"Ballots & Bullets" (TSR Module BH3) Concluded!

[Silver Moon]

Chapter One-hundred-ninety-nine, “Romeo and Juliet”, Friday, June 16th, 7:30 P.M.

After Kate finishes talking to Emery Shaw and returns to Edwin he asks, "Friend of yours? You seemed rather comfortable chatting with him. " "Yes, another rancher, he's been here for years. Our town elections are this week and he's running for mayor on the ticket I've been working for. He suggested once that I was comfortable with him because he reminds me of my father," she laughed. "Which he does in some ways." “How does owning a ranch qualify somebody to be a political leader," he asks sincerely.

"It doesn't, at least not by itself," Kate answered truthfully. "But it's a large place with many hands, all of which he has to manage and make sure everything is taken care of, which is one of the skills a Mayor needs. He also head up our new Cattleman's Association to facilitate the ranches working together to get everyone up and running, instead of us competing against each other.

He's lived here a long time, so has experience dealing with the difficulties of life in Cochise County, more than any human here. And he understands the need to compromise. Everyone is here for different reasons. We have to accommodate miners, ranchers, merchants, farmers, gamblers, and saloon-keepers. He is looking toward the long-term and making sure this community is one that can survive even after the mines play out."

Booth says, "Well I wish him luck. If this town survives a weekend with all of the gunslingers present followed by a trial of Wyatt Earp it will be a small miracle." Kate says, "Miracles are more commonplace than you'd think, sir. There will still be a town to govern after the weekend is over. The jail might be full and it might take a week to have all the trials, but we'll still be here."

The members of the orchestra return to their places, a clear sign that Act II is soon to begin. Harry Rote calls out "Last Call" at the bar. Stanley Barker returns to the piano, Warren Watson stowing away his sheet music in the satchel which he then pushes up along the side of the piano and then walks over to the bar and orders a drink. Audience members return to the seats as Stanley Barker begins to play a Chopin piece accompanied by Edith Berman on clarinet, Pedro Figures on violin and Sandra Wainwright on cello. As the music began Kate became quickly absorbed by the piece, forgetting the serious conversations of the day in the beauty being creating by her friends.

Chester and Clarisse continue to sit near the back of the theatre. She is engrossed in the performance, so isn't upset as Chester scans the crowd, looking for anyone on the Wanted lists or just trouble in general. Jake turns to go back inside, but he does not take the necessary steps forward. The crowd gathers and settles in, the music starts and the play begins all with Jake still outside. Instead, he settles comfortably on the porch, sipping his tequila and pondering.

Act II begins and Conrad throws everything he has into his performance as Romeo scales the Capulet's wall to be near Juliet, the woman he cannot forget... Unnoticed in Juliet's orchard, Romeo learns of Juliet's love for him. After declaring their feelings for each other, the two decide to marry. Juliet will send Romeo a messenger in the morning to make plans for their wedding...

The very next day, we meet Romeo's friend, Friar Laurence played by Rolf Larson. He wonders how Romeo can forget Rosaline so quickly but agrees to marry the two since he hopes this marriage it will end the long running Montague / Capulet feud... During this act Kate gets to see more of Boston Harker and Shannon O'Hara, who are playing Romeo's parents Lord and Lady Montague.

Romeo catches up with his friends Mercutio and Benvolio. Juliet's messenger, the Nurse, arrives and the wedding is set for later that day. The Nurse brings Romeo "cords" or ropes which will allow Romeo to climb into Juliet's bedchamber as her husband later that night... Act II ends with Romeo and Juliet's marriage by Friar John.

There is a short break on stage for set changes between Acts II and III but the house lights remain low and the orchestra keeps the audience entertaining with a short intermission piece. The next act begins with Benvolio and Mercutio of the Monigues meeting Tybalt of the Capulets. Tybalt attempts to provoke Romeo into fighting. An amazing sword fight ensues with Estaban Fuente and Hans Schmidt putting their full gusto into the sword fight that takes them from one end of the stage to the other. Tybalt and is killed. Romeo then kills Tybalt.

Escalus, the Prince of Verona banishes Romeo from Verona threatening death should he ever return. Juliet learns of Romeo killing Tybalt and despite being torn between her loyalty for her family and Romeo, mourns her husband Romeo's banishment. Romeo learns of the banishment order, realizing he will not be able to see Juliet again. Friar Laurence suggests Romeo go to Juliet's bed chamber to comfort his wife... Capulet, who does not know of Romeo and Juliet's marriage, decides that the marriage of Juliet to Paris must now proceed, bidding his wife to make Juliet aware of Paris' love for her.

The day of the marriage has been decided; it will be Thursday. We learn that Romeo has spent the night with his Juliet. Juliet who is now already secretly married to Romeo, learns that she is to marry Paris. She tries to fight her father's wishes, failing to dissuade him. Juliet decides to commit suicide if all else fails...

Kate's eyes were glued to Conrad as the next act unfolded. It was strange to hear the passion in his voice that she'd only heard before when they were alone, but there was something about his eyes that told her this was acting. The look at was only for her was absent. Being familiar with the play Kate was able to pay more attention to the actors and being pleased with how well they were doing. The sight of Shannon O'Hara made her mind wander for a moment wondering how the young woman was doing with her new mission, but she trained her mind back to the play.

As the act ends the actors depart the stage and the house lights are brought back up. Stanley Barker continues to play until Watkins makes his way back to the piano with a slight sway in his walk, him having apparently spent the act at the bar drinking. Watkins retrieves his music and begins to plunk out common saloon tunes on the piano as Harry again announces that the bar is open for drinks during this intermission before the final act.

Kate is then approached by banker Paul Stevens and his wife Mina. Stevens says, "Mrs. Kale, when you have an opportunity I would like a word with you about enrolling our daughters Jackie and Agatha in your school." Kate says, “Of course, we'd be pleased to have them." Kate glanced toward the piano, hoping Sandra or Stanley were close enough to stop Mr. Watson. Stanley had not wandered far from the piano and returns there. While Watson is still playing the first song Stanley looks through the stack of sheet music that Watson took from his satchel to find some pieces more appropriate for a theater atmosphere. When Watkins finishes the song Barker passes the sheets over to the pianist.

Kate continues her conversation with the Stevens, "The school is set up a little differently than most. Since the children have had varying opportunities for education before, we give new students an exam to gauge how far along they are, then place them in the classes that are appropriate for them. In the afternoon we give the students a chance to either study a non-traditional subject that is of interest to them, or give them extra time to work on anything they might be struggling with.

I'm still making the arrangements, but within the next few weeks I hope to start taking the older students to different businesses around town so they can see what careers are available in a town like Promise City. I have all the necessary books at the school, so all you'd have to do is bring your girls over on Monday morning and we can get them settled in."

The fastidious banker states, "That is all? Isn't there some sort of paperwork that needs to be filled out? Kate says, "If I had to charge tuition there would be, and of course before we actually start taking the children out of the school for any kind of visits to businesses we'll want to have written permission from their parents. There are a few questions we'll ask when you drop them off, things like who you'd like us to contact if your daughters aren't feeling well or have an emergency, any special concerns like difficulty seeing far away or hearing, and any special concerns of yours. We'll keep that in your daughter's file."

Stevens replies, "Well thank you then, we will see you on Monday." Kate says, "I'll look forward to it. Enjoy the rest of the play; it's not often we get a chance to see Shakespeare performed." Mr. Stevens escorted his wife back to her seat as Kate considered for a moment. He might be the first of the parents to start looking over their shoulders.

She turned back to her own escort. "Except for Mr. Watson, I'm impressed so far. I missed the fencing competition at our festival this spring, I didn't realize how talented our gentlemen were." "Which of the actors was Watson?" Edwin asks. She says, "Oh, I didn't mean one of the actors, I meant the man at the piano who began playing saloon songs. He's drunk. He's also the man you'll want to avoid at the Comique. I'll be providing the intermission music tomorrow and Sunday afternoon, so at least we won't have a repeat of that. I'm not doing it tonight only because it was a possibility I'd have to work during the performance. This saloon is owned by friends of mine and I work here on the weekends."

Booth says, "The piece he is playing now seems to be appropriate. The man playing the piano with the orchestra appears to be excellent, as was the bartender playing at the start of the evening." Kate says, "Yes, Mr. Barker, the man playing with the orchestra, made sure he had appropriate music in front of him before he started the next song. Mr. Barker plays concerts every Saturday night, alternating between here and the Comique and his is excellent. We have a fortunate collection of talented people here; most towns could not hope to do something like this."

He replies, "Indeed, before tonight I believed that you alone was what drew your own Mr. Booth here, perhaps this community has more than that to it." "Conrad was here long before I was," Kate said lightly. "I thought you knew that. I arrived in Tombstone last year in October and lived there for three months before I can here on New Year's Day. I lived at the El Parador where Conrad takes all his meals, but he never introduced himself to me. We met once in passing but we didn't become friends until I introduced myself to him again a bit later.

I don't know how the town drew so many talented people, nor so many passionate, good people. We have our share of bad as well, which you've heard about. But these people are the reason so many of us are willing to fight for this community." “If this production is any indication then your community will do well," is his reply. She answers, “"You're pleased then? I know it doesn't rival theatre in New York or San Francisco, but that could hardly be expected."

He replies, "Miss Marcus has done a remarkable job with what she has had to work with." Faint praise indeed Kate thinks. "Yes, I'm sure," Kate said simply, ready to let the man sit with his own thoughts rather than try further to draw him out. Her eyes scanned the crowd looking for any friendly faces to help bring her mood back up. Familiar faces to Kate include leather craftsman Duncan Frye, merchant Carl Berman whose wife is in the orchestra, Angelica Huesca from the El Parador with her son Ricardo who is one of Kate's students and also Maria Tolucca with the eldest two of her four children who are also Kate's students, seven-year-old Consulea and nine-year-old Roberto.

"You'll excuse me, won't you?" Kate said and didn't really listen for a response. She'd begun to wish she had told Conrad more firmly not to ask the elder Booth to escort her for the evening, but it had seemed so important to him and it was a simple thing to do. She got a glass of water from Harry at the bar and spent a bit of time walking through the crowd until she landed near Angelica Huesca. "I'm glad to see you both here. Do you like the play, Ricardo?" He replies, "Si, Estaban did a wonderful job in the swordfight."

Angelica says, "Katherine, won't it harm your reputation being seen speaking to me?" "Not with anyone I care to worry over," she said with a smile. "Your son is one of my students, I don't see anything untoward for anyone to talk about. And I used to live at the El Parador, I'm sure people realize we know one another. I doubt I have much of a reputation to protect anyway." Angelica replies, "You are very gracious, I can't say the same for everybody. Several people have been giving me unwelcome looks ever since I arrived. I was tempted to leave, but Ricardo wanted so much to see the play."

Kate states, "You have as much right to be here as anyone else. I tend to decide who I like on different criteria than most. You are an honest woman without hatred making sacrifices for her family. What fault am I to find? Are you enjoying the play yourself?" She states, "Oh yes, it is wonderful. If this town has another I may audition myself." Kate replies, "I hope there will be. There seems to be enough interest, and if the other two performances draw enough patrons it would be a real possibility. Perhaps three plays a year? This one was produced in, what, two weeks? With more time, so it wouldn't be such a rush I'd bet we could do very well."

