bar and saw the people drifting to the left and the right, like the parting of the sea. His hand shaking in fear now, he lifted the glass to his lips and took a drink.
