Gold (13 page)

CHAPTER NINE

Pamela made her morning toilette with no
special quietness but Selena didn’t rouse. When
she was ready to leave for the store, Pamela
shook her daughter awake.

“
Get up and bar the door after me, Selena,”
she said. “After all the commotion last night I
wouldn’t feel safe otherwise.”

As Pamela walked up the path toward the Em
pire, she noticed the stench of burned timber was
still in the air. But the sun was out and a multi
tude of golden butterflies fluttered in the clear
ing, birds chirped and called, and bushes near the
trail had blossomed out in showy pink. She must
ask Reverend Colton what they were.

She realized she
’d put the burning of Varner’s store out of her thoughts. W.W. was her partner--
she refused to think ill of him. Pamela sighed,
knowing she had ignored many things in the last
few years that she would never have countenanced
back home in England. But survival came first!
Not only hers. Selena’s as well.

Three blue-shirted miners approached, gallantly
stepping off the wooden planks into the mud as
they neared her.

“
Morning ma’am,” they said almost in unison.

“
Good morning,” she answered.

In front of the Empire a small group of men
were gathered in a loose circle, all talking loudly.

“
I say we ought to run ‘em out of Hangtown.
Bastard foreigners.”

“
Yeah, but did they have it in for Vanner any
more than some others I could name?”

“
You a greaser lover, Lou? You like them
stinking Spanish Chilenos?”

“
Hell, Harry cheated all of us when he could, you know that. And you better think twice afore you call me names, Pike. Just ‘cause I got a Ka
naka for a partner you ain’t got no right to
...”

“
Nothing wrong with Kui. Hell, we all like
him. It’s them others.”

“
Good morning, gentlemen,” Pamela said, coming up to them. “It’s good to see the sunshine, isn’t it?”

They greeted her, standing silent while she un
locked the door to the store. But before she’d
closed herself inside, they’d started up again.

Pamela
’s first customer was a Digger Indian
clad in a dirty white sheet he’d draped about him
self after the fashion of a Roman toga. She
couldn’t help but smile at the Indian’s incongruous
appearance as she weighed his gold. He stared at her from unreadable dark eyes. What did he think
about all the people who’d suddenly appeared in
his territory? He showed no emotion, but what
smoldered underneath? Surely resentment at the
very least.

A leather thong was tied across his forehead
and knotted at the back, the thong decorated with
red and blue beads. She wondered if the beads
had any significance. More than likely not—some
sharp Yankee trader had probably given them to him in exchange for gold.

Shortly after the Indian had carried off his pro
visions, Rhynne came in.

“
I see you’re doing business early,” he said.

“
I suspect we both know the reason why.”

He shrugged.
“At least that brave got an honest measure.”

“
But did Harry?”

“
Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord.”

Pamela raised her eyebrows.
“As long as God
didn’t have help. I heard some of the miners out
side blaming the Chilenos. They spoke of running
them out of town.”

“
The boys do get carried away. Sometimes I
think the old Spanish proverb says it about right:
Children speak in Italian, ladies in French, God
in Spanish and the devil in English.”

“
Certainly I’ve heard many of the devil’s words
in English since I’ve come to California. However,
I suspect that if my Spanish was better I’d hear
the same words in that language. Men are men.”

“
I fear that’s true. We stand abject before you.”

“
W.W., you’ve never stood abject before anyone in your life.”

“
I haven’t met many ladies,” Rhynne said.
“However, what I came over to tell you was that
the boys will be having a wake for old Matt
Murphy tonight and I suggest that Selena stay at
home with you.”

“
Matt? He’s the one who fell into the mining
pit?”

“
Coyote holes they call them in these parts.
Matt was too clever for his own good. This hole was filled with water and Matt was paid to pump
it out. Not having a pump, he killed a dog and
threw the body into the hole.”

“
What on earth for?”

“
He left dog’s blood around the hole, so as far
as we can figure out he intended to report the
blood. ‘A man’s been murdered and drowned,’
he’d say and when we all pumped the hole dry
we’d find the dog and Matt would have earned his
fee. Unfortunately for Matt, he’d had a few drops
to drink and threw himself into the hole along
with the dog.”

“
But why should you tell me to keep Selena home? She’s always home at night.”

“
Because when men settle in around a twenty-
gallon keg of brandy with quart dippers for
glasses, they aren’t likely to be responsible for
their actions. And since the wake isn’t being held
at the Empire, I’ll have no control over them.”

“
You haven’t answered my question.”

“
Selena sang at the Empire last night, Pamela.
She was, to put it mildly, a sensation. The men
loved her, didn’t want her to stop.”

Pamela
’s hand rose to her mouth.