Minerva asks, "What do you think of the play so far Nakomo? It is truly inspired by the gods, is it not?" Nakomo gives her a quizzical look. "Well, it is really well written and very well acted, if thats what you mean." Minerva pats his hand and gives him a melancholy smile. "You will understand what I mean when you see how it ends. It does not pay to go against the gods wishes." She warns lightly and brightens her smile, "Por favor, If you will excuse me, I feel the need to step out and get some air."

Minerva keeps her bright smile in place as she steps out onto the porch. She places her hands on the railing and leaning into it, breaths deeply of the dark pungent air. Her smile falters as her eyes search the shadow of hills in the distance causing her to wonder once again what has become of Nanuet. "Will of gods, Will of man. I am damned by both" she sighs. A man who Minerva does not recognize approaches her and says, "Are you enjoying the play Priestess?"

Minerva hides her wariness of the stranger and turns to him with a smile. "Si, Senor, It is an excellent play. Are you enjoying the play also, Senor.... I am sorry I do believe that we have met, although you seem to know me. " She says and holds her hand out to shake. "And you are?..." "Brett Maverick, I'm in town for the poker tournament," the handsome man replies. "Perhaps Hermes will smile upon you, Senor Maverick. There are many who are praying to him this night, I am sure." she chuckles.

Emily had been afraid she wouldn't be able to follow what was happening in the play, but hearing the odd language and seeing it acted out together made it much easier. During the first intermission she noticed her uncle talking to Mrs. Kale. They looked comfortable talking, and she could tell even from where she was sitting with Humphrey that Uncle said something that surprised her. He was back by the time the play started up again.

When the second intermission came Uncle got up to mingle again, doing his running-for-mayor things. Looking around the room Emily noticed Nakomo sitting with the priestess. He was so tall he looked more like a man than a boy. Maybe that's why he was so anxious to act like one. She was tempted to go say hello, but he probably didn't want to talk her. She looked self-consciously at the pretty pink dress for a moment, then turned to listen to the piano music again. Humphrey brought her a glass of lemonade from the bar and sat back down with her. "Why didn't you bring a girl, Humphrey?"

Humphrey replies, "What girl would I have brought? I don't know any girls in Promise City. Last year I courted a gal in Tombstone for a while, but I heard she married somebody else since then." "I don't know who you might know where, I only been here a week!" Emily laughed. "Just seems Ellen and Tricia both got beaus, so it seemed like you might have a girl too." She looked over where Tricia was standing with Uncle. "I think they're both a little crazy," she whispered. He whispers back, "No, you're wrong. They're A LOT crazy."

Emily laughed hard but quiet, trying not to embarrass Uncle. "How do you stand it?" He whispers back, "I spend my time with the ranch hands and cattle instead of my sisters." Emily replies, "My sister Eliza was driving me crazy at home too. But you love them, they're your sisters no matter how crazy they are sometimes. I think if Uncle would let them choose for themselves they'd be less crazy about it. You know, my brothers are younger than me, I never had an older one. I think it might be kinda nice. We can help keep each other from going crazy. At least when you're in town."

He replies, "Good, I'd like that. I figure if Pa wins Mayor I'll probably be riding into town one or twice a week to keep him updated on the ranch. Heck, that might even give me time to find a girl." Emily asks, "Is having a girl important, or just nice? People seem in such a hurry to have someone. Like in the play, Romeo was all mopey about one girl and married a different one the next day!" Humphrey Shaw smiles and says, "You'll understand once you are a little bit older."
"You all keep saying that!" Emily said, half-laughing, half-serious. "Just seems to me letting someone get close like that is an awful good way to get hurt." He replies, "The good outweighs the bad, I just have to think back at what my folks had together to realize that."

Emily comments, "I don't remember much about when my folks were together. When Ma got married again... I know she loves my Stepfather, but with five of us kids in the house they both work so hard I guess we don't see much of anything else." Emily shrugged. "Seems all I talk about since I got here is romantic stuff. I just don't like not understanding stuff, I guess, and Ellen and Tricia's lives revolve around it. Guess I'll just have to get used to not getting it, since I ain't never gonna understand it no matter how old I get!"

He replies, "Okay, how about I talk to you about ranching instead. I also know far more about that than I do about romance." She nodded enthusiastically. "It must be wonderful to live out where you can see all the way to the horizon with nothing but trees and grass and cows. But it's hard work too, isn't it?"

Several people exit the saloon during the second intermission, interrupting Jake's contemplation. Three of the people who come outside together are Silverbell Mine owner Elton Hubbard, his chief clerk Earl Hogan and Morgan Condon. Hogan hands the other two cigars and lights up a third one for himself. Jake interjects, "Good evening gentlemen, a lovely night. Are you enjoying the play or is the poker tournament more to your liking?" Hubbard exclaims "We wouldn't sully ourselves with gambling Mr. Cook, we are simply here for the theater." Hogon adds, "The Hubbards have always been patrons of the arts." Jake nods and shrugs, "Well, I am pleased we could do our small part to allow this to happen then." Jake turns back to his thoughts.

The house lights are flickered to indicate that people should return to their seats as Harry Rote again yells out "Last Call" at the bar. Emily got settled down again as her Uncle returned to his seat between her and Tricia. During each intermission he had to go and talk to people since he was running for mayor. She wasn't sure how much she liked it, but since she'd be pretty busy starting tomorrow maybe she wouldn't mind. She smiled a sunny smile at him and then turned to pay attention to the stage.

Kate said good night to Angelica and wound her way back to her seat, taking it quietly and waiting for the final acts of the play to unfold. The musicians return to their places. Stanley Barker waits impatiently for Warren Watson to complete his current piece of music, Watson having chosen to include an optional final stanza. Stanley then sits back down at the keyboards and begins the music chosen to introduce Act IV as Watson stows away his music in his satchel. Most of the audience has now returned to their seats and the house lights are dimmed.

Act IV, Scene I begins with Friar Lawrence played by Rolf Larson and Paris played by Sergeant Ball, entering from the left side of the stage. Paris speaks of Tybalts death and of the effect it has had on the Capulet family.

While this is going on the intoxicated Warren Watson heads back down the main aisle. In the row opposite that which Kate is sitting he stumbles over his own feet and falls against the left hand aisle seat occupied by Bif Johnson, Watson’s left hand falling on the barber's lap by the satchel and right hand strike the floor. "Watch it Watson," Bif exclaims, just loud enough that it can be heard from the stage and a moment after Juliet has made her entrance. Breaking character for a second, Josephine Marcus gives Johnson and Watkins an icy stare.

Kate tried to ignore the interruption, but her eyes automatically sought out Jeff Mills. Hopefully Watson would quietly move on, if not they would need Jeff. Watson lets go of Bif Johnson and grabs the back of Bif's chair with his left hand as he starts to stand. He reaches for the satchel but instead of grabbing the handle he reaches inside instead. The then pulls the hand out, drawing a revolver, which he immediately points in the direction of Edwin Booth.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter Two-hundred, “Assassination Attempt”, Friday, June 16th, 8:30 P.M.

Warren Watson draws his revolver which he points in the direction of Edwin Booth. "Get down!" Kate hissed. She grabbed Edwin's arm and pulled, hoping he'd be startled enough that she could pull him out of his seat. The effort lifted her out of her seat, so she lagged behind the man and getting down to the floor herself.

Watson fires off his first shot, striking Edwin Booth in the chest a few inches above the heart. As he is firing from a side angle the bullet does not penetrate further into his chest but instead crosses into his left shoulder, exiting from there and flying into Kate's upper right arm where it comes to a stop. Watson takes aim once again as he yells out "Lincoln is Avenged!"

Jake hears a gunshot inside his saloon, which breaks his reverie. Without pausing to consider what might be happening, his Colt is in his hand and he takes the five steps through the front door of the Lucky Lady. Kate tried to support Booth's weight with her left arm and shoulder even as blood began to run down her right arm. For once she wasn't armed and casting was out of the question. She grabbed Booth's now empty chair and flung it toward Watson.

Minerva hears the gunshot and drawing her pistol from her skirts runs back in the building in time to see Kate fling the chair. Kate's chair toss misses, landing on the floor in between her and Watson as he fires his revolver a second time, striking Edwin Booth in the abdomen, who slumps downward before Kate. The room then fills with light although the house lights are still down. Several women in the audience scream. Deputy Helen Barker has her gun drawn but hasn't found her target yet, her focus at the moment apparently being shielding and protecting her husband.

Jake's eyes take a second to adjust and then he sees Watson pointing a revolver, and with Jake's view of the semi-collapsed Edwin Booth blocked by the rows of chairs it appears that Watson is pointing the gun at Kate from point blank range. Minerva prays quickly to her Goddess to stop this maniac.

There was nowhere Kate could hide or go to get out of the way, and she couldn't leave Mr. Booth here to be killed. She flung herself toward Watson's knees hoping to knock him off his feet and hopefully drop the gun.

Minerva's spell is successful, freezing Watson in place like a statue. Jakes eyes go dark and he points his trusted Colt at Watson, firing a single, expertly aimed round at the man before he can fire at Katherine again. Kate simultaneous tumbles into him, causing the statue to fall at just the wrong moment as both Jake Cook and Helen Barker's shots would have stuck his head had he stayed in place. Instead, both shots continue onward, Jake's traveling to the stage and striking actor Rolf Lawson in the foot, and Helen's traveling four rows back and striking Earl Hogan in the chest.

Kate scrambled back to Edwin Booth as she looked for the source of the strange light that had entered the room. Her own arm was screaming with pain but she was in no danger. She ripped off her long glove from her left arm and tried to slow his bleeding. "I need help here!" Emily's Uncle was already up and moving and Humphrey had put his arm around her shoulder and moved protectively between her and the man with the gun. Several things happened at once and the man fell, so Emily dared a glance and saw that someone on the stage had been shot. She listened and looked to make sure the shooting had stopped, then tried to wiggle away from Humphrey to go help.

Jake holsters his weapon quickly, seeing the immediate threat removed. Minerva answers Katherine's plea, and arrives quickly at their side. She immediately begins praying to the goddess with one hand upon her necklace. Michael George is now standing atop the bar with his shotgun while Jeff Mills is blocking the door with a revolver in his hand. Biff Johnson picks up Watson's gun and hands it to Deputy Barker who rushes forward. Father Thomas Valdez, who had been sitting in the back row, rushes forward. Job Kane tells him "Thanks for the light spell." Valdez replies, "It wasn't me, clerical light is a different shade than this, a wizard was responsible."

Emily notices the woman behind the cello who had also been coordinating the band taps the conductor's wand that she had been using to help direct the band against her cello as she states a few words in what sounds like the Gaelic language. The illumination in the room then begins to fade. She stopped trying to get free to stare at the cellist for a moment. She wasn't sure if anyone else had noticed, but whoever it was had meant to help. It seemed to wrong to point them out.

