by Tim Champlin
“Once you get things settled at home, will you be back?” she asked, not looking at him.
“Yes, and it won’t be just for the milder climate.”
“If you come through on the train, I could be serving your dinner in the Albuquerque depot.”
“We met over dinner in a Windsor hotel,” he reminded her.
“That seems like a long time ago.”
He nodded. “We’ve been through a lot since then.”
They were silent for a few moments.
“Give me until September to get things settled,” he said. “Meanwhile, if you want to write, send the letter to General Delivery, Champlin, Minnesota.”
“Unless I give you a new address later, you can reach me at the Harvey House, Albuquerque,” she said. “You won’t forget me, will you, once you’re back among all those beautiful Scandinavian blondes in Minnesota?” she added quickly.
He grinned. “I like brunettes. Small brunettes.”
She smiled at him and they left it at that, both turning back to watch the treasure being retrieved from the muck below.
“It would seem more natural to see ore coming out of the mud, rather than minted coins and jewelry,” Rasmussen remarked.
“Whew!” Darrel fanned himself with his hat. “Watching all that treasure shoveling has made my throat parched. I’m going to the saloon for lunch. Anyone coming with me?”
They all joined him, climbing carefully down over the tumbled boulders to their mounts below.
“A shame to see all that gold and silver get dumped into the maw of the federal treasury,” Darrel said as he mounted up.
“Yes,” Nellie agreed. “All this fighting and dying and suffering just so the United States government can take it all. Grandpa Silas has tried for years to get hold of it to fund his own new country,” she said. “His whole dream vanished when he lost the cache. Besides, he’s not in his right mind. I think he might’ve suffered a slight fit of apoplexy after that fight with Walter Clayton. Wonder if even a doctor could tell for sure?”
To Rasmussen she sounded weary, sad.
“But it might be best if Grandpa never comes out of it,” she continued. “I doubt he could live with nobody to hate, now that old man Clayton is dead.” She paused as the five of them urged their horses up and over the railroad embankment. The desert between them and the morada already looked as parched as if it’d been barren of water for weeks.
“My villagers have never seen anything like this,” Ortiz said, gazing at the scattered groups of curious people who’d trekked several miles from town on horseback, afoot, and in wagons to view the flood’s devastation and to glimpse the treasure that had lain on their doorstep for years.
“Wait’ll the big Eastern papers pick up the story,” Thorne said, “and the Denver and Río Grande repairs this spur line and trestle. This place will see another flood…this time of curious travelers.”
“What will happen to Grandpa Silas?” Nellie asked.
“The two marshals will escort him and Johnny to jail in Santa Fé for now,” Thorne said.
“But grandpa didn’t do anything illegal,” she insisted.
Thorne shrugged. “He’ll probably be held for a short investigation and then released.”
“I’ll have to make sure Uncle Tad comes to look after him…if I can find Tad or Uncle Martin,” she said. “No telling where they might have gone. They and Black Rogers and the others have scattered. Johnny’ll probably go to jail for robbery, even if we never recover that quarter million dollars he took from me.” She shook her head. “Who’d have thought things would turn out this way?”
“But maybe we’ve finally seen the end of this damned feud, Cousin,” Darrel said, riding up alongside her. “As soon as my arm heals, I’ll probably have to go back on the road, selling, since Silas is in no condition to pay me for trying to grab this treasure. I’d like to live near some of our kin in Missouri again, but not until I’m sure things have changed and I can get a decent job without working for the Claytons.”
“Darrel, you and Nellie and Rasmussen and Ortiz were each indispensable to the successful conclusion of this operation,” Alex Thorne said. “All of you will be amply rewarded for your services to the government.” He sounded very sure of himself.
They all looked expectantly at Thorne.
“No one has any idea how much that cold cache is worth,” he went on. “Millions. And the numismatic value of certain coins, I expect, will increase the total even more. It’ll take months for appraisers to sort it out and come up with a figure.”
They rode slowly in silence for a few seconds, the hot noon sun beating down on them.
“As I said, each of you played a vital rôle,” Thorne said slowly, deliberately. “Therefore, in justice, you should be rewarded…without having to wait for years for your claims to go through the bureaucracy, then likely being denied by some hard-headed judge.”
Thorne reined his horse to a stop, took off his hat, and squinted at them in the sunlight. A light breeze ruffled his salt-and-pepper hair.
