Virgil looked at me.
“I will pay you handsomely,” the governor said.
“No,” Virgil said.
“No?”
“No,” Virgil said as he got to his feet.
The governor was at a loss for words.
“Won’t be any need for your handsome pay. My deputy and me are territorial marshals. Wards of Congress. Federal government pays us, and providing we are still alive when each payday comes around, we get paid regularly.”
“It’s what we do,” I said.
“It is,” Virgil said.
“Then you will do it?”
“Sure.”
“Good.”
“Of course, we’ll need you to supply the necessary wherewithal for the exchange.”
The governor took a step toward Virgil.
“In that freight car out there,” he said, pointing out the window to the section of coaches now on the dead-end track behind the water tower, “you’ll find two crates addressed to the University of Kansas, Department of Epidemic Research. Each is marked boldly with warnings — caution, handle with care, deadly bacteria, hazardous materials, skull and crossbones stenciled on them — that sort of thing. Inside each, you will find two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in thousand-dollar bills. I want to make sure we give that son of a bitch that money, all of it, and get my daughters back.”
With that, the governor turned and walked off down the long depot corridor, and Hobbs followed.
Uncle Ted let out two long whistle blasts from the Ironhorse, and the windows of the telegraph office started vibrating again as the big engine moved away from the burnt-out Pullman and powered back onto the main track. Sam closed the switchgear behind Uncle Ted and walked back toward the depot beside the Ironhorse as it started building steam and heading north. Sam looked up to Uncle Ted and said something. Uncle Ted nodded and gave her a thumbs-up. The Ironhorse thumped loudly as it got closer to the depot. When the big engine passed the telegraph office, Uncle Ted gave a slight wave to Jenny and stomped on by up the track. After the loud rumbling of the Ironhorse passed and the vibration stopped, Jenny sat up like she had a fish on the line, and I heard what she heard, the clicking of the sounder.
71
The governor rushed back to the depot with Hobbs, and Jenny read the telegram:
Sundown tomorrow, tethered under a redbud tree next to the last switch in the south mountain pass, you will find a mule. Fill the mule’s panniers, then set the mule free. Ample time is provided for your swift rouncey to make the pass by tomorrow night.
“Rouncey?” Hobbs said, interrupting Jenny. “What in God’s name is he talking about?”
“Rouncey,” Berkeley said, “is a horse. He’s talking about a horse.”
“There’s more,” Jenny said.
“Go on, Jenny, please,” the governor said.
Jenny nodded and continued:
When the freight is received, the operator will provide instructions where to locate progenies. Traveling north past the switch or trailing the mule (which would provide only levity) will prompt expiration of merchandise. — RICHARD III
Jenny looked up at us.
“That’s it,” Jenny said. “No sine on this, either, but this note was pounded by Ernest C. from Tall Water Falls for sure.”
“Richard the Third. Levity. Good Lord,” Hobbs said. “Expiration of merchandise. A mule? My God. Absolute madness.”
“Hell, that’s at least sixty miles from here,” Berkeley said. “He’s giving you what is left of today and all day tomorrow to travel sixty miles up rough country. Be hard pressed to get there by nightfall tomorrow if you left right now.”
“That’s true,” Sam said. “The pass he’s talking about is five and a half miles past Crystal Creek. Ten miles this side of Tall Water Falls.”
“From what we’ve seen of this line, most likely not an easy ride, either,” I said.
“I’d say not,” Sam said.
“Hell, no, that is what I am saying,” Berkeley said. “It is not.”
“It’s rough, rocky,” Sam said.
“Especially if you follow the tracks all the way up,” Berkeley said.
“There is a trail that is straighter, but that’s rough, too,” Sam said. “Not really traveled much anymore, not since the rail.”
“The last section was where Mr. Hobbs and Lassiter picked up the ride from the teamster coming down from the Half Moon mining camps to get here. That is a straight shot,” Berkeley said, “but above that, going north, it’s just hell, bad road.”
“What is the terrain up there?” Virgil asked.
“At the pass?” Sam said.
“Yes,” Virgil said.
“Steep up on both sides,” Sam said. “Damn near straight up.”
“A mule?” Hobbs said. “What in God’s name is this man thinking?”
“Smart,” I said.
“Is,” Virgil said.
“Like a homing pigeon,” Berkeley said.
“Yep,” Virgil said.
“And in this case, most likely just as hard to follow,” Berkeley said. “Not to mention it’ll be dark.”
“I don’t understand,” Hobbs said.
“Mules are used like that,” I said. “We used mules in the service to carry mail and supplies. It’s common. Mule can cover rough terrain, too. Most likely, like Sam is saying here, what we are dealing with is straight up. That’s what he means by ‘levity.’ He thinks it’d be humorous for us to try and follow a sure-footed mule. Unless a horse has been raised in rough country, they can’t do it. Best of riders, best of horses, couldn’t follow.”
“You know any outfits up there with working mules? Mining, farming, timber, cattle?” Virgil said, looking between Berkeley and Sam. “Know anyone up there?”
“Don’t,” Sam said.
Berkeley shook his head.
“No, can’t say I do, either,” Berkeley said.
“There were mines up there,” Sam said, “but no more.”
“Except for the depot towns, it’s sparse country up through there,” Berkeley said.
“Maybe there is no mule,” the governor said. “Or muleteer. Might it not be a ploy with an ambush intended?”
“Could,” Virgil said, “but doubtful.”
“Why?” the governor said.
“No reason to concoct it,” Virgil said.
Jenny raised her hand politely.
“Yes, Jenny,” Virgil said.
“Something was different,” Jenny said as she looked at the sounder sitting on the desk.
“What’s different?” Sam said.
“The attracting and releasing armature on the upper and lower stops was weak.”
“Weak?” Virgil said.
“The signal’s weak?” Sam asked.
“Um, yes. Odd, though,” Jenny said. “The first wire we got from Ernest C. was, as I said, from the Tall Water Falls depot, but this wire signal is weaker than the signal I normally get from Tall Water Falls.”
“What are you saying, Jenny?” the governor said.
“I think Ernest C. is someplace else, at another location now.”
72
“Sam, this last switch, in the south mountain pass this telegram’s referring to,” Virgil asked. “Where is this, exactly?”
“Let me show you,” Sam said.
Sam moved to a large map on the wall next to the desk. The map was detailed and colorful but faded. It showed the river and townships along the winding St. Louis & San Fran route, from Paris to Fort Smith.
Sam pointed.
“Here we are here,” she said, “at Half Moon, and this is where the pass is here, and the last switch the wire is referring to is here.”
“How many telegraph terminals are there in Tall Water Falls?” I asked.