Valdez hurries over to Silverbell Mining Clerk Hogan who appears to be the most seriously wounded of the four who were shot. Elton Hubbard helps move his friend onto the aisle floor as Valdez rips the man's shirt open, causing several of the more modest and/or squeamish women in the room to gasp and avert their eyes. Valdez pulls out a green block of clay from a shirt pocket and places it over the wound and begins an incantation.

Kate sees the Edwin Booth is in pain but still very much alive, the wound just above his beltline being the more serious of the two. Conrad Booth leaps from the stage and charges forward. Minerva uses one of the two-and-a-half-inch stones as she calls out an incantation and gold and green light flow from her hands into the abdomen wound. Kate nodded to Minerva gratefully although the other woman was probably too busy to notice. She pulled her hand away from Edwin and pulled off her other glove, wadding it against her arm. "You're going to be fine. Minerva will take good care of you."

From up on the stage Josephine Marcus calls out to the room "There will be a thirty minute intermission and then we will resume with the beginning of Act IV." She then orders the actors and musicians to regroup offstage with the exception of the wounded Rolf Larson who is being helped offstage by Don Wainwright and Conrad Booth who is now over beside Kate and Edwin. When she stopped wiggling Humphrey loosened his grip. Emily waited a second, then jumped up and ran up to the stage where the man who had been shot in the foot was carefully getting down. "I can help," she said hopefully looking at the men. "A little at least."

Conrad reaches the side of the elder Booth. "He'll be fine," Kate said, looking up at Conrad. "Minerva will take care of it." Minerva finishes the spell as the green and gold swirling spiral draws the metal bullet out of the wound and heals it over. He continues to trickle blood from his wounds by his neck and shoulder. Josephine Marcus comes up to Conrad and says, "He'll be okay. We have a play to do." Conrad turns to her and says, "Get Estaban, I'm staying with him." Kate had thought Edwin Booth to be unconscious at that point but the older man's lips now move and with a struggling voice say "No Conrad, you're a Booth....the show must go on." Kate took his hand in her left, looking up at him with soft eyes. "Go on, my dear. He wants to see you finish the play."

Helen Barker takes command of the situation, ordering four men to go fetch a pair of wagons to bring all four wounded over to Doctor Eaton's office, whether they want to go or not. She orders Chester to haul Warren Watson off to jail. She orders Harry Rote to close the bar, that no more drinks are to be served until the play is over. She then tells him to go play the piano. She then orders Clarisse Townsend to go sing until the play is ready to start again. "I'm really well enough, Mrs. Barker," Kate said. "Mr. Booth and Mr. Hogan need the Doctor most."

Emily assists Don in getting the man off the stage. The man appears to be in his early twenties, clean shaven except for a medium-length mustache. The man who she is helping mutters, "That idiot Warren, I can't believe he shot me! I have half a mind to quit working for him." "I wouldn't be working for nobody who tried to shoot people, even if it wasn't me," she said. "I'm only a student, but I can do a little healing if you want it." He says, "Hold up Don, let's see what this kid can do. You're Emery's niece aren't you?"

Don Wainwright helps him remove the shoe on his foot, and Emily sees that the bullet missed the bones and imbedded itself into the calf muscle. "Yes sir, I am. The bullet missed all your bones, but it's stuck in the muscle here," she said, pointing but not touching. "My healing isn't powerful enough to heal it up all the way, but it might feel better."

Nakomo makes his way over to Emily in time to hear the man mutter something about Warren. "Emily, are you o.k.?" he asks Emily nodded enthusiastically. "I wasn't near the shooting, I was just helping a little." She bounced on her toes waiting for Nakomo to briefly talk to the man. Maybe he would understand about the old man Jadito and the grove. The man nods for help from the girl and Emily casts the spell. The bullet remains inside but the bleeding stops and he says, "That does feel a little bit better, thanks kid. Stop by the Comique some time and I'll give you a treat." "I don't think my Uncle will let me in another saloon," Emily said, "but thanks."

Nakomo watches Emily's healing technique and comments, "Nice work." "I'm still learning. I'm going to learn more tomorrow." She and Nakomo then helped Mr. Wainwright get the man to the door. Once he was in the wagon the two youths return to the porch. Her voice got faster until the words tumbled over each other. "I went to the grove after school and met Father Valdez and and old elf named Jadito, and he said I'm to learn to be a nature priestss although I really don't know quite what that means... but he's going to come see Uncle tomorrow morning and fix it with him but I guess I'll still have to go to school."

Nakomo looks at Emily with new respect. "You are going to be trained by Jadito? I met him once. Nanuet took me to see him. He is very old and, Nanuet says, very wise. He knows a lot about plants. Minerva knows a bit about plants too and Nanuet has taught her some of what Jadito showed him. We have an herb garden in our yard that I tend.
School is important. Especially if you are going to serve the gods. There's a lot more to being a priest than knowing how to heal. A lot of stuff can be learned from books too." He pats her shoulder and self-consciously withdraws his hand. "You will be a good priestess." He looks around at the almost empty room. "Doesn't look like there's any point in hanging around here.

She says, "They're still going to finish the play, so there's lots to stay for. Father Valdez said something about Diana telling Jadito I was coming. That's kinda scary." Nakomo says "Hardly seems worth staying for. Can't be anymore exciting than what just happened. Maybe I'll come back and watch it again tomorrow. Miss Minerva says it has something to do with going against the Will of the gods and I'll get it when I watch the ending. so far it just seems like another case of people not mindin their own business." he shrugs “About the gods, talkin about you, I mean. It's nothin to be afraid of. Seems like Diana talks to everyone about someone in this town. you'll get used to it." he jokes.

Emily replies, "I don't know, Ma always said that gettin' noticed by the gods cuts both ways. Makes you feel kind of important though, and scared. But if it means I get to spend time outside doing what I like I ain't gonna complain! Wish school was outside. What do you mean it seems like Diana talks to everyone here?" He says, “Ya, It would be nice if school were outside, but Mrs. Kale does bring us on field trips and stuff. School is kinda like the gods I guess. It cuts both ways. No point in complainin. Miss Minerva says the gods don't like whiners"

He looks at her wondering how much she knows about Mrs. Kale's condition and Diana visiting the church. "It's none o my business who the gods are talking to, so it wouldn't be right for me to say. But it's no secret that the gods talk to Miss Mineva all the time." "They're supposed to talk to her, she's a priestess." Emily shrugged. "Guess I'll find out more tomorrow, no reason to worry on it now. Humphrey was trying to keep me from gettin' up, he looks kinda mad. And Uncle looks worried." Emily returns to her seat.

Kate accompanies Edwin Booth as people help the two of them to the doorway and onto one of the two waiting wagons. Helen Barker continued on insisting that Kate go right over her protests. The clerical magic has done wonders but Earl Hogan is still laid down in the back of one wagon and Edwin Booth in the other. Despite the fact that Doctor Eaton's office is only 75 feet south on Allen Street Helen insists that all four be driven there. Kate rides with Edwin while the Comique's gambler Larson rides with Hogan. It wasn't long before the wagons rolled up before Doc Eaton's office.

Doctor Eaton is waiting for them at the doorway when they arrive. Someone must have run ahead to warn him since he was ready and waiting. Kate got herself out of the wagon, then helped Edwin. Her eyes met Doctor Eaton's. "I didn't think I'd see you again so soon," she said dryly. Kate helped get the more seriously injured into the Doctor's office, trying to ignore the sharp pain in her own arm. Edwin Booth was getting around alright, thanks to Minerva's spell.

There was little hope she would be able to return and see the rest of the play, but since she would be there tomorrow and Sunday that was of little matter. She only regretted not seeing Conrad finish the show. She found a chair to rest in and waited to be told what to do, still holding the glove to her arm. Eaton checked each of the four, concluding that Edwin's shoulder wound was the worst of the four at the moment. He cleans the wound and then works carefully to check the path of the bullet before sticking the entry and exit areas. He then checks Minerva's work on the abdomen wound before moving on to his next patient, Katherine Kale.

"It's not bad, but the bullet is still in there," Kate said calmly. "I hope you can still pry the glove off. Is Mr. Hogan alright?" Eaton replies, "I will check him afterwards but it appears that Father Valdez did an excellent job with him. I'm going to give you an elixir to numb the pain before I remove that bullet." Kate dropped her voice. "It won't hurt the baby? Of course it won't, you wouldn't give me anything that would. I just don't like taking drugs of any kind, I suppose."

Once the elixir is in her system Kate feels relaxed, similar to the effect of alcohol but without the confusion that accompanies drinking. She watches as he uses a scalpel to cut into her arm but does not actually feel the cut. He skillfully removes the bullet, makes sure the muscle tissue is set to heal, and stitches the arm back up. "I'd help you with the others, but I wouldn't trust myself just now. You're very good at what you do." Kate sighed and looked down at her dress. "I need to get home. How long will the elixir last?"

He replies, "I will get somebody to take you home, you shouldn't be out and about by yourself with the elixir in your system as you could hurt yourself without realizing it." He moves on to help Mr. Larson with his foot. "Thank you." Kate got up and moved over to sit next to Edwin Booth. "I should have guessed about Watson when he was drunk during that second intermission. I'm sorry." Edwin replies, "It is not your fault my dear, how could you have known that the man had a gun with him, or that he would use it in some misguided attempt to avenge my brother's actions." She replies, "I couldn't. I knew his opinions, I just didn't realize he was willing to kill over them. I'm afraid I'm rather naive that way."

Kate took a deep breath and sighed. She was rubbing her arm but couldn't feel it. "This elixir is very strange. You told Conrad he was a Booth." Edwin replies, "So I did. Well, it is the name that he has been going by has it not? Perhaps we should do that test sooner rather than later, I imagine that diminutive reporter will be asking me a number of questions in his story about this shooting and I'm sure that my relation to your Mr. Booth will be among them."

Kate answers, "Yes, sooner would be better now. What you said will give him hope of your acceptance and if that's not to be; better to have it out at once. Mr. Chumbley is very persistent, he'll be after me as well but I can at least say that any relation between you is not my story to tell. You might be stuck her longer than you planned as well since your testimony will be needed for a trial." He adds, "And staying possibly for these wounds to heal as well."

Doctor Eaton has been finished removing the bullet from the other man's foot and stitched it up. He puts an ointment over the wound and tells the Comque's gambler to hold his hand on a cloth over it. Eaton then walks over to Booth and says, "The best thing for that shoulder and upper chest wound will be for you to take the pressure from the arm off of it. I'll fix you up a sling for you to wear for the next few days."

Booth looks to Kate and says, "Well then, it appears that this misfortune now favors me. If the Doctor says I can't use my arm I won't be able to play poker, so I will save the $ 3,000 I would have surely lost in the tournament. I had not transferred the funding to Mr. Van Horne's bank account yet and I doubt he will hold me to it now under the circumstances." Kate says, “You'll look like my brother Henry did when he was here, only he hurt his arm in a fire in Tombstone. I think Mr. Van Horne will understand. Seems you'll have some free time tomorrow then. Although you may still want to observe."

He replies, "I will, especially if that test turns positive. Do you think that your Mr. Booth might be available mid-to-late morning for us to work on that?" She answers, He usually rises pretty late in the morning and takes his meals at the El Parador. It's right next to his house. If you go to the Cantina in the morning you're likely to meet him, or you could just go to the house. If you go to the Cantina, be prepared for a lady named Dorita. She's not afraid to say whatever she thinks, nor is she afraid of bullying you into eating breakfast. Something I needed badly when I came here."