“
Oh, come, Pamela, you must have known
she’d defy you sooner or later. What’s wrong with
her performing there? I’m on hand as well as Abe
and Ned. Besides, the miners themselves wouldn’t
harm a hair of her head. They look at her and
dream, yes, but if one of them tried to hurt her the
others would kill him then and there.”

“
It’s demeaning. I won’t have them gawking at
her.”

“
Then what
is
Selena to do? Have you thought
of that, Pamela?”

“
She’ll assist me in the store.”

“
But the store is yours. Ours. What does Selena
have? She’s not a child--she’s a beautiful young
woman. Every man who sees her desires her, to
put it bluntly. How long will it be before she finds
one who interests her? Do you want that to hap
pen? In Hangtown?”

“
Of course not. There’s no one even remotely
suitable for Selena here.”

“
That’s my point exactly. Let her be the toast
of the Empire, give her something of her own,
some acclaim, and she won’t need a man. She
won’t need one man when she’s adored by hundreds.”

“
I don’t like it.”

“
You’d do well to accept it, though. But I don’t want her out tonight. Keep her home with you.”

Selena came out into the sunlit afternoon, shut
ting the cabin door behind her. She yawned and
stretched, then laughed as a chipmunk flicked his
tail at her and fled from sight. She was in no hurry
to go to the store since she’d yet to tell her mother
about last night. Not the fact that she intended to continue singing at the Empire. She hugged her
self recalling the excited praise of the miners.
Even Mr. Rhynne said she’d done well.
Her arms dropped and she frowned. Had
Rhynne set the fire at Varner’s?

The sound of voices caught her attention. She
climbed onto a knoll in back of the cabin and looked toward town. A procession was headed
her way, twenty or more miners, some of whom
seemed to be carrying a box or crate of some kind.
As they came closer she saw it was a rude, un-
painted coffin. There was no pall or bier, only
ropes passed under the pine box. She shuddered--
she hated to be reminded of death.

The first of the men looked up and saw her.

“Howdy, Miss Selena,” he said. “You sure were
a treat to hear last night.”

“
Thank you.” She nodded to the coffin. “Whose
funeral is it?”

“
Matt Murphy. But we don’t aim to bury him
yet. Got to have the wake first down to his cabin.
Can’t put an Irishman in the ground without the
wake.”

He waved and went on. Most of the others
raised their hats to her as they passed.

She scrambled down from the hill and wan
dered to the creek below, avoiding the holes
where men had dug for gold. She amused herself
for a time waving branches at the grizzly cubs
Tiny Johnson was trying to tame. He’d killed their
mother and kept the cubs tied to a pine by the stream, hoping to raise them and make his for
tune exhibiting them in the East.

Ah well, it was no more ridiculous than many
other dreams. The little bears were ungainly but
still young enough to be cute as they swatted and
chomped at the branch she teased them with.

The admiration of the miners made her feel a
little like she had when Diego held her in his arms.
Would she ever have a man to love and marry?
Certainly Pamela expected her to marry well and
she had no objection to that. But right now she
wanted . . . she wanted love. Love and being held and caressed. She wanted someone to love her to
desperation.

Still—who? Not one of the miners! Her nose crinkled. Although that black-haired young man
last night had been appealing. At least before he’d
acted like such a rowdy, nearly ruining her per
formance.

“
Selena!”

She looked up to see her mother standing on the
path above the creek.

“
Come to the cabin at once,” Pamela told her.

As Selena tossed the branch away and started up the bank, the sun disappeared behind a cloud.
I will go on singing at the Empire, she told herself.
I know mother isn’t well, that she has to take
medicine, but I must have a life of my own.

When they were inside the cabin, Pamela faced
her. “You deliberately deceived me. I won’t have
such behavior!”

“
Oh, mother, I’m not a child. I had every inten
tion of talking the matter over with you today. But
don’t tell me you won’t have it, because I’m going
to sing at the Empire anyway.”

“
I object to the secrecy and deception more
than the singing. Can’t I trust you, Selena?”

“
Not if you always oppose me.”

“
Well, you shan’t sing tonight. Mr. Rhynne tells
me it won’t be safe for us to be out after dark. It seems there’s a wake for . . .”

“
I’m aware of Matt Murphy’s wake. Why
should that
affect my singing at the Empire?
You’ve talked to Mr. Rhynne, haven’t you?
You’ve convinced him I shouldn’t sing again.” Se
lena began to cry.

“
That isn’t the way it was at all, Selena. Calm down and listen to me.”

Selena turned away from her mother and cov
ered her ears with her hands. “I won’t. Don’t talk
to me any more. I refuse to listen.” She threw her
self on her bed and sobbed.

