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<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 1897465" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p><strong>Chapter Fifty-six, “Perfect End to a Perfect Day”, January 7th, 1882:</strong></p><p></p><p>Back at the Lone Star, Tony Lucky is cursing the fact that neither Job nor Jake was playing Van Horne. Thus far he had wiped out the finances of three of the other five players at the table and it was obvious that nobody else was willing to jump in. It had started out a good night for Tony, but now he was down $ 55 from where he started, and only had another $ 35 left before he would have to hit Tom up for money, which he hated to do. Van Horne just sat back, eating his fried chicken and drinking his bourbon. Meanwhile, Stanley was having the time of his life, having gone through the entire Sullivan Songbook and was now starting to play a few miscellaneous pieces that he had brought with him.</p><p></p><p>A block away Jake shrugs his shoulders and starts to walk away. He stops, looks over his shoulder and says "Would any of you fine ladies like an escort?" Katherine seems oblivious to any dangers in the room. She gives Jake a sad little smile and joins him outside. "Wanna drink?" she asks, shaking the bottle. Jake blinks hard and tries not to laugh. "How could I refuse such an attractive and elegant woman?" He offers her his arm. Once he has Katherine in tow he turns slightly and offers Ruby his other arm. "It wouldn't be right if the two most beautiful women in Promise City went without an escort." Jake tries to mouth silently to Ruby the words 'We need to talk'.</p><p></p><p>"Jake, what about my gun..." Ruby whines. "Maybe I should just shoot him with my other gun and get it back?" she thinks out loud. She lets Jake take her arm and drag her away. As soon as they are out of earshot, "Well, at least I got his wallet..." She leans in really close to Jake, closer than she needed to, and whispers in his ear. "What did you want to talk about?"</p><p></p><p>He was about to scold her for not following his lead with the bouncer so he could get her gun back. Then for a moment Jake forgot what he wanted to talk about. Katherine tugged accidentally on his other arm trying to remain balanced and was looking quite maudlin; and that was enough to get his brain working again. Though there was no longer any need, he whispered back to her "Your pretty glass ball is broken." He wasn't sure how she was going to react. "The glass ball with the green stuff from the church. This is the effect the priest warned about." Ruby replies, “Jake what are you talking about? The green ball should be fine. We put it in a good spot.” Ruby feels herself start to get weepy. He leads the two ladies over to shadowy section of a boardwalk to sit down.</p><p></p><p>Katherine sat down with a thump. Jake and Ruby were talking about something, but they were always talking about something. She sniffled and stifled a yawn. "Jake, did you want a drink?" she asked, not really listening for the answer. The bottle was still about a quarter full. Kate looked at it. It would be quite unseemly to drink it straight from the bottle. With a sudden smile she looked at her other hand and saw the glass still in it. She poured herself a generous amount and held the bottle up for Jake. "Where are we going now?" she asked.</p><p></p><p>"Thanks Katherine." He takes the bottle and touches it to the rim of her glass. "Cheers." He takes swallow. "Where do you want to go? I came from the Lone Star a little while ago and Tom is ready to apologize for anything at this point. I'm not sure what happened, but you can go back there if you want. Or not. You have choices before you." He taps the bottle to glass again and has another swallow. "But if I may be so forward, you should head back to Cantina and go to bed and let the choices wait for tomorrow. If you won't do that, then at least just stay at the Cantina so Dorita can get you off to bed when you can't stand anymore." </p><p></p><p>Kate exclaims, "I don't want to go back to the Lone Star. Dorita is nice. Everyone is nice at the Cantina, except that horrible Juan Gomez. He's like Tom Whipple, only he's honest about it." Kate's eyes are full of tears as Jake lifts up her chin a little and say, "Smile, you got friends." He looks over to Ruby and back to Katherine and finishes, "We'll maybe not ordinary friends... but friends." Ruby exclaims, “Why aren’t we ordinary friends?” With that Ruby starts crying uncontrollably, sobbing. “Why aren’t we friendddssss….” “Thank you," Kate said, oblivious to Ruby, and clicked her glass against the now nearly empty bottle. She looked at the gold band still circling her left ring finger. "I miss him," she said, her voice catching. "Friends help." </p><p></p><p>Jake covers his face with his hands and mumbles something about shooting rustlers was safer. He rubs his face and gets up. "Back when I was in Chicago, I met an old coot working in the cattle yards." He offers his hand to one and then the other woman. "He was ill mannered, smelled bad and usually was drunker 'n a skunk." He fumbles for a minute but manages to get the two of them reattached to his arms. "His name was Caleb White, and though at first it appeared he had no redeeming qualities we learned over time that he was a font of wisdom." He steers the ladies towards the Cantina. "I remember one day he said to me Silver Dollar, never miss a good chance to shut up" Hoping his pointless story distracts them he tries to lead them into the Cantina. "I'm so embarrassed, I never cry," Ruby sobs. "I'm so bad at it..."