Booth suggests, "Why don't I meet you at your house and we can walk to his house together. Say around 11:00 AM" "You want me to be there?" she asked, surprised. "I'm to give a riding lesson in the morning, but I can arrange to be back earlier than I'd originally planned. The lesson is for my houseguest, whom I haven't spent enough time with, so I don't want to cancel it altogether." He replies, "Well then, I will see you at that time young lady." Grant Keebler arrives to escort Kate back to her home.

"I'll be ready. Thank you, Doctor." Kate got herself up and over to Grant who gave her his arm to lean on. "Let's go home, Grant. I suppose Dorita knows what happened now. Are you under orders not to let me leave the house again?" she said with a little laugh. Grant says, "I have no such orders but Dorita does want me to see you home safely. She says that you can see the rest of the play with her on Sunday afternoon at the Town Hall." "That's sweet. I'll be there anyway, I'm to play at the intermissions but I don't get to spend enough time with Dorita. You know, I can't feel your arm. It's very strange." Kate continued to talk in a rambling way on the short walk back to the house. Grant sees her safely through the door.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter Two-hundred-one, “Rooftop Escape”, Saturday, June 17th, 3:30 A.M.

The door to Ruby's room suddenly opens. Richard enters the room, a lit candle in one hand and a lock pick in the other. He carefully and quietly shuts the door with himself on the inside. Ruby sits straight up, holding the sheet over herself. She raises an eyebrow. "Richard, what in Hades are you doing?" He says in a voice little more than a whisper but communicating urgency, "We have to go Ruby. The men who threatened your Grandparents are in this hotel looking for us right now."

"Really?" Ruby blinks a few times, letting the news sink in. "They must mean business." Ruby gets out of bed, taking the sheet with her, leaving Roger naked. "What about our stuff?" she whispers, then stops short. "Wait, What about Jane?" she says, much more concerned than a moment earlier. He replies, "I sent Jane up to the roof with our luggage, they're still searching the lower floors. They have the hotel manager with them and are claiming to be Pinkerton Detectives and have said that we are the fugitive bank robbers Deadeye Douglas and Mae Clark." "Oh for.... We don't look anything like them!" Ruby blurts out, her outburst waking Roger.

Roger starts to wake us, saying, "Huh? What is he doing here?" As she begins to gather her clothing she talks to Roger. "Sweetie, it's been a wonderful time but it seems like I have a bit of trouble following me and I have to leave. Which really makes me mad because I was enjoying myself." "Huh? What? Where are you going in the middle of the night?" a confused and naked Roger asks. Ruby sits on the edge of the bed. She throws the sheet over Roger, leaving herself naked as she pulls on her stockings.

"I don't know where we're going. But someone is after me... us, and we can't stay. They think we have something they want." Ruby pulls her corset over her head and starts tugging at the ribbons. "Help me out," she says, looking at Roger over her shoulder expectantly. "They lied downstairs and told management that we're outlaws." Before Roger can interrupt Ruby continues. "Obviously we're not. But they're a bit crazy, as you can see."

Richard opens the door and looks outside into the hallway. He turns back and says, "The hallway is clear Ruby but I can hear them coming. Take your stuff, you can finish dressing on the roof. Let's get to the staircase while we still can." "Sorry Roger. It was real nice time. I guess I don't have a minute to get your address so I can write...If you ever make it to Promise City, come and visit me at the Lucky Lady!" Ruby plants a hard kiss on Roger's lips. She stands, and in her undergarments with her fine gown and shoes in hand, she follows Richard.

They hurry up the stairs for two floor and then climb a metal ladder going up to a trapdoor in the roof. The trapdoor is open, and Jane is standing there with a revolver, watching to make sure they weren't followed as Richard pulls the trapdoor up behind them and locks it into place. Although it is the month of June, Ruby has become accustomed now to the Arizona temperatures which are a good twenty degrees warmer, so finds it a bit brisk standing around in her underwear. Ruby shivers at the cool night air. "What do we do now?" she asks quietly, as she tries to find the top of her dress so she can get into it.

Richard goes over to his luggage and opens his suitcase. He folds over the inside flap and turns a switch inside, causing one side to fall open revealing a hidden compartment. From that he takes out a finely woven woolen cloth one-and-a-half by two-feet wide with gold and red patterns on it and what appears to be Arabic writing. He sets it down and states an Arabic word. Although it appeared to be just a single piece of heavy cloth he now unfolds it once across and once to the side, making it a four-by-three foot rug. He says, "This is a magical flying carpet, we can use it to get away. I can only carry one passenger with me at a time so we will need to take two trips."

Ruby'e eyes widen. "Holy s...." She stops herself from continuing as she stares at the carpet. Could it really be what he said it was? As far as she knew, Richard didn't lie so it must be. "Er, take Jane first. That way I can get my dress on. But hurry up. I don't want to get caught here, and half-naked no less!"

He says, "Okay, Jane, hand Ruby the gun." He puts his and Jane's suitcases on the carpet and tells her to sit on her case as a chair as he does so with the other. He states some Arabic words and the rug begins to levitate upward into the air. The front lip of the carpet curls upward and back towards him and he grabs onto it like a handle and says another word in Arabic. Ruby watches as the two sail away, not unlike a sailboat across a lake, although it is only a cushion of air that they are on.

Ruby finishes the curse she began earlier as they sail away. She shakes her head, she would have time to marvel at this later. Right now she needed to get dressed. Gun in hand she fumbles with her shoes until she gets them on, then begins fussing with her gown. Ruby redresses and is on the roof for twenty minutes looking at the quiet city below, the only sound being the water from the river cascading over the water-break. She then hears some pounding on the trap door to the roof from the other side.

She quickly glances around the roof, looking for somewhere to hide. The only possible hiding places are behind the two chimneys, one twenty feet away from the trap door the other fifty feet from it. Ruby quietly makes her way to the chimney that is twenty feet away from the trapdoor. She hides in the shadows opposite the door as best she can and listens to see if she can hear what is being said on the other side.

The trapdoor swings up and open despite having been locked from this side. Ruby sees a man climb up onto the roof. He is tall and muscular, wearing a dark suit, and has a revolver tucked into his belt. A second man is starting to climb up behind him. Ruby flattens herself against the chimney. She whispers the words to the spell that will make herself invisible, hoping the men climbing up made enough noise to cover her casting.

The second man has a shotgun strapped to his back. Once on the roof he un-straps it and holds in in his hands. They start to walk around the roof, looking down. They then approach the far chimney and approach it from both sides, making sure nobody is behind it. One points to the second chimney as Ruby pulls back to keep from being seen. Ruby then hears the sounds of them walking in that direction. Ruby holds her breath and stays very very still, hoping they don't have the ability to detect magic or see invisibility.

The men go around both sides of the chimney but seeing nothing continue on back to the trapdoor. The man with the shotgun re-straps it to his back and the two climb back down the ladder, pulling the trapdoor shut behind them. Ruby quietly lets her breath out but stays plastered against the chimney. Only after some time has gone by will she peek around the chimney to double check that everything is okay.

She appears to be alone on the roof, although with the lock to the trapdoor now broken it could easily open up again without a second's hesitation. Ruby stays hidden and invisible behind the chimney as long as she can, waiting until she sees Richard return to dispel her invisibility. She has been atop the roof for close to an hour before she sees movement in the air to the west a quarter mile away. As it gets closer she can make out that it is Richard atop the flying carpet.

"Finally!" When Richard gets close she steps away from the chimney and waits for him to land. Richard slows and watches the roof from a distance, not becoming closer until he spots Ruby after she cancels the invisibility. Ruby shivers and rubs her arms, not used to the cold night air as she waits impatiently for Richard to get close. She does watch the carpet with wonder, but doesn't speak, she just waits. Richard lands shortly before her and says, "Good, you're still safe!"

"Yeah, but what too you so long! I'm freezing! And those guys did come up here...," She glances over to the door. "We should get out of here quickly." "Yes," he replies. He places her suitcase atop the carpet and sits upon it, instructing her stand behind him with her arms wrapped tightly around his waist. The carpet then levitates up into the air. As they begin to fly away he says, "I'm sorry it took so long to get back. A 4:15 train was leaving for Buffalo and it seemed like a good idea to get Jane and the other two bags on it. The Pinkertons have the train depot staked out too, with photographs of the three of us, but I had one magical disguise which Jane is now using. She's traveling with Lieutenant Laughlin."

Ruby does grip Richard tightly as instructed. As the carpet takes off she presses up against him, feeling a little unsteady flying to high up in the air. He smelled good, and his cool and confident demeanor was... attractive to her. Stop that you silly girl! She shakes her head and grips him tighter. "This is really cool!" she comments once she dares to peek over the edge. "So Jane is gone, will she be safe? What are we going to do?" The tone of her voice turns stern, "I'm not leaving here without seeing George."

He replies, "Jane will be safe for now, the Lieutenant will see to that. The sailors have to report to their ship tomorrow but it won't be actually shipping out until Monday at dawn. If we haven't contacted them by sunset on Sunday he promises to get her on a westbound train or ferry. She'll then notify the Three Gods Meeting House by telegram of her whereabouts until she makes it home." "At least Jane will be okay," Ruby comments.

The carpet gains some altitude and he says, "As for what we will do, if the Pinkertons think we've given them the slip they'll start checking other hotels in the city. We should probably find somewhere to hide out until at least daylight and get some rest. Perhaps one of the factory buildings, it's now the weekend so they should be unoccupied until Monday morning." Ruby sighs, "A warehouse? Ugh. Why can't we go to George's house?" Richard replies, "Well, for a number of reasons. First of all, it is now 4:30 in the morning, so I doubt anybody will be awake there. Secondly, neither of us are in any kind of shape to deal with trouble at the moment. Thirdly, last night while you were having fun I made some inquiries. Care to guess where your Mr. Eastman was last evening?"

A whole rash of thoughts flooded Ruby's mind but she couldn't focus on just one answer, couldn't... or wouldn't. She finally states, "I don't know, where was he?" Richard replies, "Dining at the Rochester home of his friends William and Alma West. And I also found out that both the West Mansion and Eastman Mansion have Bell telephones installed at their locations." Ruby let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding in. Had she really been nervous he was with another woman? "My parents, huh? I didn't know he kept in such close contact with them."

She is quiet for a moment. "I guess that means they're here. I am surprised they aren't traveling or on Long Island." "Richard, I really want to see him. I need to. But my parents... I mean, I'm old enough that I shouldn't be worried about them, right? Still... Maybe as much as I've told George he doesn't know me, perhaps I don't know him either. Let's go to his factory. If for some reason we get caught, he won't press charges." At least I don't think he will. "That sounds like as good a location as any," Richard says and he turns the carpet towards the northwest.

Ruby is quiet as she continues to hold on to Richard. They quietly sail over the dark city. Ruby never dreamed she would be seeing the city like this. She tries to take it all in but her mind kept wandering to George. She wished she could sneak off and go to him. When did it all get so complicated to see a friend? Once they are close Ruby points the factory she had seen earlier to Richard. "It's that big one," she smiles and points. "Seems George has done very well for himself."

