by Scott Connor
It didn’t take long for his steady consideration of the miners to center in on Nathan and Jeff.
Nathan shook his head, receiving a snort in response. In the three days since they’d last spoken to him, he and Jeff had made no headway in uncovering information about the missing men, nor were they any the wiser about who had attacked them.
With the work clearing the gully taking up most of their time, they had only the evenings in which to find out what they could, but they had been unable to put their few hours of free time to any use. The attitude they’d encountered had been the same as they’d received on their first night of investigating – the miners became suspicious when they mentioned the body they had found.
In the day time Tucker and Clay worked with surprising diligence, but they weren’t interested in working out what had happened to Baxter, so Nathan presumed they were carrying out their own plans to find the gold.
They hadn’t come across Peter’s body in the gully. Neither had they seen Daniel and Mike again.
That thought made Nathan look around for either twosome; none of them were visible despite the imminent paying, but he did notice that the miners were becoming more animated.
Everyone was craning their necks looking beyond the circle of tents, and when Nathan moved over to see what had interested them he saw the procession of men coming down from the outcrop.
Two men were up front leading a wagon on which men sat at each of the corners. Two more men rode along behind.
Several riders were further away taking in all the possible places from where an attack might come. These men were the first men he’d seen packing guns since the night at the outcrop, but presumably Lawton allowed Sherman’s trusted workers to do so.
With much bustle they drew up between two tents at which stage two men transferred a crate on the back of the wagon to the ground. They formed a cordon around it with only a gap on the side facing the table through which Sherman entered and then emerged a few moments later with a folded bundle.
When he’d positioned himself behind the main table the payment procedure got underway. With Nathan and Jeff being at the back both men looked around, wondering from which direction trouble might emerge, but as they slowly shuffled forward, Nathan couldn’t see any hints of anything happening.
‘It’s hard to see why anyone would try anything with this much firepower and this many men guarding the money,’ Jeff said, matching Nathan’s thoughts.
Nathan nodded. Then they reverted to silence as they made their slow way onwards. Closer to Nathan noted the careful scrutiny everyone was getting.
Every miner was quizzed about his identity, the questions usually being greeted with surly and short answers. The slow progress led to more men moving over to deal with the questioning, but the interrogations continued in an exhaustive manner.
After payment, the miner got a dab of paint on his hand. Each man wasted no time in shaking the hand and trying to wipe it away, but enough color remained to ensure anyone attempting to get paid more than once would be spotted.
This process continued until Jeff and Nathan filed up to the table.
‘Name?’ Sherman asked.
‘It’s Nathan Palmer.’
Sherman looked him up and down, his skeptical gaze taking in his features as if he’d never seen him before, even though he’d been berating him for his tardiness only an hour earlier at the gully.
‘It would appear you are. Sign here or put a cross.’
Nathan signed his name, after which he had a daub of the thick green paint slapped on the back of his hand.
‘Are you always this careful?’ he asked.
Sherman stopped counting out the money to lean back in his chair and peer up at him.
‘Now why would that interest you?’
‘No reason other than nobody seems happy with these arrangements.’
Sherman considered him and then apparently dismissed his concerns with a shake of the head and resumed counting out his money.
‘I paid Baxter Meredith last week, except he was dead, and I paid Peter Parsons too even though nobody remembers seeing him recently. This week I’m making sure that everybody is who they say they are.’
Sherman held out the money and favored him with a long look before he moved on to the next man and repeated the procedure.
Nathan walked down the line slowly, waiting for Jeff to catch up with him. As he looked along the line of miners, who were all craning their necks as they monitored progress, he noted two men at the back who weren’t acting in such an animated manner.
Nathan smiled and hurried on to join them.
‘I haven’t seen you two since you helped us,’ he said.
Mike broke off from his conversation with Daniel to face him.
‘We’ve been working long hours,’ he said.
‘Then I assume you haven’t found out anything about Baxter or Peter?’
‘Nope, but then again we haven’t been looking.’ Mike shrugged. ‘We only talked with them on the way from Ash Creek, so we didn’t know them well.’
‘It seems as if you were the only people who knew them at all.’
‘Perhaps, but why are you so interested in people you’ve never even met?’
Nathan smiled. ‘It’s more interesting than blowing up rocks.’
The two men accepted that explanation with snorts of laughter. Then they looked past Nathan to nod to Jeff as he approached.
‘They seem to be checking everyone,’ Daniel said.
‘Yeah,’ Jeff said raising his green hand. ‘They’re being thorough.’
Jeff went on to explain the procedure. The two men listened intently and then looked at each other, suggesting they wanted to discuss something. After an awkward silence had dragged on for several seconds, Daniel spoke up.
‘When we’ve been paid perhaps we’ll see you in the saloon,’ he said.
‘I reckon that’s a fine idea.’
Nathan relaxed as the suggestion captured his imagination. They had been suspicious and on edge ever since they’d arrived in Copper Town, so relaxing for once sounded a good idea. He looked beyond the line of men to see that Marshal Lawton was advancing on them.
Daniel and Mike saw him coming. They drew down their hats and shuffled forward in the line.