</p><p></p><p>At the Cantina Jake tries to get the ladies to go upstairs to their rooms. Failing that he asks Sonoma to keep an eye on them, keep Gomez away from them, and to get them upstairs when she can. Jake then heads over to the Lone Star in the highly unlikely event there is still a poker game for him deal. </p><p></p><p>Ruby decides she needs to have a few drinks to knock herself out before she heads to bed. She is still weepy and headachy and moody, not like herself at all. She quietly sits at a table until she gets tired enough to pass out. Kate sat downstairs in the cantina for a little while. She finished off her bottle as she tried to comfort Ruby. It wasn't long before her head was almost hitting the table. </p><p></p><p>She gave Ruby a kiss on the cheek and staggered over to the stairs. A moment later an arm slipped behind her and helped her up. "Thank you, Dorita," Katherine said. The elven woman helped her into her room and to get undressed and settled into bed. Dorita blew out the lamp and headed for the door. Kate's hand was running over the night table. "Tom," she said insistently. Dorita came quietly back and handed her the framed picture. "Thank you," Kate yawned. She was sleeping before Dorita shut the door.</p><p></p><p>Jake arrives back at the Lone Star. It is now a few minutes after midnight and over ninety minutes since Jake had left. There are only a dozen people left in the room. As suspected, no poker games are going on. Tony Lucky's table is empty and Tony is sitting at the bar talking to Al Brower and Brower's friend. Maggie is sitting at the piano and playing for the Stanley and Helen Barker, who are dancing together up on the dance stage. Jake hears the sound of dishes being washed out in the kitchen, and assumes that is where Tom Whipple is.</p><p></p><p>Jake heads over to the bar. "Sorry Al, not much of a poker night for you. Tom sent me on an errand I didn't have much luck with. How was your game tonight Tony?" Tony replies "Van Horne took me for everything I had, same with everyone else at my table. Tom will usually front me money when I need it but felt this would be a case of just throwing it down the outhouse so refused. Tom suggested to him that you'd be back soon to start up another game but Van Horne wasn't interested and left. Tom at least got some money from him, the guy left a $ 20 tip for finding him that bottle of Kentucky Bourbon."</p><p></p><p>Jake comments, "Fortunately for me my money appears not to be good enough for Van Horne. Tony, is that guy really that good? Or is there more to it? Tony replies "Best I've ever seen. Job too, although he's sure the guy is cheating. I watched him closely all night and didn't see anything. Then again, it was the first time I ever had him at my table, so that alone was rather intimidating." Jake exclaims, “And damnation, there was Kentucky Bourbon flowing here and I missed it!" Jake looks around the bar to see if there is still a bottle around, but it isn’t. Tony replies, “Last bottle in town according to Tom." </p><p></p><p>Jake talks for a little while with the men, mostly small talk. He does inquire of Al about the quality of the gunsmithing at the shop and says he'll be stopping by this week. To which Al introduces him to his companion, his business partner Pierre Jaquet, a master gunsmith. He bids them goodnight and gives Maggie $5 on the way by. "Not a great night, mostly because I was out chasing down folks instead of playing. They're back at their rooms now, don't worry." He doesn't stop to talk or answer any questions. She runs after him and yells "Jake, Please ask Katherine to join me for lunch tomorrow at the Promise City Hotel and Cafe. We need to talk." </p><p></p><p>He heads over to the Cantina. He finds an unoccupied table, glad the women were gone to bed. He passes on a whiskey, "I just don't feel like drinkin' any more tonight, I'm confused enough without it." He removes a small well-hidden wallet, not his regular one, and takes out a small photograph. He looks at it for a long time before putting it away. He leans his chair back up against the wall, taps his fingers together and waits quietly for Ralph Elliott. He doesn't have to wait long for Elliott to arrive.