Fool's Gold

Chapter 11 – Pyrite

"Let's not have a repeat of yesterday. From now on you ride Zeus." This was Anderson's edict the next morning while they drank coffee. Zeus was the black stallion in the Garrett barn.

"No arguments." Bart was feeling better than yesterday; he was stiff and sore where he'd landed but that would fade in a day or two. While bruised and battered from his encounter with the ground he'd survived and was trying to determine his next move.

They discussed the council's decision and Bart relayed his opinion of the Bennett property lines and the flow of the river. Both men agreed there was more at play here than just railroad rights. The important question was still - what?

Anderson was surprised to hear of Herb Stander's mortgage problems. "Didn't think he'd risk that much just to play poker."

"I think he's in too deep now and doesn't see any other way out. Does he own any land?"

"None to speak of. Got everything of value sunk into that store and the new one. Don't know what he'd do if he lost it."

Bart was thinking. After a minute he asked Anderson, "Just how wealthy is your daughter?"

Garrett looked at him and understood what he was asking and why. His mind had been running along the same path. "Wealthy. She could buy and sell both of us without batting an eye."

There was laughter from the younger man. "That wouldn't take much in my case. How long has Elliott been courtin' her?"

"Long enough. Think that's what he's after?" There was a tinge of anger in Anderson's voice, that someone might want to use Rose like that, simply for her money.

"Possibly. Although there does seem to be some real feeling there."

Anderson snorted his disdain. "Not enough. What does she see in him?"

Bart shook his head in wonderment. "I don't know, Anderson. He must have some good qualities for her to let him hang around." Bart thought about Rose's kisses and asked himself the same question. 'What does she see in him?'

Just then the subject of their discussion came downstairs. "My, aren't you boys up early?"

"Too stiff to lie in bed any longer," came the quick rejoinder from Bart. He rose from his chair and started to stretch, then decided that a bad idea. "Zeus and I are going out to explore. There's something I want to see."

"I'll come along," Rose hastily volunteered.

"No, that's alright. I don't know how long I'll be." His answer was too quick and she caught the look in his eyes and didn't argue.

"Are you sure you want to take a chance this soon?"

Bart had something on his mind and Anderson picked up on it. "Give the man some space, Rose. He's on a good solid animal, not that skittish excuse for a horse you're so fond of."

Her feelings were hurt by her father's reprimand but she said nothing.

Bart reached in the shoulder holster to make certain that the derringer was there; thank God he'd had it yesterday. "Going to saddle the horse. Be back later. Any plans I should know about?"

"Are you up for more saloon crawling? There's one more place I'd like to take you." Anderson's look was hopeful.

"Sure. Why not? Rose, what about you? Got someone to stay here with you?" Bart still wasn't pleased with the idea of Rose by herself at the ranch. At least not until he determined Elliott's actual agenda.

"My turn to play hostess. Belinda Jo is coming out this afternoon."

All the more reason to be gone this evening. He turned to Anderson and tapped the brim of his hat. "I'll be back in one piece this time, I swear."

Anderson laughed and returned the good-bye. "As long as you saddle the right horse."

"Really funny man. Remind me why I know you?"

XXXXXXXX

He didn't have any trouble locating the obscured cave entrance. The stallion practically went there by himself, comfortable with the man riding him.

Bart searched around outside for a while, determined to find any kind of clue he might have missed on the previous visit. Other than a plethora of horse tracks there wasn't much to be seen. Finally he dismounted and found a tree to tie the reins to.

The entrance was small and cramped, but the cave itself enlarged quite rapidly. He struck a match and followed the walls back into itself for a few feet before coming across something interesting. A narrow ribbon of pyrite, or fool's gold, ran all along the base of the walls. If this was what Elliott Stander was looking for then he was wasting his time. It wasn't worth the money it would cost to extract it. He lit another match and continued, down into the cave as it descended below ground. About two hundred feet on he finally saw the real treasure, in what could only be called a vein of silver almost as wide as it was long. This was something worth fighting over.

There was an unexpected sound behind him and he quickly put out the match and stood still. He heard nothing further and assumed the wind or a small animal. He walked carefully back toward the mouth of the cave, unwilling to light another match. When he got back outside and found nothing there he was relieved. Now he had a working theory and he wanted more information before he put it to the test.

He untied the horse and painfully mounted, the soreness from yesterday's encounter foremost in his mind. He had no idea that he was indeed being watched by Tommy Statford, a young man much more adept at remaining undetected than Mortimer Jones. 'Elliott's right,' Statford thought to himself. 'This Maverick is going to mess up the plan.'

Tommy watched him ride away, back toward the Garrett ranch. The gang was going to have to do something about this.

XXXXXXXX

"Alright, Rose, just who is the man I watched you kiss?" Belinda Jo Ford was none too subtle with her question, but after what she'd witnessed in front of her home the other night she felt no need to be. Right out in the street, never mind that it was well after dark, when Rose was all but engaged to her brother's friend Elliott.

Rose looked her straight in the eyes and answered, as nonchalant as she could, "Just a friend of my fathers."

"And none of your father's friends has ever looked like that," was the rebuttal. "Who is he? Where did he come from? How long is he staying?"

Rose laughed as only a good friend could. "Belinda, you ask too many questions."

"And I've gotten no answers thus far."

"Sit down here on the porch with me and have some lemonade. I'll answer all your questions in due time."

Belinda Jo sat as directed with Rose and drank lemonade. Which is why the two young women were there waiting when Bart rode back to the ranch. He cut a fine figure on the black stallion; horse and rider were well matched. He dismounted at the corral gate and wrapped Zeus' reins around the gate post. Then he strode across the yard and climbed the porch steps and tipped his hat to Rose and the newcomer.

"Belinda Jo Ford, this is my father's friend Bart Maverick. Bart, this is Belinda Jo. You walked me to her house last week."

"Miss Ford, pleased to make your acquaintance. Miss Rose, good afternoon. Are all your friends this lovely?" He took Belinda Jo's hand and kissed it. Then he remembered what he and Rose were doing outside of the Ford house and blushed. Actually blushed. Belinda had never been so charmed in her entire life.

Now that Belinda'd met him and gotten a good look at him in the daylight, she certainly understood why Rose was kissing him. Tall and dark, with dancing brown eyes, there was without doubt no one in Carson City like him. He was well-mannered and graceful, and there was a hint of danger about him. Yet his smile could disarm the most duplicitous person on the planet. She immediately fell under his spell.

He stayed and made small talk with them for several minutes before excusing himself. As soon as he'd gone inside Belinda turned to her friend and offered, "I'd do everything I knew how to make him my friend, too."

Rose endured the teasing from Belinda as she remembered the reason for it. She'd never been kissed like that before, and she certainly hoped it wouldn't be the last time. There was no comparison between Bart's kisses and Elliott's – one was a man with the sweet kiss of desire and the other a boy, interested only in his own pleasure.

An hour later Anderson and Bart left for Carson City, intending to make another night of it. The women were still sitting on the porch talking; it was a lovely evening and neither was in any hurry to go indoors. Ethan brought the horses around; again the black for Bart and the buckskin for Anderson. They looked quite gallänt formal and mounted, in morning coats and fancy shirts, and Rose wished that she was going with them. There was something quite distinctive about Bart Maverick that attracted the ladies, and Rose was no different in that regard. She'd come to like and respect him; his presence and elegant manner made her realize that Elliott Stander was not the man she was meant to spend her life with. She hoped that she could make Elliott understand that. The gamblers rode off into the night and assumed the ladies to be safe.