Gathering that they weren’t eager to meet the lawman, Nathan and Jeff peeled away from the queue to join him.
‘I reckon it’s too late for a raid,’ Nathan said.
‘It is,’ Lawton said, noting the short line of miners who had yet to be paid. ‘So now I’m more interested to see what Sherman’s arrangements throw up.’
Nathan took a deep breath. ‘We’ve not found out anything about Peter and Baxter.’
‘I’d guessed you hadn’t.’ Lawton considered them. ‘But if this payment goes through without a hitch, it’ll take some of the tension away. A lot of new workers arrived recently and Sherman is suspicious of them all.’
‘Not everyone who arrives looking for work is up to no good.’
Nathan glanced at Mike and Daniel, who were now approaching the tables. Lawton followed his gaze and provided a rueful snort.
‘Perhaps not. People have many reasons for avoiding a lawman.’ He sighed. ‘But you have nothing to fear from me.’
Nathan noted Lawton’s smile and his less belligerent posture than the last time they’d spoken.
‘Does that mean you now accept that we’re not up to no good?’
‘I wouldn’t go that far. I’ll check out names once Sherman has a proven list, but if you haven’t been lying, I don’t reckon I’ll be worrying about you again. I’d still be obliged if you’d tell me about anything you learn, but I won’t hold the threat over you.’
Jeff and Nathan glanced at each other and smiled.
‘And Patrick?’
‘That’s not up to me. He didn’t do anything wrong other than to go into a restricted area. So it’s up to Sherman whether he wants to keep him locked up.’ Lawton looke
d down the short row, counting the number of men left to get paid. ‘Once I’ve collected the wages for the men in my care, I’ll ask Sherman what he wants to do about him.’
‘Obliged.’
They stood in companionable silence as the queue dwindled. Nathan watched the payers gather and consult the list of names. They looked up at the men left to be paid and one man raised seven fingers.
‘Five men are in my cells including Patrick,’ Lawton said. ‘So that means two more men are missing.’
As he moved to the tables, Nathan cast his mind back to the people he’d seen file up and he reckoned he knew who the two men who hadn’t been paid were.
‘Wait!’ he called.
Lawton turned to him with his eyebrows raised, but as Nathan started to speak the reverberating boom of an explosion tore out. It was distant and although sounds of this nature were common, everyone in the queue flinched and looked around while Sherman and the rest behind the tables formed a defensive huddle.
Slowly everyone’s gazes turned away from the mine and to the town, where a spreading cloud of smoke was rising.
‘It’s from the edge of town,’ Lawton said. Then he winced, a hand rising to slap his forehead in shock. ‘It’s my law office. Someone’s tried to blow up my law office.’
Lawton broke into a run heading to his horse. At his heels were Jeff and Nathan. As they ran Nathan glanced at Jeff to tell him what he’d considered, but Jeff had already worked it out.
‘It’s Tucker and Clay,’ he said. ‘They’ve used the dynamite to break Patrick out of jail.’
Chapter Ten
On foot Nathan and Jeff reached town several minutes after Marshal Lawton.
When the main drag came into view they saw that Lawton had been right. A spreading plume of smoke surrounded the law office.
Several men were staggering away from the building with their hands to their heads while coughing. From within the circle of thick smoke, raised voices sounded.
Lawton’s voice clearly gave an order and in confirmation of Nathan’s and Jeff’s assumption Clay shouted out a rough retort. The law office was still two hundred yards away when the wagon they’d used earlier in the week to transport water emerged from the smoke.
Riding up front was Tucker while Clay was in the back with Patrick. As Lawton ran out of the smoke in pursuit, Clay pushed Patrick to the base of the wagon and out of their view.
‘Stop!’ Lawton shouted, breaking into a run, but with a shake of the reins Tucker hurried the wagon on.
Only a few other miners had followed them into town and they’d spread out to eye the aftermath of the explosion, leaving Nathan and Jeff as the only men standing before the speeding wagon.
With a glance at each other, both men agreed they’d try to stop it. They spread out.
Behind the wagon Lawton gave up on the chase and slowed to a halt and then kicked at the dirt. So with this being their only chance of stopping Patrick’s kidnap, they both waited in a position where they were as close to the path of the wagon as they dared.
Tucker glared down at them as he rode closer, but he still steered the wagon on a straight course between them.
The moment the horses had thundered by, Nathan leapt forward. He slapped a hand on the speeding wagon and ran along beside it, managing to match its speed for several paces before he leapt up.
He looped an ankle on the sideboard and hung on with one arm and one leg dangling. Slowly he righted himself and then dragged himself up.
When he managed to rest his chest on the sideboard he saw that Jeff had used the same maneuver, but Clay was trying to push him away.
Unable to fight him off Jeff was struggling to keep hold, but that at least gave Nathan the freedom to clamber up. He swung his other leg up and caught the sideboard with his ankle and then rolled onwards to land on the base.
He landed heavily gathering Clay’s attention, who with a grunt of anger thumped his fist down on Jeff’s hand making it fall away. As a clatter sounded below as Jeff fell to the ground, he turned to him, but he was wringing his hand.