They land on the vast roof, which has six chimneys and two large air vents. In the center of the roof is a small brick building that may house a way down. There are also two trap-door style bulkheads towards both the northeast and southwest corners of the building. Ruby goes to the closest trap door and takes a look at it, looking to see if it's locked and how complicated the lock might be. It appears to be latched shut from the other side.

"Richard, it's latched from the other side. I don't think I can do anything to get it open from here." Ruby double checks the hinges, to see if she can do something with them. If not, she'll check the brick building in the center of the roof. Ruby has no difficulty picking the locked door on the rooftop building. Inside are various electrical boxes and switches on one wall. On the southwestern corner of the room is a three foot square opening without a floor and a metal ladder against the wall going down.

"Richard, over here!" Ruby calls out before heading down the metal ladder. She goes slowly to try to let her eye adjust to the light. Richard finds a box of candles on a shelf near the electrical boxes and lights one. He shuts the door behind him and they descend down the stairs. They make their way slowly and as quietly as they can. Ruby lets Richard carry the last piece of luggage while they descend. Finally she asks as she continues to climb down, "So I guess now is a good time to find out how exactly you're 300 years old."

They are in a vast room filled with cartons and wooden crates. He softly says "Let's wait until we are somewhere smaller, voices carry in large rooms and there may be a night guard." He then says, "Let's try to find Mr. Eastman's Office, it should be somewhere on this top floor." Ruby nods. She hadn't even thought about there being a night guard. She keeps her eyes wide open and moving, and looks for what might be considered George's office.

They pass by a number of offices with names and titles on the door. When they near one corner of the building they see one that has "George Eastman, President" on the door. It is locked but Ruby has no difficulty picking t. Inside is a lobby-style room with a leather-covered couch and several leather-covered chairs. The walls are covered with framed photographs from various places around the world. Also in the room is a large desk with the nameplate "Horace Mayweather, Executive Secretary" atop it. Another door leads off from the wall behind the desk to a corner office, presumably Geroge's.

“Now that we've found the office, I presume you're going to go exploring around the factory?" she says to Richard. He replies, “No, I have no interest in seeing machinery to make dry photographic plates. Plus I wouldn't want to risk accidentally harming anything, those plates are rather fragile." She walks over to framed pictures and looks at each one. After that she wanders to the room that she guesses is George's and enters.

The room is around twice the size of the outer office. The most prominent feature is the large mahogany desk and leather bound chair over near the corner windows, affording a view of both the main street outside and of the large carriage house where executives and managers of the company would park their carriages during the day. Elsewhere in the room are plush velvet chairs and like the outer room, the walls are lined with photographs, although each of these has a gold nameplate beneath stating what the photograph is of. On the wall behind his desk is a downtown Rochester scene which the plate reads is the building that housed the third floor office of his initial business.

Along the adjacent wall are photographs of Geroge's parents and one of him in the harbor near Santo Domingo. Ruby wanders around the office, looking at the photographs and out the window before she ends at the desk. Ruby then notices two framed photographs on his desk. One is of the thirteen-year-old Constance Grace West. The other is a more recent photograph of Ruby, a candid shot taken from a distance, of her sitting upon the porch swing of the Lucky Lady back in Promise City.

Surprised at the photos, Ruby fall back into the chair at the desk with a plop. She reaches out for the photographs, first looking at the recent one, then finally picking up the one of her 13 year old self. She leans back in the chair and runs her fingers over the picture. "A lot has happened since this was taken," she say out loud but in a quiet voice. She pulls her feet up under herself and just gazes at the younger her, letting herself remember some of the fun things her and George did when they were together as children and young adults.

While Ruby is looking at the photograph Richard walks around the room looking at the walls. He heads over to a wall switch with three switches on it. He flicks the first and an electric light begins to come on in the room. He immediately shuts it off before the electrical filament actually provides any degree of illumination. A second switch causes a wall panel to slide aside revealing an enclosed liquor cabinet with bottles and glasses. He flicks that switch back, with the panel going back into place.

He then tries the third switch and another wall panel, this one lower and wider slides back revealing an alcove with a twin-sized rollaway bed inside which then rolls out into the room. He says, "I'm not surprised. One of the newspaper articles indicated that he often spending nights here at the factory working on new projects. I will go rest on the couch in the outer office Ruby and you can have the bed." "I... I didn't know he did that." She pauses. "Do you still have that article? I'd like to read it some time." She stands and stretches her arms up over her head. "I AM tired. I guess we can save our gabbing for another time. I think I should go to sleep. Good night Richard."

Once Richard is gone Ruby strips off her dress, leaving just her undergarments on. She figured Richard already saw everything, he shouldn't mind. She goes over to the wall behind the desk and gazes at the picture of George in Santo Domingo with a small smile. She glances over her shoulder to see if Richard was watching. When she thinks he isn't, she pulls the picture off the wall. Ruby then lies in the bed. She lays on her side with her head on one arm, the other holds the pictures of George and herself. She sniffs the pillow, wondering what George smells like. She takes a final long look at the pictures in her hands before closing her eyes and wishing for sleep.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter Two-hundred-two, “Did I get him?”, Friday, June 16th, 8:45 P.M.

Following the commotion Chester had holstered his pistol and picked Clarisse off the floor where he had been shielding her. He grabbed Watson roughly and shackled the man. He told Clarisse. "I might not be back any time soon. Sorry, dear." He kissed her on the forehead and drags Watson to the office. Once ordered to go sing by Deputy Barker Clarisse swallowed hard at the display of violence which disrupted the play. She took a deep breathe and steels herself. She took the stage and with Harry's accompaniment, singing, shakily at first, but stronger as she continues.

Outside, Jake continues to make himself unobtrusive. He takes a moment to commend Jeff and Michael on their quick action to help control events. Jeff says, "You shouldn't thank me, it was my fault. I checked his satchel coming in but must not have done a very good job, I didn't see the gun." Deputy Helen Barker walks over with the satchel and says, "This bag? Not your fault Mills, there's a false bottom that he had the gun in. You wouldn't have seen it unless you had made him remove all of his music and then checked."

"Besides," Jake adds, "that fool could have just shot him in the street just as easy. I suppose the lesson for the tournament is, do not trust anyone and look harder." Michael George says, "We will Mr. Cook, plus Mr. Van Horne says that he has hired several more people to assist with the tournament security."

Minerva walks over to the bar and requests a glass of tequila. She takes a long swallow, allowing a satisfied sigh to escape as the fiery liquid races to her belly, taking the edge off of the discomfort of spell casting and bringing the color back to her cheeks. She refills her glass and takes it out to the porch where she can regain her strength in solitude. While pretending to oversee activities, Jake pockets the bottle of tequila from the bar. As the excitement diminishes, he quietly makes his way back to the porch as if he is part of security. In truth he is, as long as it does not interfere with his drinking.

Jake sees her out of the corner of his eye, it would be rare for him to miss an attractive woman walk by. Leaning against the porch railing, he wiggles the bottle of fine tequila out of the large pocket in his duster. Grabbing the empty glass he left behind on the railing when the shooting started, he pours himself another three fingers. First a sniff, and then a sip. "Ah." He watches the senorita unabashedly but without expression. Minerva feels Jakes eyes on her. She drains her glass in one gulp and without speaking, walks over to him and holds out her glass.

"Heh." He pulls the cork on the bottle and pours her about two fingers of tequila. "You should have come see me first," he holds out the bottle where she can see it, "I have the good stuff." He puts the cork back and shoves the bottle back into his duster. Picking up his glass he casually taps it to hers. "Tu salud." (your health) “Salud" she repeats and sips the golden liquid. "Ahhh, Bueno." She leans up against the railing and looks out at the stars.

Jake is quiet, watching her out of the corner of his eye. Eventually people make their way back inside to watch the play, Jake remains outside. Minerva continues to stare into the distance, listening to the drama of the play as it unfolds within the saloon. Her sigh breaks the silence. "It is strange what people will do when they believe themselves to be in love, and what they will endure in its name.." She swirls her glass and takes another sip.

Jake is startled not by her voice but by her words. How does she know what I am thinking? Oh, the play. No, perhaps she is thinking about Nanuet. "Yes. Old Caleb White once told me, Jacob, Life is one fool thang afta 'nother where as love is two fool thangs afta each other." Jake inhales a whiff of his tequila. "It is amazing what folks will endure, how they change and what lunacy to which they are driven." Minerva chuckles at the witty remark. "Old Caleb White is quite an insightful man. I would like to have met him." she sips her drink, relaxing a bit into the railing. "I much prefer to hold the reins."

The house lights flash inside to indicate that the intermission is about to end. When the lights flashed Emily said to Nakomo, "I better go. I'm glad you're not mad at me." She got back to her seat and sat small between her cousin and her Uncle. Act IV of the play resumes again. Paris reveals that the wedding will occur on Thursday. Juliet is cold to Paris. Friar Laurence tells Juliet to take a potion simulating death, allowing Romeo to take her away, unopposed to Mantua since everyone will think she is dead at the Capulet's ancient vault or burial ground.

Capulet makes plans for Juliet's wedding. Juliet, who has decided to drink Friar Laurence's potion, no longer opposes the wedding, delighting Capulet. Hearing this good news, Capulet, who is keen to have Juliet marry Paris decides to move the wedding forward. It will now be on Wednesday morning, not Thursday as previously planned...

Juliet succeeds in sleeping alone which allows her to take the potion in privacy. Juliet worries about the Friar's intentions before the potion takes effect and she falls asleep... Lady Capulet and the Nurse are busy making preparations for the wedding. It is 3 o'clock in the morning and now Capulet hearing music announcing Paris' arrival, tells the Nurse to wake Juliet. The Capulet's learn that their daughter Juliet is dead. The wedding preparations are changed to those of a funeral. The Act ends.

Act V begins with Romeo learning of Juliet's death and deciding to risk his own life by returning to Verona at once to see Juliet one last time. Romeo also buys some poison from a local Apothecary. Friar John explains to Friar Laurence that his letter informing Romeo that Juliet is not dead, did not reach Romeo. Friar Laurence tries again to inform Romeo of his plan and heads off to the Capulet burial chamber where Juliet will soon awaken.

Paris mourns his bride that never was. Romeo arrives, opening Juliet's coffin to look at his love one last time. Paris fights Romeo whom he believes is desecrating Juliet's grave. Paris dies, Romeo placing him beside Juliet. Romeo takes his poison, kisses Juliet and dies. Friar Laurence arrives too late.

Outside, Jake hears the play coming to one of several emotional climaxes; its words and their dark meaning invade his thoughts. After a time he responds, "Yes, holding the reins is my preference also. Often it seems the reins are there and yet we are unable to grasp them." "It's a good thing we have something to hold on to." She says holding out her glass. "Heh. I feel sorry for people who abstain from drink. When they wake up in the morning, that is as good as they will to feel all day."

