The Jewel of His Heart (13 page)

“Exactly my point,” Juliana said. “If it hadn’t been for my mother’s teaching me after we left Kansas, I wouldn’t have a job right now, that’s for sure. Then where would I be?”

“You would live as you are now, with us, then find a good husband who would take care of you,” Marion answered.

“Marion, times are changing. Some women don’t want to just automatically get married. Some are actually becoming doctors these days. That sounds exciting to me.”

“Don’t you want to get married and have a family?” Marion’s voice conveyed complete shock.

“Someday, yes. But I’m not in any hurry. I’m enjoying writing articles for the newspaper. I don’t want to repeat the same course my mother did, following my father’s dreams only to be abandoned.” Juliana didn’t mean to sound bitter, but she believed her mother felt she’d had no choice, traipsing from town to town with her husband’s great schemes to get rich.

“She did what she thought was best, Juliana. Could be that it turned out best for you.”

“I don’t see how that’s possible, since my father left to go look for gold. He didn’t care what happened or how we got by. A few times he sent money, but later, even that stopped. How can someone not want to see his wife and daughter? I just don’t understand it at all.” She shook her head in agitation, fighting back angry tears.

“But your mother took great care of you and educated you. She never left you. Yes, you didn’t live the best kind of life, but you had a godly mother who was positive about life and you. I admire her for that. It couldn’t have been easy for her.”

Marion’s reminder made Juliana feel very selfish. “You’re right, of course. She taught me to believe the best in people and always give a lending hand. I guess since she died, I’ve gotten a little cynical, haven’t I?”

“It’s okay to question everything. It means you’re seeking what’s best in life for you. God has a plan for each of us. Trouble is, most of us don’t ask and don’t want to listen.”

“You really believe that?” Juliana sighed. Maybe Marion was right.

“Yes, I really do.” Marion paused in front of Helen’s gate before opening it, then turned to Juliana. “If He cares about the lilies of the field, how much more does He care for you?” Without waiting for a reply, she swung open the gate for Juliana to pass through, then slipped the wrought-iron latch into place.

Juliana tucked the remark away for the time being. She didn’t really understand it anyway.

15

The musky smell of sheep dung and the bleating of lambs woke Josh out of his deep sleep. The sun warmed his unshaven face through the crack of rough boards on the sheepherder’s wagon. He smiled wistfully. He’d had a strange dream. In it, Juliana was reaching out to him, beckoning him to come closer. Her face was etched with concern, and her blue eyes exposed deep emotion and tears, but as he reached for her, she receded into the background of his foggy dream. He wanted to take away whatever was upsetting her. Was she in trouble? He hoped not.

He rolled over to the edge of the bed that was built across the wagon’s back and sat up, rubbing his sleepy eyes.
May as well get
started
, he thought, reaching down to pull on his boots. Shebe shifted, yawned, and stretched when Josh reached down to scratch her behind the ears. When she wasn’t herding, she hardly ever left his side. “Morning, girl,” he said. The soft brown eyes seemed to smile back at him, and she gave a small yap, then tore for the outdoors when Josh pulled back the door.

The first chance he got, he planned to seek out Jake Hoover about the sapphires he’d found a couple of weeks ago. Maybe they could see about working something out with mining the stones. When Charlie told him that Hoover and his partners had already washed the same sapphires out of the lower part of Yogo Creek last season, he’d wanted to know more about the stones. He figured there were more sapphires to be found.

“You up, Boss?” Andy stuck his head into the opening of the wagon, holding a steaming cup of coffee.

“If you want to call it that. Why did you let me sleep so late?” Josh asked, taking the proffered cup from the young man.

“It’s not late. The sun just came up over those hills.”

“Every time I sleep too long, I wind up having a bad dream.” He blew on the hot coffee.

“Want to talk about it?”

“No, it was just unsettling.”

“Okay, whatever you say, Boss. Hungry?”

Josh’s stomach growled. “Yeah. Have any of those sausages left over? We could just stick them between a biscuit for now to have something quick.”

“I’ve already thought of that.” Andy stepped back down into the clearing. “They’re in the skillet now just waiting for me to warm ’em up a little on the stove. I was waiting for you to stir. Tonight I’ll fix us a right nice supper.”

“Sounds good to me.” Josh hauled his stocky frame down out of the wagon and donned his jacket against the morning chill. “Would you like to ride with me over to Hoover’s place I was telling you about? It’s about three miles. We won’t be gone long, and the sheep seem pretty content today. I want to talk to him about the sapphires I found.”

“A short break might be nice, if you think the lambs will be okay.” He motioned toward the herd.

“Sure, for a short time. It’s your call.”

“Okay then. I’ll just stick these on the stove to heat. It won’t take but a minute, unless you want yours cold?”

“No, I don’t. I’m not in that big of a hurry.” Josh grinned at the young sheepherder, who scampered up the steps to the stove behind the Dutch doors. Andy was a real treasure, almost like Josh’s own son. Like a gift from God. They enjoyed each other’s company, and Josh reveled in the knowledge that sometimes they could go for hours without speaking and still know what was on the other’s mind. The age difference didn’t seem to matter to either of them.

Pig Eye Basin was on the Judith River, south of Utica and just west of Lewistown, not far from Josh’s property. The warm spring sun had melted some of the snow along the eastern slope of the basin, and Josh could hear the gurgle of rushing creek water below from the melting snow. He enjoyed springtime in the mountains and watching the fledging meadowlarks. Tender green leaves of the cottonwood trees gave the impression they had unfurled from their deep winter’s sleep. Josh looked at the towering ponderosa pine clustered near the grassy bench lands. The air was fresh and invigorating. It was a great day to be alive. Shebe was happy to be following along with him and Andy and would scamper off to investigate movement in the brush, then run back to catch up with them.