</p><p></p><p>"So tell me as much of your story as you think is useful" he tells the prospector, "why you don't trust Fisk, how you think he'll cheat you, what you did so far to protect yourselves, and where all the written agreements and legal documents are located." Jake stretches his arms a bit before leaning in a little closer, his face attentive and eyes meeting Elliott's. "And take your time."</p><p></p><p>Elliott says "We just don't trust Fisk. He's known for being greedy. But it was his mountain to begin with so what choice did we have?" He then hands Jake over his own deed to review. Jake looks it over, mentally referencing his prior experience reading legal documents. It all looks legit, but having the other lawyer in town look it over might still be a good idea. </p><p></p><p>The only clause that bothers Jake is one that requires the miners to pay for all of the extraction costs even though Fisk is entitled to the his full 60% share of the processed ore, although it thankfully makes no reference at all to who pays for the stamping, smelting and assaying costs. Jake also notes that transport of the ore to the stamping and smelting mill isn't mentioned in the deed either. </p><p></p><p>Elliott then tells a little more about the ore discovery. Jake watches the eyes carefully and concludes that the man is being truthful to him. "I have to agree with you, it is a good idea to have another lawyer review this. I have no experience running a mining operation, and no great desire to either. However I might be useful in helping to negotiate the business arrangements from the time you load the ore on the wagons until the cash reaches your bank accounts, including security. I would think that Fisk would want his 60% to arrive safe as well. I think there are enough folks around here interested in providing services so we could get a little competitive bidding going. I might also be a deterrent to Fisk taking any actions that might swindle you men out of your hard earned share." </p><p></p><p>Jake pauses to let Elliott have a moment to think. "Look, I'm not here to swindle you out of your fortune." Well not all of it anyway Jake thinks to himself. "If you are interested in my help now, tell me how you and your friends would feel comfortable compensating me for my efforts. Or you can just reward me for my little contribution tonight. If you get into trouble later you could come looking to see if I am available to get you out of it. Of course it is always better not to get into trouble in the first place...." </p><p></p><p>Elliott says that he will have to discuss this with his three partners but he is willing to recommend Jake's continued assistance. Jake says "That fine, as I said earlier, I have an errand to do tomorrow. Talk to your friends and we can discuss this further tomorrow night."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 1897465, member: 8530"] [B]Chapter Fifty-six, “Perfect End to a Perfect Day”, January 7th, 1882:[/B] Back at the Lone Star, Tony Lucky is cursing the fact that neither Job nor Jake was playing Van Horne. Thus far he had wiped out the finances of three of the other five players at the table and it was obvious that nobody else was willing to jump in. It had started out a good night for Tony, but now he was down $ 55 from where he started, and only had another $ 35 left before he would have to hit Tom up for money, which he hated to do. Van Horne just sat back, eating his fried chicken and drinking his bourbon. Meanwhile, Stanley was having the time of his life, having gone through the entire Sullivan Songbook and was now starting to play a few miscellaneous pieces that he had brought with him. A block away Jake shrugs his shoulders and starts to walk away. He stops, looks over his shoulder and says "Would any of you fine ladies like an escort?" Katherine seems oblivious to any dangers in the room. She gives Jake a sad little smile and joins him outside. "Wanna drink?" she asks, shaking the bottle. Jake blinks hard and tries not to laugh. "How could I refuse such an attractive and elegant woman?" He offers her his arm. Once he has Katherine in tow he turns slightly and offers Ruby his other arm. "It wouldn't be right if the two most beautiful women in Promise City went without an escort." Jake tries to mouth silently to Ruby the words 'We need to talk'. "Jake, what about my gun..." Ruby whines. "Maybe I should just shoot him with my other gun and get it back?" she thinks out loud. She lets Jake take her arm and drag her away. As soon as they are out of earshot, "Well, at least I got his wallet..." She leans in really close to Jake, closer than she needed to, and whispers in his ear. "What did you want to talk about?" He was about to scold her for not following his lead with the bouncer so he could get her gun back. Then for a moment Jake forgot what he wanted to talk about. Katherine tugged accidentally on his other arm trying to remain balanced and was looking quite maudlin; and that was enough to get his brain working again. Though there was no longer any need, he whispered back to her "Your pretty glass ball is broken." He wasn't sure how she was going