Jake sways slightly, the tequila finally affecting his balance. From inside the saloon Romeo has just laid down Paris after killing him. Although he dodged most of the assignments his teacher forced upon him, Jake knows the story, he knows what comes next, “I must tell you,” Jake says with a frown, “I never did like this story.” He puts the glass to his lips but discovers it empty. His frown grows more pronounced. He struggles to remove the bottle from his pocket again to refill their glasses.

Back on the stage, Juliet, now awakens, asking for her Romeo. Friar Laurence leaves, leaving Juliet alone. Juliet kisses Romeo and stabs herself, dying. The Prince, Capulets, and Montagues arrive, Balthasar and Friar Laurence explaining all. Escalus scolds the two families who finally end their feud. The play ends with the Prince summarizing this tragic love story. Following a round of applause the actors all head out on stage and bow to the audience. The house lights come up and Michael George declares the bar to be open again.

Outside ten minutes earlier, Minierva commented about the play saying, “It is a dire warning of what happens if you let your heart rule your head,” she pours a bit of her tequila into his empty glass and clinks it with hers. "To dire warnings, "She grins, "they may save us yet." she polishes off her drink. He nods half heartedly and drinks while inside he knows Romeo drinks his poison. He is silent during Juliet’s dialog and subsequent suicide.

He only speaks again while the prince addresses the families. He frowns again, “I hate being lectured.” He sways a bit and says, “Michael will open the bar again soon, the crowd will either flock to the stage or the liquor. We can take a seat in the back until they have had enough and leave. We have our own.” He tugs a couple of times at the bottle in his coat pocket and shrugs. “It went in, it will come out.”

After the play Emily's Uncle had spent a lot of time near the front door of the Lucky Lady talking to everyone. It was getting quiet and things were being cleared by the time they walked home.

As predicted when the play ends the crowd parts allowing the two to take a couple of chairs away from the parted throngs. Jake manages to rescue the bottle from his pocket and sloppily pour then each another two fat fingers worth. They watch the crowd clamor for the actors and drinks for a while but the enthusiasm wanes and the crowd thins. All the while Jake seems lost in his thoughts. When Jeff and Michael begin cleaning up he suddenly begins speaking, his words lightly slurred.

"Doomed to suffer with and doomed to suffer without. One must ask himself, is it worth it? Should a man continue after such an epiphany? Is it cowardice to abandon a painful journey when its purpose no longer exists? Is it bravery to face such a choice head on, to end a wasted quest, to begin a new sojourn? What happens to a man when his heart’s purpose is discovered to be a fool’s errand?" "You are talking in riddles Silver Jake Cook!" Minerva sways a bit as she tries to focus on him. "Are you making fun of my pain?"

"What? Your pain? No, I do not mean disrespect to you Senorita. Jake Cook stands by his friends," He says with some finality and dignity regardless of his condition. "It is too quiet in here." Jake stands and walks uncertainly to the piano and sits down. His drink is set firmly and with a loud 'thuck' on the instrument. The tequila splashes around dangerously close to the rim but not a drop is spilled. He plunks on the keys, apparently searching his memory for a particular song. There are several miss starts before he finally has some semblance of a song, chords and a bit of a melody. She finally recognizes the tune; it is a recent though not terribly popular temperance song.

Minerva follows him to the piano and scrunches herself onto the seat beside him. "Si, You have been a good friend to me, Jake. I much prefer a good friend who tells me the harsh truth than a love who tells sweet lies. If you are not making fun of my loss than, por favor, what are you talking about?" He starts singing in a mournful and slightly out of tune voice. She recognizes that he has skipped into the third verse.

"Stain not the lips with ruby wine, oh drinker of the cup beware
Too late, too late you'll sadly find your bound within a fatal snare
But leave the bright delusive cup; resolve no more to drink the wine
god now will save if you'll give it up and trust his power and grace divine."

He laughs darkly and mutters, “Trust in the gods to save me,” drinks again from his glass and stands bolt upright. "Beware, beware oh foolish man, taste not the Ruby wine." He walks straight to the side door with only a slight wobble. On the way he drains the last of his tequila and places the empty glass precariously on a table edge in a smooth motion, despite his obvious condition. Exiting he turns fluidly towards the back of the saloon where the outhouse is located.

A moment later there is a single loud retort of a pistol. Jake could have readily told her that it was the unique sound of a Colt 45 being fired. He, however, was not with her in the saloon to share that bit of knowledge. Suddeny sober, her complexion gone deathly white against her dark hair, Minerva bolts toward the horrifying sound

Minerva turns with Jeff Mills right behind her to the back of the saloon. In the dim moonlight Jake is seen lying motionless, flat on his back a few feet from the outhouse. His arms are outstretched away from his body, with a pistol lying on the ground a few inches from his open right hand. A faint wisp of smoke is barely noticeable curling up from the gun. From this distance it is difficult to be certain, but his eyes look to be closed.

Minerva lets out a scream and rushes to his side. "Jake! Jake!" She grabs his shoulders and frantically looks for the blood of a gunshot wound. “Por favor, Oh Dios, do not be dead. You are all I have left." “Ow.” Without opening his eyes the prone gambler asks, "Did I get him?"
Minerva looks at him incredulously and stammers, “What? Get who?” Jeff Mills opens the out house door.

After a moment he kicks at something and satisfied it does not move picks it up by the tail. “Yes, sir, you got him right behind the head. Nice shot, considering all the tequila you drank. I reckon Maria can make a nice stew out of him.” Jeff shakes the rattle and looks to Minerva, “You want me to help you get Mr. Cook up?” “No, Jeff. I will get him up,” she says yanking him up none to gently by the arm. "Senor Cook I have had enough of this melodrama for one night!” she scolds. “What do you think you are doing, scaring me that way!”

He stumbles a bit and sways a bit more on the way to standing up, all the while muttering. “No I did not mean…. It was a diamond back… I had to, you know, use the …. I lost my balance….” Finally upright he lurches forward with his arms around her and he allows his eyes to open, “Sorry.” She stumbles against his weight. “Well you had better be!” she attempts to say sternly, but no loner able to avoid the hilarity of the situation she loses her frown and bursts out in gut wrenching laughter. “Can you point me back towards the outhouse; I never made it there the first time….”
A few minutes later back in the Lucky Lady Jake and Minerva have been talking around a table Jeff setup for them. “I did not know that you believe Nanuet is not coming back, forgive my insensitivity. I have been consumed in my own dilemma. I have as likely as not thrown diamonds into the sand, so to speak.”

He rubs a hand along one cheek. “I will never meet another woman like Ruby West. I will likely not ever feel about another woman like I felt about her.” Jake shrugs, “I may be many things but two things I am not, brave or coward enough to kill myself. Stick to what you do best they say. Seems that I will have no choice but to surrender myself to drunken binges, poker and women to drown my sorrows.” He sighs and then adds with a faint smirk, “That is in no particular order.”

Minerva comments, “I did not know your feelings for Ruby had changed. I am sorry. Your situation is more complicated than mine as I have once again had the choice taken from me. I am damned by both gods and man. I was heartbroken the first time Nanuet left. Then the gods told me that he was but a door to greater things and that I was meant for another. But when he came back I shut my ears to the gods words, and then he was gone again leaving me feeling the fool. You said it well, Jake. It is not a coward who quits a fool’s errand, but a fool who continues on. I will not morn my life away. I will not be made a fool.” She says bitterly.

"I suppose you have a right to be angry. I do not think anyone is trying to make a fool of you, do not confuse malice with the tides of life. As for me, well I have the reins as you had put it. I made all the choices, I said all the words, and I thought they were true with all my heart. Was I influenced by Aphrodite? Was I enchanted by an alluring and remarkable woman? Was that why I ignored what little common sense I have and denied who I am? I have no one to blame except that man I see in the mirror every morning." Jake smiles forlornly, "And he is a slippery fellow, a hard one to pin down."

Minerva says, “Than do not try to pin him. You are who you are Jacob Cook, as the gods intended you to be. Do not fetter yourself with regret over what you are not, but revel in the fine man that you are. Sorry, I know you do not care to be lectured, but it is as the gods intended me to be. Perhaps one more sip of your fine tequila before I call it a night.”

Jake slides the bottle towards him and pulls the stopper out. He tilts the bottle but it wavers back and forth over her glass before he places it back down. "Heh, too bad it is not a rattlesnake, I would have no trouble with that. Perhaps it is wiser if you help yourself, Senorita, I fear Don Orendain would be insulted if I poured his fine tequila all over the table." Jake laughs quietly as she pours, "A fine man indeed. I readily accept you as the gods intended," Jake says looking at her and pausing as he recalls watching her naked in the grove. A smile escapes to his lips, "As for Jake Cook, fear not, he will revel. That is what he does regardless of any regrets he may carry."

He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "I have no more time for regrets tonight. I must find a few hours of sleep soon, there is a poker tournament to be won and I shall be plying my skill and luck in earnest." Minerva finishes her drink and weaves her way back home. She looks up into the hills before she enters her home and accepts that Nanuet has been called to do nobler things than warm her bed. The gods said there would be another. She would be content with that and let her anger go.

As Kate makes her way through the house she sees her houseguest Janet in the living room spinning away at the spinning wheel. "Hello Katherine, how was the play?" she asks. "Interrupted," she answered. "But I was enjoying it a great deal up until then. Warren Watson tried to kill Edwin Booth. They're going to finish it... I guess it's over by now since I had to go to Doctor Eaton." Kate looked down and saw the dried blood on her clothes. "I need to change my dress."

"Oh my goodness!" Janet Fly exclaims as she jumps up and runs over to Kate. "Is Mr. Booth going to live? He's bled all over your dress!" Kate answers, "He'll be fine. There were more clerics there than you can shake a stick at. Watson shot him twice, but he was drunk and his aim was bad. Earl Hogan and Rolf Larsen were hurt but they'll be okay too. Doctor Eaton gave me something to drink before he took the bullet out of my arm and I still feel a little strange, quite relaxed, really. Do I sound strange? Could you help me change? I'm not sure I'll be able to bend my arm far enough."

Janet helps her upstairs and helps get Kate changed. Janet makes a big deal about the bandage over the wound and goes on about how terrible it must have been for Kate to get shot like that. "I've been through bank robberies and had dynamite thrown into my school, this isn't so bad," Kate said although she was secretly pleased at all the fussing. No one had fussed over her like that for a long time and it was rather nice. In a few minutes she was cleaned up and in her nightdress with her dressing gown over the top.

The elixir was starting to wear off, and half feeling was even stranger than not feeling at all. She picked up a book and went back downstairs with Janet. When Ginnie came home she sat near Kate downstairs and read for a while until they all headed off to bed. Kate had hoped Conrad would stop by to check on her, but he did not. Of course she wasn't badly hurt and with Janet here he might have thought it inappropriate. Kate eventually heads upstairs to bed.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter Two-hundred-three, “Richard’s Story”, Saturday, June 17th, 10:30 A.M.

Sun is pouring through the windows of the room when Richard awakens Ruby to offer her some breakfast. He says, "I'm afraid that the available food choices were limited. Mr. Eastman's Executive Assistant had in his file cabinet a small carton of crackers, a block of cheese, a jar of strawberry jelly and a small jug of apple cider that has just started to turn hard. Not the most filling meal but should be enough to sustain us for the near future. I left a few dollars in the cabinet as repayment for the items." Ruby glances at the clock in the office, seeing the time is now 10:30 in the morning.

