“Do you have any suggestions, Miss McPherson?” one of the other ranchers asked.
“Yeah,” another put in. “Can you tell us how to get our water back?”
“I think we might be able to come to some solution whereby I will open a sluice gate to allow a measured amount of water through. For a fee, of course.”
“A fee? You intend to make us pay for the water that by rights is ours anyway?” someone asked angrily.
Bailey shook her head. “Oh, but it isn’t yours anyway,” she said. “The government was very specific about making certain that I had control of the water. All the water. Why, it is absolutely necessary for the operation of steam locomotives. But surely you already knew that.”
“But still, to make us pay for water?” the rancher said. “No. I won’t do that. I’ll see my cattle die of thirst before I pay you one cent for water.”
“Same here,” another said. “I won’t pay for one drop of water.”
“Oh, gentlemen, I do wish you would change your minds,” Bailey said. “I think you will find my rates quite reasonable.”
When nobody answered, Bailey smiled again, then nodded.
“Yes,” she said. “Well, I can see how this might come as a shock to you at first. But I’ll give you gentlemen more time to discuss this. I’m sure that, as you think it over, you will realize that I am offering you a way out. The only way out,” she added pointedly. “Perhaps it was best that I not attend this meeting after all. Do carry on,” she said as she started toward the door.
Dancer set his cup down and left with her, backing out of the room so as not to break eye contact with Hawke.
Shortly after the last of Dorchester’s guests left, a lone rider approached. Hawke could see someone was coming, but it was too dark to make out who.
Thinking it might be one of the landowners who forgot something, he called back into the house, “Mr. Dorchester, there’s a rider coming.”
Dorchester came out onto the porch while Hawke stepped into the shadows and drew his gun, just in case.
“Mr. Dorchester?” a voice called from the dark. “It’s me, Rob Dealey.”
“It’s all right,” Dorchester said, waving to Hawke that he could holster his gun. “It’s my foreman. Or rather, the man who used to be my foreman.” Then, to Rob, he called out, “Come on up, Mr. Dealey.”
Rob rode all the way up to the house, dismounted, and tied his horse at the hitching post.
“I didn’t expect to see you again,” Dorchester said.
“No, sir, I don’t reckon you did. And I didn’t figure on comin’ back, only I found out somethin’ I figured you ought to know.”
“Oh? And what’s that?”
“There ain’t no gold up there in the Sweetwaters.”
Dorchester laughed. “Heavens, man, you didn’t have to tell me that. Eddie and Win have already come back with the report that they didn’t find any gold.”
“Yes, sir,” Rob said. “Only it’s more’n that. They didn’t find no gold, I didn’t find no gold, and there ain’t nobody goin’ to find no gold, ’cause there ain’t no gold there.”
“I can see how it might be frustrating if—”
“No sir!” Rob said again, more forcefully this time. “I ain’t makin’ myself clear. There ain’t no gold there and there never was. Luke Rawlings and Percy Sheridan just put some color around to make it look like there was gold up there.”
“Now, why in the blazes would they do something like that?” Dorchester asked. Then, as soon as he asked the question, he knew the answer.
“Bloody hell!” he said. “I see it all now. This has been a ruse to justify the railroad! There is no gold, and if you want to know what I think…there is no railroad and there never will be a railroad. This was just a way to get land.”
“And water,” Hawke said.
“Yes, and water. I can’t believe I let myself be taken in like this. Now, half my land is gone and my cows are dying of thirst.”
“I don’t know what to do about the land,” Hawke said, “but I can guarantee you that, after tonight, your cows won’t be thirsty again.”
“Why? What do you plan to do?”
“You’re better off not knowing,” Hawke said.
Jay Dupree, Libby, Lulu, and Sue returned to Green River with much less fanfare than there had been at their departure. When they left, they were riding in a carriage, complete with driver, followed by an entourage of four fully loaded freight wagons. They returned in a buckboard that Jay was driving, and they were alone; no freight wagons followed them.
The town was almost as crowded as it had been when they arrived the first time, only now the crowd was leaving.
Jay stopped the buckboard at the railroad station. “I’ll get tickets back to Chicago,” he said, climbing down. “You ladies wait here.”
Libby was sitting on the front seat, Lulu and Sue were on the back. They began talking among themselves as they waited.
“Well, it was fun while it lasted,” Lulu said.
“Yes,” Sue said. “But I can’t help but feel sorry for all those men who worked so hard, when all along there was nothing there.”
“I feel sorry for them too,” Libby said. “And for Jay. He lost a lot of money in this venture.”
Jay returned to the buckboard.
“Did you get tickets?” Sue asked.
“Yes,” Jay said. He climbed into the driver’s seat and picked up the reins. “But because so many people are leaving, the earliest I could get all of us booked on the same train is seven days from now.”
Chapter 21
THAT NIGHT, HAWKE TOOK THREE MEN WITH HIM: Rob, Willie, and Win. When Eddie heard they were going, he wanted to go as well, but he was still recovering from his wound so he had to stay behind. When they reached the dam at just after midnight, Hawke held up his hand to stop the others. They dismounted and ground hobbled their horses. Hawke took his saddlebags from his horse and draped them over his shoulder.
“Let’s go,” he said, starting toward the dam.
Just a slice was missing from a nearly full moon, so the five men had an excellent view of the stream, the dam, and the sluice gates, only one of which was open. The gates that would have allowed the creek to flow on down to the Northumbria and beyond were closed.
Hawke and the others moved to within about twenty yards, stopping behind a rock outcropping for a closer examination of the area.
“Looks like they don’t have anyone watching it,” Willie said. “Hell, we could just walk right down there and open the gates.”
“Yeah,” Hawke said. “And they’ll have them closed again by morning. I aim to fix it so they can’t close it again.”
“Let’s do it,” Win said.
The three men moved cautiously down to the dam. There, Hawke took out three bundles of dynamite, each bundle containing four sticks. He gave one bundle to Rob, another to Willie, and kept the third bundle himself.
“Get the bundles right up under the dam if you can. That way you’ll get the whole thing. But don’t light them until we are all ready, and we’ll light them together. Win, you keep a good lookout.”
“All right,” Win said.
“Let’s go,” Hawke ordered, moving toward the dam. He sent Willie to one end of the dam, and Rob to the other, while he planted his bundle in the middle. When he had his in position, he raised up and looked to the left and the right.
“Ready?” Hawke called.
“Ready,” Rob answered.
“Ready,” Willie said.
“Light the fuses, then get the hell away!” Hawke shouted.
He struck the match, cupped his hand around the flame to keep it from blowing out, and held it to the fuse. The end of the fuse glowed, then caught and began spitting off sparks.
Hawke turned away from it and ran back toward the rock outcropping, arriving at about the same time as Willie and Rob. Rob stuck his fingers in his ears as the four men waited.