to react. "The glass ball with the green stuff from the church. This is the effect the priest warned about." Ruby replies, “Jake what are you talking about? The green ball should be fine. We put it in a good spot.” Ruby feels herself start to get weepy. He leads the two ladies over to shadowy section of a boardwalk to sit down. Katherine sat down with a thump. Jake and Ruby were talking about something, but they were always talking about something. She sniffled and stifled a yawn. "Jake, did you want a drink?" she asked, not really listening for the answer. The bottle was still about a quarter full. Kate looked at it. It would be quite unseemly to drink it straight from the bottle. With a sudden smile she looked at her other hand and saw the glass still in it. She poured herself a generous amount and held the bottle up for Jake. "Where are we going now?" she asked. "Thanks Katherine." He takes the bottle and touches it to the rim of her glass. "Cheers." He takes swallow. "Where do you want to go? I came from the Lone Star a little while ago and Tom is ready to apologize for anything at this point. I'm not sure what happened, but you can go back there if you want. Or not. You have choices before you." He taps the bottle to glass again and has another swallow. "But if I may be so forward, you should head back to Cantina and go to bed and let the choices wait for tomorrow. If you won't do that, then at least just stay at the Cantina so Dorita can get you off to bed when you can't stand anymore." Kate exclaims, "I don't want to go back to the Lone Star. Dorita is nice. Everyone is nice at the Cantina, except that horrible Juan Gomez. He's like Tom Whipple, only he's honest about it." Kate's eyes are full of tears as Jake lifts up her chin a little and say, "Smile, you got friends." He looks over to Ruby and back to Katherine and finishes, "We'll maybe not ordinary friends... but friends." Ruby exclaims, “Why aren’t we ordinary friends?” With that Ruby starts crying uncontrollably, sobbing. “Why aren’t we friendddssss….” “Thank you," Kate said, oblivious to Ruby, and clicked her glass against the now nearly empty bottle. She looked at the gold band still circling her left ring finger. "I miss him," she said, her voice catching. "Friends help." Jake covers his face with his hands and mumbles something about shooting rustlers was safer. He rubs his face and gets up. "Back when I was in Chicago, I met an old coot working in the cattle yards." He offers his hand to one and then the other woman. "He was ill mannered, smelled bad and usually was drunker 'n a skunk." He fumbles for a minute but manages to get the two of them reattached to his arms. "His name was Caleb White, and though at first it appeared he had no redeeming qualities we learned over time that he was a font of wisdom." He steers the ladies towards the Cantina. "I remember one day he said to me Silver Dollar, never miss a good chance to shut up" Hoping his pointless story distracts them he tries to lead them into the Cantina. "I'm so embarrassed, I never cry," Ruby sobs. "I'm so bad at it..." At the Cantina Jake tries to get the ladies to go upstairs to their rooms. Failing that he asks Sonoma to keep an eye on them, keep Gomez away from them, and to get them upstairs when she can. Jake then heads over to the Lone Star in the highly unlikely event there is still a poker game for him deal. Ruby decides she needs to have a few drinks to knock herself out before she heads to bed. She is still weepy and headachy and moody, not like herself at all. She quietly sits at a table until she gets tired enough to pass out. Kate sat downstairs in the cantina for a little while. She finished off her bottle as she tried to comfort Ruby. It wasn't long before her head was almost hitting the table. She gave Ruby a kiss on the cheek and staggered over to the stairs. A moment later an arm slipped behind her and helped her up. "Thank you, Dorita," Katherine said. The elven woman helped her into her room and to get undressed and settled into bed. Dorita blew out the lamp and headed for the door. Kate's hand was running over the night table. "Tom," she said insistently. Dorita came quietly back and handed her the framed picture. "Thank you," Kate yawned. She was sleeping before Dorita shut the door. Jake arrives back at the Lone Star. It is now a few minutes after midnight and over ninety minutes since Jake had left. There are only a dozen people left in the room. As suspected, no poker games are going on. Tony Lucky's table is empty and Tony is sitting at the bar talking to Al Brower and Brower's friend. Maggie is sitting at the piano and playing for the Stanley and Helen Barker, who are dancing together up on the dance stage. Jake hears the sound of dishes being washed out in the kitchen, and assumes that is where Tom Whipple is. Jake heads over to the bar. "Sorry Al, not much of a poker night for you. Tom sent me on an errand I didn't have much luck with. How was your game tonight Tony?" Tony replies "Van Horne took me for everything I had, same with everyone else at my table. Tom will usually front me money when I need it but felt this would be a case of just throwing it down the outhouse so refused. Tom suggested to him that you'd be back soon to start up another game but Van Horne wasn't interested and left. Tom at least got some money from him, the guy left a $ 20 tip for finding him that bottle of Kentucky Bourbon." Jake comments, "Fortunately for me my money appears not to be good enough for Van Horne. Tony, is that guy really that good? Or is there more to it? Tony replies "Best I've ever seen. Job too, although he's sure the guy is cheating. I watched him closely all night and didn't see anything. Then again, it was the first time I ever had him at my table, so that alone was rather intimidating." Jake exclaims, “And damnation, there was Kentucky Bourbon flowing here and I missed it!" Jake looks around the bar to see if there is still a bottle around, but it isn’t. Tony replies, “Last bottle in town according to Tom." Jake talks for a little while with the men, mostly small talk. He does inquire of Al about the quality of the gunsmithing at the shop and says he'll be stopping by this week. To which Al introduces him to his companion, his business partner Pierre Jaquet, a master gunsmith. He bids them goodnight and gives Maggie $5 on the way by. "Not a great night, mostly because I was out chasing down folks instead of playing. They're back at their rooms now, don't worry." He doesn't stop to talk or answer any questions. She runs after him and yells "Jake, Please ask Katherine to join me for lunch tomorrow at the Promise City Hotel and Cafe. We need to talk." He heads over to the Cantina. He finds an unoccupied table, glad the women were gone to bed. He passes on a whiskey, "I just don't feel like drinkin' any more tonight, I'm confused enough without it." He removes a small well-hidden wallet, not his regular one, and takes out a small photograph. He looks at it for a long time before putting it away. He leans his chair back up against the wall, taps his fingers together and waits quietly for Ralph Elliott. He doesn't have to wait long for Elliott to arrive. "So tell me as much of your story as you think is useful" he tells the prospector, "why you don't trust Fisk, how you think he'll cheat you, what you did so far to protect yourselves, and where all the written agreements and legal documents are located." Jake stretches his arms a bit before leaning in a little closer, his face attentive and eyes meeting Elliott's. "And take your time." Elliott says "We just don't trust Fisk. He's known for being greedy. But it was his mountain to begin with so what choice did we have?" He then hands Jake over his own deed to review. Jake looks it over, mentally referencing his prior experience reading legal documents. It all looks legit, but having the other lawyer in town look it over might still be a good idea. The only clause that bothers Jake is one that requires the miners to pay for all of the extraction costs even though Fisk is entitled to the his full 60% share of the processed ore, although it thankfully makes no reference at all to who pays for the stamping, smelting and assaying costs. Jake also notes that transport of the ore to the stamping and smelting mill isn't mentioned in the deed either. Elliott then tells a little more about the ore discovery. Jake watches the eyes carefully and concludes that the man is being truthful to him. "I have to agree with you, it is a good idea to have another lawyer review this. I have no experience running a mining operation, and no great desire to either. However I might be useful in helping to negotiate the business arrangements from the time you load the ore on the wagons until the cash reaches your bank accounts, including security. I would think that Fisk would want his 60% to arrive safe as well. I think there are enough folks around here interested in providing services so we could get a little competitive bidding going. I might also be a deterrent to Fisk taking any actions that might swindle you men out of your hard earned share." Jake pauses to let Elliott have a moment to think. "Look, I'm not here to swindle you out of your fortune." Well not all of it anyway Jake thinks to himself. "If you are interested in my help now, tell me how you and your friends would feel comfortable compensating me for my efforts. Or you can just reward me for my little contribution tonight. If you get into trouble later you could come looking to see if I am available to get you out of it. Of course it is always better not to get into trouble in the first place...." Elliott says that he will have to discuss this with his three partners but he is willing to recommend Jake's continued assistance. Jake says "That fine, as I said earlier, I have an errand to do tomorrow. Talk to your friends and we can discuss this further tomorrow night." [/QUOTE]
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