Josh and Andy followed the wagon road that led to Hoover’s small ranch and were greeted by the yapping of a couple of dogs. They rushed up to greet the strangers, barking loudly at Shebe until a man opened the door and called the dogs off. They backed away with wary eyes but obeyed their master.

“Can I help you gents?” the man said, stepping out to the front porch. He had curly brown hair, a long, thick moustache, and several months’ growth of beard, typical of a miner and trapper. He sported a flannel shirt and duck pants tucked into his boots.

“I’m Josh McBride, and this is Andy, my ranch hand.” Andy nodded a hello. “I run sheep in the bench lands about three miles from you.”

“I’ve heard of you, Josh. You filed a couple of claims after finding those Yogos, didn’t you? Pleased to meet you. I’m Jake Hoover. Step down off your horses. The dogs won’t hurt you.”

“Don’t mind if we do.” Josh slid off his horse’s back and lightly held the reins. Andy followed suit. “It was the Yogos I came to talk to you about. I met up with a friend of yours by the name of Charlie Russell, who was just passing through on his way to Great Falls, and he told me you were mining gold and knew about sapphires.”

The older man scratched his head and laughed. “You mean ‘the Kid’? He is forever drawing or painting. A better friend a man never had!”

“He said the same thing about you.”

Hoover motioned for them to come in. “I’ve got a pot of coffee on the stove. We can talk sitting down.”

They followed him inside the modestly furnished cabin. Josh noticed the usual tools of a prospector as well as a trapper scattered about the cabin. A low fire crackled in the grate. “Here, have a seat, and I’ll dig up some cups.” Hoover bustled around, whipped out three enamel cups, and plunked them down on the pine tabletop. Lifting the speckled enameled coffeepot with a folded dishrag, he poured the dark liquid into each of their cups.

“I first discovered gold at the lower part of Yogo Creek in ’94. I knew what I’d found was gonna be more than me just using picks and pans to discover the extent of it.” Hoover paused to take a swig of coffee.

“Do you have a partner?” Josh asked.

“Yes, I do. Hobson, a rancher and president of Fergus National Bank in Lewistown. My other partner is Bouvet, a veterinarian. Quite a combination, eh?”

“I’d have to say that’s an interesting partnership,” Josh said thoughtfully, and glanced over at Andy.
Bet Andy’s enjoying someone
else’s coffee for a change.

“They put up most of the capital for our promising mining venture, and we hired an engineer to dig a ten-mile ditch to divert water from the upper Yogo down to the lower end, knowing the strike was from a secondary deposit. It took us two months.”

“So you struck it rich?” Andy finally spoke, his eyes wide with interest.

“Nope. Nothing like that. We spent nearly $38,000, and the rest of our capital was spent on laborers I supervised all summer long to build sluices, but it was a bust. We spent more than we collected.” Hoover’s eyes squinted as though recalling a bad misfortune. “Anyway, I began looking in the sluice concentrates for blue pebbles I’d seen earlier. Apparently they were washed out of the lower Yogo Creek. The dike cuts through the creek and washed the sapphires downstream, concentrating them with what little gold we found.”

“So, how did you know they were valuable?” Josh asked, enjoying his second cup of coffee.

“When I first discovered the Yogos, I wasn’t sure what I had. It took me awhile to collect enough stones to fill a cigar box to send to Tiffany’s in New York. An assayer named Dr. George Kunz thought they were valuable enough to pay me quite well for them.”

“Sounds like you’ll need the right kind of equipment, not to mention financial backing.” Josh lifted his cup, swallowing the last sip. “And you make a good cup of coffee.”

“Glad you like it.” Hoover paused to drink the remainder of the coffee in his cup, then wiped his mustache on the back of his hand. He set his cup down, looking directly at Josh. “From what the engineer says, your claim is situated between our properties on the Judith River. He said that would interfere with our access, and if we bring water to the bench lands to the site for washing, that’s gonna interfere with disposal of the tailings. That’ll involve a whole new set of problems.”

Josh shifted in his chair. “What are you saying?”

“Are you interested in partnering?” Hoover refilled his own cup, then Andy’s. “Could be that we hit it big, you know. We could both be wealthy men.” Hoover smiled, his eyes flashing.

“I’ll have to think about that.” Josh was a cautious man. It sounded like a lot of work to him, and he wasn’t sure it was worth the risk. It’d take money to invest, and right now he hoped to sell his claims and finish building his house—for a wife he hoped for soon. He was tired of living outside or in the sheep wagon.

“You ought to have some of those stones cut and polished by an assayer. Then you can really see their value,” Hoover said.

“I intend to,” Josh said, rising from the kitchen table. “We’d better be getting back to the herd.” He motioned to Andy, who stood, pushing his chair back under the table.

“Nice meeting you, Hoover,” Josh said.

“Thanks for stopping by, and we’ll be talking further,” Hoover said, shaking hands with Josh and Andy. He followed them out the door. “Give it some thought and keep in touch.”

“I’ll do that. See you soon.”

Josh was pensive on the ride back to the camp, and Andy, who was used to Josh’s habits, stayed quiet. Josh wasn’t sure what to do. This mining venture could make him wealthy, a success in his father’s eyes. Is that what he really wanted? He could give Juliana everything she ever wanted to make her happy. That, he knew he wanted. Yet taking up mining meant losing Juliana—and he didn’t want to imagine life without her. Lots to think about.