Nathan advanced on him and gave him a firm shove that rocked him back to the side of the wagon where he waved his arms as he struggled for balance. He righted himself with a hand on the back of the driver’s seat and then swung round to face him.
The barrels were at Nathan’s back ensuring he couldn’t be pushed over the back; Patrick sat propped up in the corner. The old-timer looked up at him with unfocused eyes that didn’t appear to register that he recognized him.
Nathan put him from his mind and concentrated on Clay. He spread his arms and crouched while planting his feet firmly to the base of the wagon.
Clay noted his confident stance and muttered something to Tucker in the front. Tucker looked back to see the situation wasn’t under control and then with an angry grunt to himself, he veered the wagon around the last buildings and down to the railtracks.
The sudden movement made Nathan sway to the side, but Clay had anticipated the change of direction and he wasted no time in throwing himself forward. Nathan’s back slammed into a barrel, but Clay continued to drive on making him flex backwards over the barrel rim.
His back protested and so he extricated himself by twisting to the side. That maneuver only let Clay get a firmer grip of his shoulders and push him down towards the barrel.
Clay slammed his head down, and then again. Both times Nathan managed to get his arms up before his head and cushion the blow.
Judging that one of the shoves was sure to work before long, he reached back to grab him. Unfortunately, that gave Clay an opening and he slapped his forehead down with a jarring thud.
Momentarily stunned Nathan could do nothing to defend himself as Clay bundled him along beside the barrels. The hard ground beckoned below and a simple shove would send him over the edge.
In desperation Nathan lunged. His right arm flailed through the air, but his left hand clamped on the rim of the endmost barrel, so when Clay shoved him he managed to hang on and swing himself around the barrel.
He still careened towards the back of the wagon, but after two out of control paces he halted his motion with a firm grip of the final barrel. He fetched up standing against the tailboard and looking over the tops of the barrels at Clay, who glared at him with surly confidence.
Then, with a roar, Clay kicked out, planting the sole of his boot against the nearest barrel. It was empty and toppled easily into the barrel behind it, which slammed into Nathan.
He jerked aside to put himself behind the second row of barrels, but Clay was already kicking that row while the first row had slammed against the tailboard and tipped it down. The barrels went rolling over the edge to spill down on the ground and when the second row hit Nathan in the chest, he doubted he could do anything to stop himself joining them.
He landed on his side on the now horizontal tailboard and moved to grab the edge, but hadn’t quite reached it when a barrel came toppling down on him. In a cascade of rolling barrels he tumbled to the ground where he too went spinning end over end until he fetched up flat on his chest.
Gingerly he tried to rise. Then he wished he hadn’t moved when the last barrel bounced on to his back and pressed his face down into the dirt. He gave up all thoughts of pursuit and lay still until Jeff joined him.
‘Are you fine?’ he asked.
‘I will be,’ Nathan said.
He let his friend help him up to a sitting position. Then both men rubbed their arms and legs locating bruises and wincing while they watched the wagon trundle over the railtracks.
When it’d disappeared from view they got to their feet and turned back towards town.
They hobbled along, taking considerably longer to cover the few hundred yards to the buildings than they had taken to leave them. Nathan expected that Marshal Lawton would pursue the wagon on horseback, but when they reached the main drag instead he had rounded up the other prisoners and was directing them back to the jailhouse.
With the
smoke having cleared, Nathan could see the large hole in the side wall that had clearly been made with dynamite purloined from the excavations in the gully. Through the hole the cells were visible, but they were intact, suggesting Lawton would still be able to function.
More miners had wandered away from the mine to join those watching the situation, although as they’d been paid and the work shift for many was over, there was a significant drifting towards the saloons.
When Lawton saw Nathan and Jeff he pushed the last man through the door, shouted a stern warning inside, and then turned to await their arrival.
‘He doesn’t look happy,’ Jeff said.
‘I can’t blame him,’ Nathan said. ‘He’s got a big hole in his jailhouse and a prisoner is free.’
‘You might not blame him, but I reckon he might blame us.’
Nathan was about to disagree, but then he got close enough to see Lawton’s blazing eyes.
‘You’ve lost me a prisoner,’ Lawton shouted.
Nathan spread his hands as they came to a halt before him.
‘We tried our best.’ He batted the dust from his clothes. ‘But they beat us off.’
‘I didn’t mean that little disagreement you had back there. I mean that this sheds a whole new light on your activities. The two men you were working with just happened to break Patrick out of jail while your aimless chatter was distracting me.’
‘We didn’t know they were planning that, and besides I don’t reckon they’ve exactly broken him out of jail for his own good.’
‘Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps it’s all about a squabble between raiders, but I’m going to make my life easier by stopping your two’s plans.’ He glanced at the ruined jailhouse and offered a harsh smile. ‘You can take Patrick’s place.’
‘We haven’t done nothing wrong.’ Nathan watched Lawton point firmly at the jailhouse, but neither he nor Jeff moved. ‘There must be something we can say to convince you we’re innocent.’
‘Nothing you can say will keep you out of a cell.’