‘I am husky,’ I said.
‘I don’t mean it unfavorably. I myself have a problem pushing away from the table. Some of us are simply hungrier than others, and what is there to be done about it? Are we meant to starve?’
‘Warm!’ I said. ‘You are drunken, but we need to speak seriously with you. Do you think you can manage it? Or perhaps Morris can?’
He said, ‘What do you wish to discuss?’
‘The same as before. Of our joining forces and working the river as one.’
Charlie reached over and pinched me, hard. ‘What are you doing?’ he whispered.
‘Our position has changed with this new bit of killing,’ I told him.
‘I can’t see that anything has changed. They are still waiting in the dark with pistols to shoot us down.’
‘Let me just see what the reaction is. I believe we can achieve what we wish without spilling any more blood.’
He sat back against a tree, thinking, and chewing his lips. Again he pointed into the darkness that I should speak, and I did: ‘If you can’t see it through to discuss the venture you will force our hand into action, Warm. I mean this in all honesty when I say we do not want to kill either one of you.’
Warm scoffed. ‘Yes, you demand that we should share our profits with you, and if we choose against this, well, you will be obligated to kill us. Do you see how your proposal might be lacking, from our point of view?’
I said, ‘I am proposing we earn a part of the profits. And anyway, if we wanted you dead, do you think we would have cut down those men you see before you?’
Morris said something I could not make out, which Warm translated: ‘Morris says he thinks he got the one on the left.’
‘He did not.’
Warm did not speak to me for a time, and I could not hear him speaking with Morris.
‘Is either of you injured?’ I asked.
‘Morris’s arm was grazed. He is still fit, despite a burning feeling.’
I said, ‘We have medicine that will eliminate that burning. And we have alcohol to clean the wound. We will work the river alongside you, and we will protect you against bandits or intruders. Think of it, Warm. We had you cold earlier today; if we had wanted you dead, you would be dead.’
Another long silence, where I could not make out the slightest murmur from Morris or Warm. Were they searching their very souls for the answer? Would they allow the heretofore bloodthirsty Sisters brothers into their exclusive fold? There arose a gathering noise then, which at first I could not identify, and when I did identify it I questioned if I was truly hearing the sound, it was so incongruous to the present situation: Hermann Warm was whistling. I did not know the tune, but it was the type I had always enjoyed, slow and maudlin, the lyrics to which would have dealt in heartbreak and death. The whistling became louder as Warm quit his hiding place and walked into the open, across the convex spine of the beaver dam and up the sandbank to his camp. He was a very talented whistler, and the song plummeted and soared, quivering in the air and disappearing into the hush of the river. It went on and on, and Charlie, without speaking a word, stood and began walking down the hill. I did not know the plan and neither could he have known the plan. Warm did not know the plan and Morris could not know it. There was no plan. But I found myself likewise hiking down, and with no thought to conceal our approach. Warm was facing us now, looking up the hill in our direction, searching us out, the song on his lips growing ever more tremulous and romantic. His arms were spread, the way an entertainer spreads his arms, as if to envelop an audience.
We walked across the dam and onto the shore. Warm’s tune gave out as we stood face-to-face. He was a wild-looking man, shorter than me by a full foot, and he stank of alcohol and bitter tobacco. His shoulders and arms were thin and he was thin hipped but his belly was great and round and he was not afraid of us in the least, which is to say he was not afraid of death, and I thought I liked him very much; and I could see by the show of whistling, of standing in the clear the way he had that Charlie was also impressed with his boldness and strength of character. Warm offered his hand, first to Charlie and then myself, and we took turns having a shake and solidifying our alliance. After this there was a gap in time where no one knew quite what to say or do. Morris, not yet prepared to socialize, had stayed behind in the bushes with the whiskey.
Chapter 49
We stoked the fire and sat to discuss our partnership. Charlie was for dumping a barrelful of the formula that night but Warm demurred, saying he and Morris were drunk and exhausted besides. Morris, I should say, eventually emerged from his hiding place, gripping his arm in discomfort but hoping to appear nonchalant or cavalier about it. You could see he was troubled by our joining up with them; I watched Charlie watching him and was concerned about what my brother might say or do to the man. It was a relief when he greeted Morris without malevolence, extending his hand and saying he hoped they would let bygones be bygones. Morris shook Charlie’s hand reflexively; looking at me, he shrugged, and passed over a long silver flask. His mustache was frayed at its ends and his eyes were red and swollen and he said, ‘I’m tired, Hermann.’ Warm regarded him with fondness. ‘It has been a long one, has it not, my friend? Well, why don’t you go sleep it off. We’ll all have a rest and regroup as a quartet in the morning.’ Morris said no more, but retired to his tent. I had a drink of whiskey and handed the flask to Charlie. He took a drink and passed it to Warm. Warm took a short sip and screwed the top on tight, hiding the flask away in his coat pocket as if to say: That is enough of that. He licked his palm to smooth his hair and tugged on his lapels to straighten them. He was working through a fog, making an attempt at seriousness.
It was decided my brother and I would keep half of whatever we culled from the river, and that the remainder would go to what Warm called the Company.
‘The Company being you and Morris,’ Charlie said.
‘Yes, but it’s not as though the profits will be spent at the saloon. They will be used to finance future excursions, similar to this one, though more ambitious, and so more costly. Anyway, if this goes as I believe it might, the Company will grow quickly, with several operations under way simultaneously, and there will be opportunities to become further involved should one prove himself trustworthy. As for now, why don’t we wait and see if you and your brother can make it through this modest expedition without slitting my and Morris’s throats, eh?’
Fair enough, I thought. Warm began itching his ankles and shins and I asked him, ‘Did you pull very much from the river last night?’
He said, ‘We were so tickled with the spectacle that a good amount of time was wasted simply staring and wading and laughing and congratulating each other, when we should have been working. But in the quarter hour we labored before the gold ceased its glowing we removed what would have taken us a month if we had panned it. The formula works, all right. It works just as well as I had hoped or better.’ Looking over his shoulder at the river, Warm was contented to be thinking of his successes, and I felt a powerful envy as I watched him. He was reaping the benefits, both monetary and spiritual, of his hard labors and intelligence, and it made me think of my own path, which by comparison was so much the more thoughtless and heartless one. Charlie was also studying Warm, though his expression read less of admiration than enigmatic curiosity. Warm I do not think noticed our attentions to his person, and continued with his story: ‘It was just the prettiest thing I have ever seen, gentlemen. Hundreds upon hundreds of pieces of gold, each of them lit up, bright as a candle flame. I will call it the most pleasing work I’ve taken part in, stepping up and back in the water and sand, picking out the golden stones and plunking them into the bucket.’ His eyes were sharp and focused at the memory; a shiver ran through me as I gazed at the river and imagined it as he had described. ‘Twenty-four hours,’ he said, ‘then you will see for yourselves.’