Jo's Triumph
Page 7
I grinned despite the pain in my feet as they started to thaw. They hurt even more than when they were frozen, if such a thing were possible.
I told the men how James had planned to rob the mail. “James said he’d kill me if I got in the way.”
The stationmaster nodded. “You done the right thing, coming here,” he said.
The two men from the army pulled on their coats.
“We’ll head back toward Sulphur Springs, see if we can find James.”
“Wait,” I said, reaching for my boots. “I’m coming.”
“You ain’t going nowhere,” the stationmaster said.
Part of me wanted to say, “Fine — I’ll stay right here by the fire.” But another part of me, an angry part I never knew I had, was itching to see James hauled away to jail. I knew exactly where the drop-off was. I could show the soldiers. Maybe James had left the second mochila there. Maybe he was still waiting at the sulphur pools.
“Try to stop me,” I said, my hand moving over my pistol.
“Whoa now, boy!”
But we didn’t have a chance to finish the argument because, right then we heard scuffling outside and the door burst open sending a cloud of wet snowflakes scurrying across the floor.
A man’s bulky frame filled the doorway. Snow clung to his beard and he stamped the snow from his boots. It was James.
“I’m looking for a certain Joe Whyte — a lowdown thief I believe is headed this — ”
Then he saw me.
Without stopping to think I leapt to my feet and pulled out my pistol, aiming it at the point right between his eyes.
“That’s him!” I said. “That’s James!”
This was not the welcome James had expected. His wild blue eyes widened as he stared at me and my gun. Then he turned tail and ran out into the snow, the two militiamen and the stationmaster hot on his heels.
He didn’t get but three feet before they brought him to the ground, dragged him back inside and arrested him.
The men tied James hand and foot to a bunk. We took turns watching over him. When it was my turn, I kept my pistol close at hand. Every so often James scowled at me and spat on the floor.
He looked awful scrawny all tied up like that and I wasn’t afraid of him no more.
“So how come you were reporting your own robbery?” I asked when the others were outside tending the stock and splitting more firewood.
He glowered at me, but after a time he answered. “Figgered you tried to take my money. If I weren’t going to get it back, at least I could get a reward,” he said.
Reward? I hadn’t thought of a reward.
I don’t know what got into me then. I suppose I felt brave seeing as how I had my pistol and James was trussed up like a Christmas goose. But I asked him right out, “So, you gonna tell?”
He sneered at me and laughed a short, nasty bark of a laugh.
“What? And tell them a girl stopped me from getting what I wanted?” He shook his head. “I been in jail before and I’ve got out before. I’ll git out again. And when I do, Miss Joe, don’t you think I won’t be coming to find you.”
I swallowed hard but kept my chin up and met his gaze with my own. “You can look,” I said. “But you ain’t going to find me. And if you do, don’t think I wouldn’t use this.” I raised my pistol and he shifted uneasily.
I could have put a bullet between that snake’s eyes right then and there. But I didn’t. It wouldn’t have been right.
When the snow stopped, the militiamen rode up to Sulphur Springs where they found the mochila stuffed with paper. That, and my statement, was all the evidence they needed to take James to the jailhouse in Carson City. The next day I headed back up to Ruby Valley.
All the regulars were there but so was Bolivar Roberts. He slapped me on the back and said, “You’re one of the best, Joe. And, the Company looks after its best.”
“Thank you, sir. Mail first. Pony second. Rider last.”
He winked and said, “That may be so. But a pony can’t use a reward. I suspect you can.” I sure didn’t know what to say when Mr. Roberts gave me a cash reward for saving the mail. I don’t suppose it was even close to whatever was in the mailbags, but when I added the money to what I’d saved of my wages I had more than enough for my coach ticket to California. Not only that, I had enough to keep myself through the winter and buy a mule and enough equipment so I’d be able to head to the gold fields just as soon as the weather was warm enough in the spring.
I’d miss running the mail. But near as anybody could tell, they wouldn’t need riders much longer. The telegraph was coming along fast as anything. As soon as the lines from east and west joined up, there wouldn’t be any more call for a mail service like the Pony Express.
I didn’t know whether I was going to find my brothers, but as each day went by I cared a little less whether I ever saw them again. If we ever did meet up, my, wouldn’t I just give those boys a piece of my mind! And if not, well, it seemed to me there was enough gold out that way for anyone who dared to look and who wasn’t afraid of a little hard work. Maybe Sarah would make another trip to California and we could be friends again.
I ran my fingers along the outside of my leather holster. Panning for gold couldn’t be more dangerous than riding back and forth through Utah Ter ritory, could it?
I, for one, couldn’t wait to find out.
Author’s Note
Jo’s Triumph was inspired by the stories of several remarkable women of the west: Charlotte Parkhurst, who cut off her hair, dressed as a boy, and became known as one of the finest stagecoach drivers of the 1850’s and 60’s; Sarah Winnemucca, an advocate and spokeswoman for the Paiute Indians who lived for a time at Ormsby House and witnessed the incident with the Washo Indians; and Sarah Emma Edmonds, who disguised herself as a man and joined the Union Army as Franklin Thompson.
The Pony Express operated between April, 1860, and November, 1861. A section of the trail not far from Carson City was closed temporarily when hostilities between the Paiutes and the settlers were at their worst. Though the general context of Jo’s Triumph is rooted in fact, I have taken liberties with specific dates and locations, invented a couple of Pony Express stations, and pressed others into service slightly ahead of time in order to accommodate Jo’s fictional adventure. Where historical sources differed, I chose to use those accounts which best suited the requirements of this novel.
Though numerous orphanages were in existence at the time, the Carson City Home for Unfortunate Girls and all its inhabitants are figments of my imagination.
Major Ormsby, the Williams brothers, Chief Numaga, Uncle Billy, Bolivar Roberts, and several others mentioned in the text are all historical figures who might well have met Joselyn Whyte had she been alive at the time this story takes place.
If you are interested in reading more about this time in history, the following titles provide information about the Pony Express, the Pyramid Lake War, and the life of Sarah Winnemucca:
Life Among the Piutes (sic): Their Wrongs and Claims
Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins
Chalfont Press, 1969
The Pony Express
Peter Anderson
The Children’s Press (Grolier), 1996
The Pony Express in Nevada
Dorothy Mason for the Nevada Bureau of Land Management
Nevada State Museum, 1996
Sand in A Whirlwind: The Paiute Indian War of 1860
Ferol Egan
Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1972
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