That night, Selena raised her head from her
pillow and listened. Pamela was asleep. Usually
she slept heavily, but Selena double-checked her
mother’s breathing, which was deep and regular. She eased herself from her bed then and stood
upright in the dark cabin. She’d fallen asleep for a
while herself—what time could it be? Not too
late to slip away to the Empire at any rate. W.W. couldn’t refuse to let her sing once she’d begun. She’d simply walk up to Ned and say, “The Min
strel Boy, please”—that was always a good song
to bring a tear to the eye—and the miners
wouldn’t let anyone stop her.

She put on the pale green gown again, leaving
off the chemisette, put her white shawl around
her shoulders and quietly let herself out of the
cabin.

Danny O
’Lee put the dipper back on the plank table and stood up. If he stayed longer he’d have
to fill it again and already his head spun with the
brandy he’d downed. Would he ever learn to hold
his drink?
He’d come to help speed old Matt on to the next
world, though what that world might be like he
didn’t know, for all the priests said. He’d had his
drink for Matt and sung a song and it was better
to go now. He’d scarcely known the man, but any
son of the old sod deserved a decent send-off.

“
You’re not leaving so soon?”

Danny turned to English Bob with a grin.
"Sure, mate. You wouldn’t deny a man has to
relieve himself?’"

English Bob grinned back and waved his hand.
“Be my guest, Danny me boy. Never let it be said
an Englishman kept an Irish lad from his ap
pointed duties.”

Out in the darkness with the chill damp wind in
his face, Danny’s head cleared. He looked back at
the light spilling from the open door of Matt’s
cabin and heard the shouts and laughter. He was
tempted to go back. Instead he sat on a pine
stump. Bob was likely to need a bit of help get
ting home tonight and better he should stay sober
and see to him than have the Englishman die in a coyote hole like poor Matt.

Off in the pines an owl hooted. From the creek
came the shrill jabber of frogs. The night held
the threat of rain but it was unmistakenly spring, the time a lad should have a lass to lie with. And when would that happen up in these mountains
where women were scarcer than gold? Especially when the woman he coveted was the most beau
tiful colleen ever born? And he with barely
enough money to feed his belly each day?

A man stumbled out of Matt
’s cabin, then an
other and another. Danny recognized the voice of a newcomer to Hangtown, a man named Pike he
didn’t much cotton to.
“I say we go and get the stinking bastards,
put ‘em to the whip and make ‘em confess what they done.”

More men spilled from the open door. There was a drunken chorus of agreement.

“Run every foreigner out of town.”

“
Hanging’s too good for ‘em.”

“
Ain’t they got a woman or two up there?”
Danny recognized English Bob’s voice. “We could
have some fun, damned if we couldn’t.”

“
On to Spanish Ravine!” someone shouted.

Danny rose from the stump. No more use try
ing to talk sense to drunkards than to tell the
creek to flow backwards. He’d best go up to the
ravine and warn the Chilenos.

Not that they
’d listen to him either. A great
bloody brawl it shaped up to be, but at least their women could get away. And perhaps on the way
back he could dissuade English Bob, though
short of bashing him on the head it wasn’t likely.

Danny set off on a trot.

He ran down the path toward town. The half-
moon slid from behind a cloud and he saw his
way clearly in the silver light. He also saw the
back of a skirted figure ahead of him and his
breath caught in his throat. Whoever she was, no woman would be safe from that mob behind her. He increased his pace.

Selena heard running footsteps and turned just
as the man came close enough to grasp her arm.
She screamed.

“
Shut up, you fool!” Danny gasped, out of
breath. “Wherever you live, get home quick!”
Then, recognizing her, he instantly let go and
stepped back. “Miss Selena! For God’s sake, get back to your cabin.”

“
Who are you? You have no right to order me
about.”

“
My name’s Danny O’Lee and I’ve no time to argue.” Already he could hear the shouts of the
men.

He pulled at Selena
’s arm. “Hurry.”

She pulled as urgently in the other direction.
“I’m going to the Empire to sing and neither you
nor anyone else can stop me. Take your hands off
my arm this instant.”

“
You can’t go there tonight. There may be a
riot.” He tried to pick her up and she struck at
him, writhing away. In exasperation he shook
her so hard her teeth clicked together.

“
Which is your cabin?” he demanded.

“
Let me go!”

“
If you don’t tell me I’ll have to drag you off
into the woods to keep you safe. I’m warning
you.”

“
You can’t make me . . .”

He grabbed her around the waist and hoisted
her over his shoulder, one hand holding her knee,
one her wrist. She was momentarily quiet with
shock and outrage as he stumbled back along the
trail in the pitch dark, the moon once again hid
den. When he rounded a turn, the torches coming
toward them were plain to see. Snatches of bawdy
songs swept along to them on the breeze.