Ruby rubs her eyes and crawls out of bed. There is a red mark on her cheek from leaning on the photographs and her hair is all a mess on that side. "I guess it'll do," she comments about the food. "What are we going to do?" she asks while opening the crackers. "Can we see George? Or do you think it's too dangerous? I really do think we'll be safe with him. Look what I found last night," she says as she shows him the photograph of herself.

Richard says, "Well, at the moment I would not suggest going anywhere. There are people in the building, they arrived around forty-five minutes ago, that is what woke me. They appear to be working two floors below, I think I saw four of them, plus their carriage drivers outside by the carriage house. They should have no reason to come up higher unless we give them one. I would suggest we stay here and keep one another company and watch the carriage house until they decide to leave."

Ruby sighs. "I hope they don't stay too long. I don't want to be stuck here all day." She plops back down on the bed and crosses her legs. She picks at the piece of cheese Richard passes her and nibbles on it for a long while. Finally she speaks. "Richard, do you think I'm pretty?" He replies, "Of course you are, what a silly question." Ruby pouts, "It's not silly!" She picks at her cheese again. "It's just something Roger said, and made me think... I'm just not used to being around a man who, you know, didn't try anything. We've been together, what? Three weeks almost? I can't tell if you like me or not."

He replies, "Ruby, I wouldn't be here now if I didn't like you. But we're business partners and prior to that you were the girlfriend of another of my business partners. Those are moral lines that I will not cross. You, Jane, wives or girlfriends of other business partners, I've mentally set those relationships up in my mind as I would a sister not a lover. It also makes things much easier for me to do my job, which in this instance, is keeping you alive and able to safely return to the Arizona Territory despite your occasionally reckless behavior to the contrary."

"Oh." She smiles and bites into the cheese. "I thought something was wrong. I mean, it doesn't happen too often. It's sweet actually." She sits quietly for some time but finally says, "What reckless behavior are you referring to? I've been behaving!" He replies, "Only because I've made you. You wanted to go rushing off to see Eastman the minute we arrived here, which would have directly resulted in your running into your father if you had. I'm not sure what your initial conversation with Eastman will be like but I would imagine that the tone of it would have been quite different if your father were present as well."

"Obviously if my father had been there I wouldn't have gone in," Ruby rolls her eyes. "But maybe you're right. Maybe." She pulls her feet up underneath her. "Besides, I can't expect you to understand about George. No one does. Or Jake. Or anything that happens to me! I never have someone to talk to." She sighs exasperatedly, even though she knows that isn't true... one person listened to her, even if her advice was wrong from time to time, at least she listened. "I don't know how my conversation will go with George either. I have no idea actually. I just hope he still wants to see me." She glances down at the pictures residing on the bed, the young Ruby and the younger George. What her life would have been like... she could have been In that picture with George if she really wanted to...

Richard puts some jelly and cheese on some crackers, eats a few himself, and leaves some on the platter in between. He goes over to the wall switch and activates it, opening up the liquor cabinet. Ignoring the bottles of alcoholic beverages he takes two of the crystal glasses and brings them back to the desk, pouring some of the apple cider into the glasses and offers one to Ruby. "Thanks," Ruby says as she takes the drink. She eyes the liquor but decides to try to be good instead. She meant it when she said Richard was sweet. Someone taking care of her was on the top of her list of desirable.

She asks, "So, maybe now you want to tell me how you're 300 years old?" He replies, "I am not, I am only 296. And how do you suppose that I have reach such an advanced age? "Sorry, 296," she says and sticks out her tongue at him then laughs. "Well, Nana just told me of a spell she says we can even use on me starting soon that can double your life span. That or you have a magic item. Or you're an elf or part elf. You don't look like an elf, so I'll say magic was involved."

He replies, "Yes, magic was involved but it was not wizard magic but instead clerical magic. As I mentioned before, my grandparents fled from Russia in the 1500's to get away from Czar Ivan and settled in Norway, which was predominantly dwarven but had a small human population. The Kalmar War broke out between Sweden and Denmark in the year 1611 and lasted until 1613, pulling the Norwegians into the conflict as well. The purpose of the war was to gain control of the waterways between the Baltic and North Seas. The siege of the City of Kalmar was a major part of the war.

My involvement in the war was the Battle of Kringen. The Swedish king had hired mercenary soldiers from Scotland who were on their way to enlist in the conflict, sailing on two ships and landing in Norway. Lars Gram, a Norwegian dwarf and local sheriff, gathered together a militia of peasants to stop them. I was in my mid-twenties at that time and joined alongside my dwarven friends from the village of Lesja. We were joined by other peasants from the villages of Vaga, Dovre, Ringebu and Fron. We met the Scottish force of several hundred in the Valley of Gudbrandsdalen.

The Scotmen had far better armor and more powerful weapons that they were far more proficient in, so instead of charging downward we instead rained boulders and logs down upon them. Only when they were demoralized and weakened did we meet them in hand-to-hand combat. The battle is celebrated in Norway to this day. One footnote of the battle not known to many was the rescue of a dwarven Princess named Prillar-Guri, who had distracted the Scotsmen by blowing a horn which signaled to the Norwegian defenders where the invading army was at.

She was then captured by the Scots but then later rescued by myself and four of my dwarven friends in the heat of the battle. It turns out only three of her grandparents were mortal dwarves, her paternal grandfather haven been the dwarven deity Clanggedin Silverbeard, the Father of Battle. He appeared before us and said that he was grateful of our saving of his granddaughter and said that he foresaw a time in the future where warriors such as us would be needed to not only save Norway but the Dwarven race as a whole.

He predicted that in the mid-twentieth century an evil human would become ruler of Germany, gaining strength and popularity by turning the German humans against the German dwarven population. He would build a destructive army that would attempt to take over Europe and Asia, declaring war against North and South America in the process. The destruction of the dwarven race would be one of his goals, and the dwarves of that era would be too reliant on modern technology to know how to use the sword and shield as we would, which is what will be needed to defeat this evil man. So he granted the five of us long-life, where we would age but one year for each half-century, so that when the time comes in the 1940's we will be around and still with the vigor of our youth to take on this man first hand and bring about his demise."

Ruby had stopped chewing at the beginning of his story, she sat still, her mouth half open and her eyes wide. It took a moment for it all to sink in. "So you've... you've been touched by a God? That's amazing. And now you live your life knowing you have to go into battle again, against someone so evil no less, in an entire world war! I'll probably be dead by then." She picks up a cracker and starts eating it. With her mouth half full she blurts out, "What happened to the Princess? Are you scared? What happened to the rest of your family? How did you meet Red and does he know?"

He smiles, "My, you are full of questions. The Princess still resides in Norway as a member of royalty. She is now what you would call middle-aged and has many children and grandchildren. My family have all passed on, as would be expected of humans. After they were gone I migrated to the United States. I met Red eight years ago in New Orleans in a situation where he was at risk and I protected him. He hired me and it has been a fond friendship. And no, he does not know of my full history, just as I do not know all of his, but he does know that I worship the Norse deity of Clanggedin Silverbeard. He also has figured out that I am considerably older than my visual years, just as your grandparents did, as I am less cryptic of my past around people whom I trust."

She comments, "It must be sad having all your family gone. I've been alone for a few years. At the time I didn't think it was that bad but now I know I can't go back to living like that. How did you know to trust them, or me for that matter? I sometimes have a hard time knowing who to trust." He replies, "You have to rely on your instincts. Over time you will develop those if you haven't at this point in time yet." Ruby laughs. "I've always been a stupid, foolish girl. That doesn't seem to change, I always make bad decisions. Maybe one day I'll get better at making bad decisions." She giggles at herself.

She then asks, "What about you, Richard, do you have a girl somewhere?" He replies, "Not at present. I was married during the last century but she has long since passed away. We were never blessed with children." Ruby comments, "See, that's sad, you must miss her. Isn't it hard to watch all your friends and loved ones die? How do you not have someone to, you know, share your bed with?"

He replies, "I have the fond memory of the many decades with my wife, that sustains me for the time being." Ruby smiles softly. "She must have been wonderful then." She pauses. "I hope I'm not getting too personal. I'm just curious, especially about someone who's lived so long." She is quiet again, nibbling on her cheese. "Where did you get that carpet?" He answers, "The carpet? I traded for it with a sultan in the community of Benha. That's in Egypt along the Nile River, around twenty-five miles north of Cairo. That was around eighty-five years ago, during the French leader Napoleon's occupation of Egypt."

Ruby's eyes go wide with excitement. "You've been to Egypt! You're so lucky! I guess being alive so long you've had some adventures. Tell me about it, Egypt that is. I'd love to go there one day and have my own adventures. I thought to have gone with Jake but...," Her voice trails off and a sad look crosses her face. He replies, "Well when I was there I wouldn't exactly call it my being lucky or it being any fun, I feared for my life and almost lost it. The French Army was taking over then, imposing rules and strict discipline on the locals. Being a Caucasian many of the locals mistakenly thought I was French, and not being a soldier, wanted to take out their animosity on me.

I retreated to the palace of the Sultan, who I had previously met. I traded a considerable number of possessions, everything I had at the time, in order to get the carpet which became my sole means of escape the county. That got me to West Africa and then across to Spain. It was another two months before I managed to scrape together enough money for ship's passage back to the United States." She replies, "That sounds scary. I hadn't thought about it being like that. You've really been through a lot and when we have more time I'd love to hear all your stories. You could write a very entertaining book I bet."

Ruby pulls her feet up underneath her on the bed. "I have to get to the Western Union office today, it's really important. I'm hoping for some good news." Richard replies, "We're not going anywhere in public while the Pinkerton's are roaming the city with photographs of us thinking that we're Deadeye Douglas and Mae Clark. That was actually a pretty smart move on the part of James's opponent, as Douglas and Clark are still on the loose with over a million dollars from that recent bank robbery. If they catch us nobody would question their need to search our possessions looking for the money, giving them a chance to look for the documents that are their real target."

"We can't wait forever," Ruby says sternly. "I have things to do here and then I have to get back home. I have to get to that office and I have to see George." Her voice changes to a pleading tone, "I have to do this, maybe you don't understand. I will do it Richard, even if I have to sneak around. What's left of the papers? I don't recall what we put where. And just how long do you think they'll be looking for us? I mean, it could be weeks, no? We can't hide out here in the office forever." Ruby sighs. "I'm sorry, I'm just edgy. I have a lot on my mind."

He replies, "I split the papers up evenly between our three sets of luggage, so Jane now has two-thirds of them, the other third being here within your luggage." She replies, "Well, that's good, no matter what they can't get all of it." Ruby takes a sip of the cider and scrunches up her nose. "Blegh! I can't drink this!" She climbs off the bed and goes to the liquor cabinet, retrieving something dark brown in color, pouring herself a drink.

With her back to Richard she continues, "I have an idea. It's not without it's risks but it could work." She takes her full glass and sits back down on the bed. "We mail the papers, from here. We drop them in the mail... mail them home to Promise City. We sneak out and make sure we don't get found here." Ruby sighs. "Then we let them find us. They bring us in, they don't find the papers. And...," she pauses, then runs a hand through her hair, "We tell them who I am. My father is a powerful man, he'll stop this nonsense very quickly."

