MacCallister Kingdom Come (16 page)

“Damn.” Elmer hung his head. “I shoulda know'd better 'n to gamble with a Chinaman. I've been to China, I know how good they are.”

“I thought Wang
dinnae
know the game,” Duff said.

“It don't make no never mind that he don't know the game. He's a Chinaman.”

“How much did he win from you?”

“He won the whole hunnert 'n fifty dollars that was my share of the reward money we got back in Cheyenne.”

Duff chuckled. “Aren't ye glad then, that you own half the gold mine that's on Sky Meadow?”

“Yeah.” A broad and satisfied smile spread across Elmer's face. “Yeah, I reckon when you think about it like that, it don't really matter all that much that Wang won all my money.”

Duff was referring to an old abandoned mine in which Elmer had discovered a new vein. He had been working the mine before Duff bought the land, but had never filed a claim.

Duff recalled how he and his cousin, Falcon, had first encountered this man who was not only his foreman, but his best friend.

 

 

 

 

Duff shook his head to clear it. By rights, he knew the entire mine would have belonged to him, but he'd filed the claim in both his and Elmer's names. They kept the mine secret, accessing it only rarely when there was a need for funds. None of the cowboys on the ranch were even aware of it, and as far as they knew, Elmer was no more than a ranch foreman.

“What?” Duff had been lost in his memories and hadn't paid a bit of attention to Elmer.

“Yeah,” Elmer repeat. “Having part of that mine does make it easier for me to be a good loser.” He glanced toward Wang. He'd already put the money away and was preparing their lunch in the small kitchen that was part of the private railroad car.

Taylor could have eaten his breakfast in the hotel, but he chose to go to the saloon for bacon and biscuits. The real reason was because he wanted to see Peggy one more time. He went right up the stairs and knocked on the door to her room, taking a chance that she didn't have anyone with her.

To his surprise, she opened the door immediately. She was dressed, not in the provocative attire of her profession, but in the more modest clothes any woman might wear. On the bed behind her, he saw her luggage.

He frowned. “You are really leaving town?”

“Yes.”

“Well, before you go, can you at least come down and have breakfast with me?”

Peggy smiled. “I can do that.”

 

 

Half an hour later, Taylor pushed his empty plate away and lifted his cup of coffee. Peggy was still eating, and he studied her over the rim of his cup. “I wish I could talk you out of leaving. Especially out of going to that place.”

“And I wish I could talk you into coming with me. My friend, Sherazade, said that everyone who is there can make a lot of money, not just the working girls. Ernie, you could get a real good paying job. We would stay there no longer than a year, save our money, and we could go someplace where nobody would ever know I had been a soiled dove. We could buy a ranch and have a good life.”

“I think we could have a good life working for Mr. Hanson. And we could get married right now.”

Peggy shook her head. “No, Ernie. I'm sorry. I'm going to Shumla, and I wish you would come with me.”

Taylor stood up. “Good-bye, Peggy. I hope it all works out for you.” He turned and walked away.

He had been assured that the train bringing the rest of the cattle would arrive this morning, so he headed to the depot to meet it.

One of the most important events in any town in the West was the arrival of the train. Many people would come to watch the trains even if they had no personal stake in the arrival or departure. As the townspeople began to gather, the crowd would take on a carnival atmosphere, the environment often accented with salesmen, and sometimes, entertainment.

Outside the Eagle Pass depot, a fiddler was playing for the crowd, an upturned hat on the ground in front of him inviting people to express their gratitude for the music by making donations. The high, skirling sound of the fiddle could be heard all over the depot, even above the laughing and joking of those waiting for the train.

Taylor found a place away from the jostling crowd and leaned against the depot wall. He rolled a cigarette, lit it, and smoked quietly as he waited. He had asked Peggy to marry him last night, and she had turned him down. As he thought about it in the light of day, he realized it was probably a pretty good thing that she had turned him down. She was a soiled dove, after all. Someone was bound to make a comment about it, and he'd wind up killing him. Or getting killed.

Besides, he didn't even know her last name. For that matter, he wasn't even sure that her name really was Peggy.

He had left her on a sour note but had to admit that he was worried about her going to an outlaw town. He wasn't all that sure exactly what an outlaw town was, but it didn't seem like a place a normal person would want to be.

“Here comes the train!” someone shouted.

Immediately upon the heels of the shout came the sound of the train whistle, announcing its arrival.

“It's right on time,” another said.

It wasn't the train that Taylor was waiting for, but he wasn't surprised. He had worked as a brakeman for the railroad once, and he knew that “the varnish” as passenger trains were called, always had “the high iron.” That meant they always had the right of way, Freight trains would be pushed onto a side track to allow the passenger trains uninhibited passage.

The laughing and joking ceased as everyone grew quiet to await the train's arrival.

Taylor didn't join the crowd of people as they pushed closer to the track to stare in the direction from which the train would come. It could be heard quite clearly, not only the whistle but the hollow sounds of the puffing steam coming from the engine, then rolling back as an echo from the surrounding hillsides. As the train drew even closer, the crowd could see clouds of black smoke billowing from the diamond stack.

The train pounded into the station with sparks flying from the drive wheels and glowing hot embers dripping from its firebox. Following the engine and tender were the rapidly passing windows of the passenger cars. The train squealed to a halt. Inside, people who would be getting off there stood and moved down the aisles toward the exits at the end of the cars.

Several who weren't getting off the train remained in their seats, some reading a paper, some engaged in conversation, and many of them just looking out at the town they were passing through.

Taylor watched the arriving passengers, then he watched the departing passengers board the train. Not until the train had left the station, and the crowd dispersed, did he go speak with Sterling Bobe, the station master.

“What's the latest?” he asked. “Any news on the train I'm here to meet?”

“I just got a telegram from Spofford,” the dispatcher told him. “The stock was shunted aside while the varnish came through. The stock train left about ten minutes later. There's nothin' else in front of it, so I expect it'll be here in another ten or fifteen minutes.”

“Thanks, Sterling.” Taylor went back outside, and finding an empty baggage cart, sat on it as he waited.

A few minutes later, Sheriff Bowles, his family, and another lady came walking up.

As they approached, Taylor hopped down from the four-wheeled baggage cart. “Hello, Sheriff.”

“Hello, Taylor. Hanson send you in to meet the train?”

“Yes, sir. Sterling said the train would be here in another few minutes.”

“Yes, he called my office to tell me.”

“You brung your whole family to meet the train?”

Jason nodded then turned to Megan. “This is my wife's sister, and we have a friend on the train.”

“You don't say.”

“What about Hanson? Does he know the train is arriving this morning?”

“Mr. Hanson don't have no telyphone out at the ranch, so I sent someone to tell him the train would be here this mornin'. I expect he'll be along soon with enough hands to take the cows on out to the ranch.”

Even though the special car Elmer, Duff, and Wang were riding in had four beds, privacy provided by curtains, as well as a small kitchen, dining, and seating area, it hadn't all been plush and comfort during the journey. It had been necessary that they stop several times during the trip in order to make certain that the cattle were well watered and fed.

“I reckon this must be Eagle Pass,” Elmer said as the train began slowing. “You think we'll be takin' the beeves right out to Mr. Hanson's ranch or will we be puttin' 'em in a holdin' pen?”

“I expect that Cal will meet us or make arrangements for us to be met,” Duff replied.

Even as the train was coming into the station, it was shunted onto a side track to keep it out of the way from regularly scheduled trains passing through.

Elmer looked out the window. “The whole Bowles family is here and I see Megan, but I don't see Mr. Hanson.”

“I expect he'll be along shortly,” Duff said.