Gold (44 page)

By the time they were done, Danny was beside
them dragging a ladder. They propped it against
the side of the ship. Danny, carrying a lantern,
climbed up to the deck, McSweeney right behind
him. Abe and Jed stayed on the ground.

“
We only found four men,” McSweeney said as
they moved swiftly towards a hatch near the stern.
“Are you sure there were five?”

“
Yes, I saw five.”

“
He could have been thrown under the ship.
He might have gotten away. I wish I knew.”

Reaching the hatch, Danny unbolted and lifted
its cover. Lowering the lantern into the dark hold,
he saw a face peering up at him.

“
Danny O’Lee himself,” a surprised Rhynne
said. “Well, I’ll be damned. Give me a hand, boy,
and I’ll be right with you.”

Danny reached down, took Rhynne
’s hand, and
helped him up the narrow hatchway. Rhynne
winced as he tried to stand. “It’s nothing,” he said.
“I bruised my leg when the ship keeled over. No
bones broken, thank God.”

“
Are there any others down there?” Danny
asked.

“
I’m the one and only prisoner. And all of the guards were on deck.”

“
Let’s go,” Danny said to McSweeney.

They ran back to the ladder and climbed down
toward Jed and Abe. As they neared the ground,
a mud-bespattered man stepped out of the shadow
of the warehouse brandishing a pistol. Jed swung around to face him.

“
Go no farther,” the guard said to him. He
waved his gun at the three men still on the ladder.
“You there,” he said, “put your hands up as high as they’ll go and grab a rung. Right-o. The first
man that moves is dead.”

Jed advanced slowly on the guard with his
hands outreaching, like a giant cat about to
pounce. The guard edged back, shaking his head.

“
Not another step,” he warned.

“
Jed,” Rhynne called down to him. “For
Christ’s sake, don’t.”

Jed moved on toward the guard as though he
hadn’t heard. The guard pulled the trigger.

***

Barry held up a handful of yellow dust and
pebbles.

Selena peered over the edge of the mattress.
“It looks like gold” she said solemnly.

He weighed the ore in his hand.
“You’re
damned right it’s gold.” He looked under the bed
again. “I’m surprised your floor didn’t give way long before this,” he said. “There must be hun
dreds of pounds of ore here.”

He looked up at her.
“How did this gold come
to be here, Selena? And don’t tell me you don’t
know.”

“
I put it there. Leland says the banks are safe
but I don’t trust them. Not after what I’ve read about the Panic of ‘37.”

Barry stood up. Seeing the suspicion in his eyes,
she pulled the sheet up to her chin.

“
That’s not what I meant,” he said. “How did
you get this gold, Selena? What did you have to do
for it?”

“
I sang for it,” she said defiantly.

“
You sang?”

“
Yes, you must have heard about my singing in
Hangtown at the start of the gold rush. I sang at
the Empire and afterwards the miners would
throw gold on
the stage. Nuggets of gold, pouches
of gold dust, hundreds of dollars worth of gold.
God knows, they had plenty of it. Abe Greene
used to go around with a broom and sweep it up
for me. I never spent any. I told you how afraid I
am of being alone when I’m old. To be alone and
poor at the same time would be too much to
bear.”

“
Selena, are you telling me the truth? All this
gold came from your singing at Hangtown?”

“
Barry, have I ever lied to you?”

She watched a variety of expressions cross his
face. Doubt, incredulity, a desire to believe her. What was he thinking?

“
Barry,” she said, “I’m truly sorry if you can’t
bring yourself to believe me. Tell me, how do you
think I came to have all this gold?”

He hesitated.

“Tell me, Barry. Tell me the truth.”

“
I think you earned the gold by your singing,
Selena.”

“
You truly believe me then?”

“
Yes, I do.”

“
Barry, do you know something?”

“
What?”

“
You make a strange and wonderful picture
kneeling on the floor looking under my bed. And
you with not a stitch of clothing on.”

He looked down at himself.
“I’d forgotten,” he
said.

“
Come here, Barry. Come to me.”

He approached the bed.
“Snuff out the candle,
Barry,” she told him.

He leaned down and pinched
the flame between his fingers.

“
Do you want me to pull the mattress down
onto the floor?” he asked.

“
Not yet. Come closer.” She put her hands on
his thighs. “Closer, Barry, closer.” She felt his
hands on the top of her head. “Barry,” she whis
pered and then she didn’t speak for a long while.

The pistol misfired, the hammer clicking but
the charge failing to ignite, Jed swatted the gun
from the guard’s hand and pinioned the man’s
arms to his sides. McSweeney leaped from
the ladder. Quickly, they overpowered, tied and
gagged him.

Danny led Rhynne and the others through the mud away from the
Argonaut
along the bay side
of the warehouses. They heard the water lapping on the shore below them.