The other four pulled up, sidling their mounts around to face him. Rasmussen knew the Secret Service man had something on his mind.
“I volunteered the four of you to help me guard the quarry tonight so the marshals could have the night off and get a good sleep,” Thorne told them. “As tired as I am, I’m likely to doze off,” he went on. “If I should be unable to keep my eyes open for a couple of hours, I don’t want to wake up and see any mud on your hands, feet, or clothes. Do all of you understand what I’m saying?” He searched their faces, one by one.
They understood.
About the Author
Tim Champlin, born John Michael Champlin in Fargo, North Dakota, graduated from Middle Tennessee State University and earned a Master’s degree from Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee. Beginning his career as an author of the Western story with Summer of the Sioux in 1982, the American West represents for him “a huge, ever-changing block of space and time in which an individual had more freedom than the average person has today. For those brave, and sometimes desperate souls who ventured West looking for a better life, it must have been an exciting time to be alive.” Champlin has achieved a notable stature in being able to capture that time in complex, often exciting, and historically accurate fictional narratives. He is the author of two series of Westerns novels, one concerned with Matt Tierney who comes of age in Summer of the Sioux and who begins his professional career as a reporter for the Chicago Times-Herald covering an expeditionary force venturing into the Big Horn country and the Yellowstone, and one with Jay McGraw, a callow youth who is plunged into outlawry at the beginning of Colt Lightning. There are six books in the Matt Tierney series and with Deadly Season a fifth featuring Jay McGraw. In The Last Campaign, Champlin provides a compelling narrative of Geronimo’s last days as a renegade leader. Swift Thunder is an exciting and compelling story of the Pony Express. Wayfaring Strangers is an extraordinary story of the California Gold Rush. In all of Champlin’s stories there are always unconventional plot ingredients, striking historical details, vivid characterizations of the multitude of ethnic and cultural diversity found on the frontier, and narratives rich and original and surprising. His exuberant tapestries include lumber schooners sailing the West Coast, early-day wetplate photography, daredevils who thrill crowds with gas balloons and the first parachutes, tong wars in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Basque sheepherders, and the Penitentes of the Southwest, and are always highly entertaining.
CRITICS PRAISE TIM CHAMPLIN!
THE BLAZE OF NOON
“Hidden gold, dead padres, Apaches, and two of the nastiest villains you’ll ever meet are only some of the exciting elements of one of Champlin’s best stories. Don’t miss this one!”
—Roundup Magazine
THE LAST CAMPAIGN
“As usual, Champlin seamlessly weaves his impeccable historical research into his plot…A fine traditional Western that is more realistic than most.�
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—Roundup Magazine
A TRAIL TO WOUNDED KNEE
“Full of suspense…maintains the reader’s interest…[Champlin] has unbelievable knowledge of the Lakota Indians.”
—The Tombstone Epitaph
“Champlin once more demonstrates his skill at blending fiction and history…[He] creates both mood and a sense of place.”
—Roundup Magazine
RAIDERS OF THE WESTERN & ATLANTIC
“No one writes novels with humorous, impossible plots better than Tim Champlin.…An absolutely wonderful book.”
—Roundup Magazine
MORE PRAISE FOR TIM CHAMPLIN!
WAYFARING STRANGERS
“Realistic…compelling.”
—Roundup Magazine
“An exceptional frontier story.…Purchase it, read it, and find a spot for it in your library.”
—The Tombstone Epitaph
DEADLY SEASON
“Champlin obviously knows his area and the minutiae of his chosen period quite well.…Good story.”
—The Tombstone Epitaph
THE TOMBSTONE CONSPIRACY
“A nice brew of traditional Western fare, that is to say, juiced up a notch or two.”
—The Historical Novels Review
Other Leisure books by Tim Champlin:
DEVILS’ DOMAIN
THE BLAZE OF NOON
TERRITORIAL ROUGH RIDER
THE LAST CAMPAIGN
A TRAIL TO WOUNDED KNEE
RAIDERS OF THE WESTERN & ATLANTIC
WAYFARING STRANGERS
DEADLY SEASON
THE TOMBSTONE CONSPIRACY
THE SURVIVOR
FLYING EAGLE
SWIFT THUNDER
Copyright
A LEISURE BOOK®
June 2009
Published by special arrangement with Golden West Literary Agency.
Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
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Copyright © 2007 by Tim Champlin
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E-ISBN: 978-1-4285-0686-2
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