Starkwell’s eyes slitted in suspicion, as if he thought that Frank was playing some sort of trick on him, but he gigged his horse into motion and waved the rest of the soldiers ahead. Frank sat there beside the trail as the militia troop rode past him.
He followed them back to the Alhambra, but reined in a couple of hundred yards away to watch as the men searched the bunkhouse, the stamp mill and office, and the mine shaft itself. He could tell from the way Starkwell was stomping around that the colonel was getting madder and madder.
Frank turned Goldy and started back toward the settlement. He didn’t want another confrontation with Starkwell right now. Starkwell might be angry enough at the fact that his quarry had eluded him to try making good on that threat to arrest Frank.
Pushing Goldy into a run, Frank reached Buckskin well ahead of the militia. He went straight to the office of the Lucky Lizard Mining Company, hoping he would find Tip Woodford there.
Tip was there, all right, and so was Diana. They greeted Frank warmly, but both of them could tell from the expression on his face that something was wrong. “What is it, Frank?” Diana asked.
“You know the militia was here earlier?”
Tip nodded. “Yeah, we saw the soldier boys. Heard that Munro got the governor to send ’em in. I wish he hadn’t done that. It’s liable to just make things worse. We would’ve worked things out sooner or later, if everybody would just leave us alone.”
Frank nodded. “I know. That’s why I rode out to the Alhambra to warn Rogan and the other men that the militia was coming to break the strike. I sent them to the Lucky Lizard.”
Tip’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “The Lucky Lizard? Why’d you want to do that?”
“Because all the men from both mines who are on strike are coming in to town tonight for a meeting with you and Munro. We’re going to settle this without a war breaking out.”
“I’d be glad to settle things with the fellas who work for me,” Tip said, “if they’ll just listen to reason.”
“I think they will, once they realize they’ve been duped. The Fowler brothers are still working for Munro and Hammersmith. They caused that cave-in to stir up trouble and get the strike started, so the Lucky Lizard would be shut down. The only problem was that Munro didn’t count on it spreading to his mine too.”
Diana asked, “Do you have any proof of that, Frank?”
“Nothing that would stand up in a court of law more than likely,” Frank replied with a shrug. “But I can prove somebody sabotaged the timbers in the mine and caused the cave-in. I’m betting that if Mike and Gib Fowler think they’re facing a hang rope because of what they did, they’ll be more than happy to testify that they were following orders from either Hammersmith or Munro.”
Tip nodded his bulldoglike head. “Maybe. Munro bein’ behind it all would explain why he raised his wages and cut back the hours his men are workin’ too. Those things were just temporary to make the Lucky Lizard look worse.”
“That’s my theory,” Frank agreed. “As soon as he put you out of business, things at the Alhambra would go back to being the way they were, if not worse.”
“That fella was playin’ a mighty deep game.”
“Yes, but he’s going to lose the final hand,” Frank said. He gestured toward the back room. “Dave Rogan’s the leader of the strike at the Alhambra. I told him about the tunnel that runs down here from the Lucky Lizard. All the men from both mines will be here after dark, coming through the tunnel so the militia won’t be able to stop them.”
“That fella Rogan’s an ornery varmint. Are you sure we can trust him?”
“He’s a hothead and a troublemaker, all right…but I think at the core he’s an honest man.”
Tip sighed. “Let’s hope you’re right.”
“And let’s hope everything can be settled without bloodshed,” Diana added.
“That’s the idea,” Frank said.
“But you don’t hold out much hope that it’ll happen, do you?” she asked.
“It never hurts to hope for the best,” Frank said.
And prepare for all hell to break loose, he added silently to himself.
Chapter 30
The militia arrived back in town a short time later. Colonel Starkwell dismounted and stalked into the hotel, no doubt to report to Hamish Munro about their lack of success at the Alhambra. From the boardwalk in front of the marshal’s office, Frank watched Starkwell go into the building, and thought that it was pretty clear who was really in charge of the militia. The governor must have made it plain to Starkwell that Munro was really calling the shots in Buckskin.
At least, Munro thought he was. If Frank’s plan worked, Munro might find himself with a problem a lot worse than some striking miners.
Catamount Jack walked up and said with a worried frown, “I still ain’t found Clint. Where do you reckon he got off to?”
Frank shook his head. “I don’t know. I’d feel a little better if he was in town, though, in case trouble breaks out between the militia and those miners.” A short time earlier, before Jack left to take another turn around town in search of Clint Farnum, Frank had told the old-timer about the meeting he had set up for that evening.
Now Jack asked, “You gonna take a side in that fight if it happens?”
Frank shook his head. “No, but I’m going to do my best to keep the townspeople safe. I’m hoping that Starkwell won’t start a full-scale battle right here in the middle of town. That would look mighty bad for the governor, no matter what caused it, and the colonel’s bound to know that.”
Frank had a shoulder leaned against one of the posts holding up the awning over the boardwalk. He straightened from that casual pose as he looked along the street and noticed a rider coming.
“There’s Clint now,” he said.
Jack looked in the same direction and said, “Sure enough is. Wonder where he’s been.”
Clint Farnum rode up and dismounted in front of the marshal’s office. The little gunfighter looped his horse’s reins around the hitch rail and said, “Sorry for disappearing like that, Frank. The wanderlust got me. Had to get out of town and ride around the hills for a while.”
“You need to tell Jack or me where you’re going before you do something like that again,” Frank said. “For all we knew, you’d ridden off and weren’t coming back.”
“No, I’d never desert you boys like that. Wasn’t any trouble while I was gone, was there?”
Jack snorted. “Just the damn militia ridin’ in to bust the hell outta them strikes at the mines.”
Clint’s eyes widened in surprise. “You don’t say! What happened?”
Frank filled him in on the day’s events. Clint shook his head in seeming disbelief.
“So all those miners are coming into town tonight for a showdown with Woodford and Munro?” Clint asked when Frank was finished.
“I wouldn’t call it a showdown. They need to stop fighting and get down to some serious talking.”
“I can see the mayor going along with that,” Clint said, “but not Munro, or that fella Hammersmith who works for him.”
“They’ll have more trouble of their own once I show everybody what I found inside the shaft at the Lucky Lizard.” Frank took the acid-damaged piece of timber from his pocket so that the two deputies could look at it. “Somebody’s bound to have seen one or both of the Fowler brothers hanging around those support beams that gave out. Once they realize they’ve been found out, they won’t take the blame for those deaths by themselves.”
Clint nodded and said, “Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out, all right.”
“We’ll have to wait and see,” Frank said. “All three of us are going to be on hand for that meeting, to keep things as peaceful as we can.”