“
Where are we bound?” Rhynne asked.

“
To the
Golden Arrow
. She leaves for the Islands on the morning tide.”

“
The Sandwich Islands? Hawaii? That’s going
to take a bit of getting used to.”

“
There’s no alternative. This city will be an armed camp in the morning. The Committee’s
likely to shoot you first and question you later. I doubt you’ll be safe anywhere in California for a
time.”

“
I fear you’re right.”

“
Here’s the rowboat,” Danny said.

Jed shoved the boat into the water and stood
holding its prow. “Jed and I will row you out to the ship,” Danny told Rhynne.

Rhynne extended his hand to McSweeney. They
shook hands, then Rhynne clasped the big man to
him. He did the same with Abe. “I’m leaving Mr.
O’Lee in charge at the Empire,” he told them.
“Though I’ll be back, never fear.”

He clambered into the boat. Danny and Jed
followed, Jed taking his place at the oars.

“
The Golden Arrow has signed Jed on as a
seaman,” Danny said once they were underway.

Rhynne nodded.
“He’s a free man with Sutton
dead and no one to claim him.”

“
A free man,” Jed’s voice boomed out. They
both looked at him in surprise. “A free man,” the
black said again.

“
The Arrow goes on to the islands of the far
Pacific,” Danny said. “Jed expects to settle there.”

Rhynne said wryly,
“Maybe I should too. Ex
cept that I’ve come to think of San Francisco as
my home. The next time I see her she’ll be bigger
and noisier and more crowded than ever, I ex
pect.”

“
With the gold and all, no doubt you’re right.”

“
No, Danny, not because of the gold. There’ll
be a time soon when the miners will wonder why
they’re going through all the toil and trouble.
They’ll pack up and go home.”

“
Just leaving the gold in the ground?” Danny
was dubious.

“
There’ll be less and less gold to be found and it
will be more and more difficult and expensive to
get it out. Gold has already made California a
state, a free state; she’ll grow and prosper. And
change. I see her as a beautiful and wealthy
woman with San Francisco the glittering diadem
on her brow.”

“
You sound like a poet yourself sometimes,”
Danny told him. “I’ll look after things until it’s
right for you here again. But I don’t know if I
want to stay here all the rest of my life.”

“
Yes, the lure of the unknown calls to youth.
And speaking of the unknown, about Pamela . . .”

“
It was her money paid Charlie Sung for the fireworks display. And for your passage.”

“
I thought as much. When you speak to her,
tell her that when last you saw W.W. Rhynne he was a man of ‘cheerful yesterdays and confident
tomorrows.”

“
That I will.”

The bow of the
Golden Arrow loomed over
them. To the east they saw the first light of dawn
streaking the sky the color of gold.

“
One additional message for Pamela, Danny.
Tell her I’ll always love her.”

The morning light woke Barry Fitzpatrick. He
blinked, raised himself on one elbow and looked
down at the still sleeping Selena. Her golden hair
spilled across the blanket; she smiled in her sleep.
Barry shook his head. He just couldn’t seem to get
his fill of looking at her.

Slowly Selena opened her eyes. She sat up with
a sheet around her breasts and stretched.

“
You’re beautiful, Selena,” Barry said.

“
Even now? Even with my hair like this?”

He pushed stray strands away from her face.
“More than ever,” he said.

She smiled at him, almost shyly.

“A strange thing,” Barry said. “When we were
together last night, you and I, I thought I saw
rockets shooting across the sky and bombs explod
ing in the air.” He watched her. “You know,” he
added drily, “it’s never been that way for me before? What do you make of it?”

“
Oh, my God, I forgot.” She knelt on the mat
tress so she could look from the window.

“
What do you see?”

“The Golden Arrow”, Selena said, “sailing out
of the bay.”

“
I’m surprised you’re well enough acquainted with ships to be able to tell one from another.”

“I know the lines of the Golden Arrow.”

“
Because she’s taking your friend Mr. Rhynne
to the Islands?”

She swung around and stared at him. He was grinning.
“You knew?”

“
Let’s say I suspected,” Barry said. “I heard
the bell tolling this morning, early. The Vigilantes’
bell. I imagine that means Rhynne made good his
escape.”

“
And you did nothing to stop him?”

Barry shrugged.
“I think he killed Sutton. I’m
not sure. To me, a surmise isn’t enough to justify
hanging a man.”

“
Then all last night you were toying with me.”

Barry laughed.
“You have it backwards. I
wanted you, Selena, still do. You were the one
toying with me. What will I mean to you now that
you know Rhynne’s safe? Nothing.”

“
That’s not true, Barry, not true at all.” She
reached out her arms. “Come to me. I’ll prove it.”