Richard replies, "Your father is one of the people I'm trying to protect you from. Your idea does have merit, but I would send them to the Three Gods Meeting Hall in Tucson instead of Promise City." Ruby pauses and taps her lips. "That isn't a bad idea but...I know that your allegiance is to Red, if you can call it that, and I understand. But I do not know Red that well, and how he would feel about me if I was not with Jake any longer..." Her voice trails off and she takes another sip of her drink. "That makes me hesitant to send them there, unless you tell me differently."

Richard replies, "We're not sending it to him, we'll mail it to me. He won't open things addressed to me, nor would any of the other partners at the Meeting Hall." Ruby nods. "Alright, I trust you. Let's mail them to you. Although I do have a spot in Promise City that they will be untouchable. I'm sure you have one too though." She laughs, "That one of my problems, I trust people too easily. Maybe that's why I'm always in trouble!" He answers, "There are far worse faults than being trusting. I also think that you are mistaken about Red, he may consider Jake to be his best friend but he wouldn't have extended a partnership in the Meeting Hall to you if he just considered you to be Jake's girlfriend, nor would he have thrown you the elaborate party a few weeks back."

"True." Ruby nods her head and has a drink. "Perhaps that's just me being too untrusting. I like Red a lot, I just wasn't sure. But you're right, why would he make me a partner if he didn't like me." A smile comes to Ruby's lips although it's not hard to tell it's fake. "Maybe it won't even be an issue, perhaps there is a telegram waiting at the office for me right now!" Richard says, "Perhaps, but I wouldn't count on it. I didn't tell you before, but I dispatched a telegram to Mr. Cook a few days ago myself, asking him to send a reply to your Grandmother's house with the date and time we would be there until. We never received one."

Ruby face's drops. "Oh." She takes another sip of her bourbon, this one larger than before. "I suppose he was bound to break my heart someday. I would say this is the day, but I guess I've really known it for a while now. If I didn't I would not have spent the night with dear Officer Birch." She swirls the thick liquor in it's glass. Her head down she raises her glass, "To broken hearts," and drinks the entire glass. "I guess we don't have to go to the telegram office now. He says, "We probably still should, there could be any number of reasons why a reply wasn't sent, you shouldn't assume the worst." He drinks his cider and says, "You're right, this isn't very good. Would there be any bottles of brandy or cognac over there?"

"I believe so." Ruby smiles as she hops off the bed again. "Just so you know," she says, glancing at him sideways as she stands at the liquor cabinet pouring the drinks his and a new one for herself. "I'm not exactly assuming the worst for no reason. Unless Jake is dead, he promised me he would always come for me. As hard as it was to get a promise out of him, he did. He said he would always follow. Back on my birthday I was expecting him to show up in Tucson. And from New York, I wrote him two beautiful love letters, not so much so he would read what was said, although partly, but so that he would have the address to where we were. And no, not a word in return. And believe me, Jake isn't dead, he's too cunning for that."

Ruby walks over to Richard. "So that," she hands him his cognac, "The fact he did not come, makes him a liar." She squeezes next to Richard, sitting closer than she should to him, on the couch. "But I'm a liar too, I lied to myself that he would be different, I convinced myself because I wanted it so badly. I lied about a lot of things. We both knew we were liars and thieves going into it, we knew what we were both are, so why should it have been any different?" Richard replies, "Don't be too hard on yourself, life out west is not easy for anybody and many relationships are of a short duration. I did assume something of that sort had transpired when he didn't cable back, plus as you say, your time spent with Mr. Birch. I won't tell anybody about that, as far as I am concerned what happens in Rochester stays in Rochester."

Ruby looks into Richard's eyes and gives him a genuine smile. "You're very sweet, loyal and kind. I'm lucky to have you as a friend. Of course, I wouldn't know half of what I know about you if we hadn't come on this trip, so I guess it's a good thing!" Ruby sips her drink again. "I'm not sure who I'll tell, about Roger, we'll just have to see. Jake isn't exactly the confrontation type if he doesn't have to be, so he might have even left Promise City already. Although I'm sure his plan would be to win the tournament and then leave. He wouldn't break up with me to my face, he would be too pained to watch me be hurt like that. Besides, he knows I could easily convince him otherwise if I wanted to."

"But who wants to live a lie? I'll tell you, not me anymore. I have to be as honest as I can with people from now on. So ask me anything!" she exclaims, her smile growing wider, "While I still feel honest," she laughs. Richard notices something outside and heads over to the window, moving back so that only a minimum of his head is potentially visible from the outside. "What is it?" Ruby whispers.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter Two-hundred-four, “Earps Again”, Saturday, June 17th, 6:30 A.M.

In the morning Kate and Janet got up early and went out to the ranch for her lesson. Instead of trying to saddle and get on the stallion Kate fetched the little buggy instead and drove. They arrive out at the Ranch on the peaceful Saturday morning. Sonoma and Flint both greet them upon their arrival. Flint calls Kate aside and says, "I heard that they caught Earp, that's a crying shame, he was only trying to bring about justice."

Kate replies, “I'm not sure how I feel about it myself. He was dangerous, Flint. He's teetering on the edge of insanity and it might not have been long before innocents started getting hurt just for being in his way. He had a magical thing that made him invulnerable, he would have just kept going and going. We were taking down the last of the vampires in town when he took advantage of the chaos and went after his enemies. Either he or Palmer used something near the dynamite shed that blew it. That's how he got caught."

Flint states, "Well it's a crying shame is what it is. He didn't do anything different than we did when we went after Pete's killers." Kate answers, "Not so different than quite a few things I've done since then. There are things the law is just not prepared to handle. I can't imagine what this place would be like if there weren't people defending it on their own. It was his instability that got him caught." The dwarf replies, "Yeah, I guess, but I'd say that is a crying shame."

While Flint and Kate are conversing Sonoma is assisting Janet Fly with her tack and saddle. "Are you trying to suggest something, Flint?" Kate asked, looking over her shoulder at the others. Flint replies, "Nah, it would be too risky to try to bust the guy out. I didn't mind helping him here with the horses but I won't be going out of my way to help him. I'm just saying it is too damned bad he got himself caught." Kate nodded. "We have far too much to lose now to think about that kind of thing. Some of those Cartwright men are back in town in case you were interested."

She went over to the other women and hugged Sonoma. "I can't wait until all this business in town is finished and I can spend more time here with you. I'm afraid I won't be able to help much today, my arm was hurt last night." She filled Sonoma and Flint in on what had happened at the play and added, "If either of you wants to get into town to see it I'm sure we have enough help now to take care of the place. Mr. Morand was very thorough about that."

Sonoma asks a few more questions about the play, glad to hear that her father is participating as part of the orchestra. When Kate mentions that Dorita plans to attend the Sunday matinee Sonoma decides that she will attend that performance. Flint helps Kate get her horse saddled and she then sets off with Janet Fly for the riding lesson.

Since Kate was on her own horse instead of holding a guideline for Janet's, she didn't have Janet do much new, just continue practicing what they had already gone over without the safety of someone else guiding. The two women roamed over the ranch practicing the commands Janet already knew and just letting her get more comfortable in the saddle and in her ability to command the horse. Near the end they went a bit faster letting the horses work out some of their energy in the early morning ride. They were out about an hour when they rode back to the main buildings.

Upon their return Kate notes that Flint has returned to his mining machine up on the hill. Sonoma assists the two women with unsaddling the horses and gettng out the grooming tools. Janet says, "I know we haven't been doing this for very long but I will miss it when I go out to join Roger in California." Kate replies, "There will be liveries in California, although there won't be an open space like this to ride in. I'm certain there are some lovely parks there though, and the society people must be riding somewhere."

Kate was quiet for a moment. "There is something about riding that makes you feel serene, independent, and strong. I always feel I can face anything when I'm riding." Janet Fly says, "I understand completely. Before I leave I will speak to the sewing circle about it and maybe get you a few more customers for riding lessons. I doubt that Peg Watkins or Helen Cook would even consider it, but some of the others who have now warmed to you such as Beth Eaton and Clarisse Townsend might wish to give it a try."

"I'd appreciate that. Until we sell the first of the livestock and get a crop in things are pretty expensive here. It's still a strange thing; even some of the women in the sewing circle not absolutely hating me." She laughed. "Even if it took a goddess to do it." Janet replies, "'They're not a bad bunch, you just got off on the wrong foot. I met your mother when she visited the town, she's not all that different in temperament and personality than those in the sewing circle."

"I never believed them to be a bad bunch; I figured they didn't know what to do with someone like me," Kate said lightly, shaking her head. "Maman has always been just a bit uncomfortable with how much I took Papa's lessons to heart. She still does things so society knows she's doing right. Papa and I just do right without worry about others. I suppose Maman's kept him from getting in too much trouble." Janet answers, "It sounds like they provide a good balance for each other. That's what I thought that Roger and I had, with me helping keep his more impulsive ideas in check, until I learned about this other life he had been living behind my back."

"You're absolutely right to be upset that he was lying to you. When you're together again, you might consider letting his impulsive side pull you along now and then. Not to do anything you'd be uncomfortable with of course, but if he feels he can indulge a bit with you I doubt you'll find him playing piano in a saloon again. Not that he would since he knows how much that upset you. So if he ever comes home one day and suggests getting on a train, going to San Fransisco and seeing a show then going to a ballroom for dancing, say yes," Kate smiled. "Tom and I used to go down to New York on a whim now and then. I needed his sense of fun and adventure."

Janet replies, "Yes, I will have to learn how to trust him again. But I am willing to try." Kate says, "Trust yourself too. Your instincts won't lead you astray." Janet says, "Thank you Katherine, and thank you for letting me stay with you this week. The short time apart has allowed me to regain a fresh perspective. But now that I've decided that my life is with Roger again there is no reason to delay. I'm planning now to leave on the stagecoach tomorrow morning provided that we make it back today before the bank closes so that I can empty mine and Roger's account."

Kate says, "Oh. It's been a pleasure to have you, I've enjoyed having an adult around again. I'm going to miss you," she said and embraced the other woman. "I'd hoped to spend more time with you. I need to be back early myself, so it should be no problem to get you to the bank." Flint and Sonoma see the pair off, Sonoma adding "Tell my mother and great grandfather that I will be back for a visit tomorrow." Kate nodded and she and Janet were off back to town.

She returned the little buggy to Drover's and they stabled and brushed down the horses. When Janet was ready to go to the bank she asked, "Would you like someone to walk with you to the bank and back to the house? You'll be carrying a lot of cash." "Yes, that would be a good idea," Janet replies. They arrive back in town at 9:45 A.M. on the Saturday morning.

"Why don't you finish up here and I'll go inside and talk to Dorita." Kate slipped through the stable door and into the Cantina's kitchen. "Dorita, Sonoma said to tell you she's coming into town to visit tomorrow. I think she's planning to go to the play tomorrow afternoon as well. Do you think you could lend me someone to walk Janet Fly and I over to the bank? We don't want to be walking alone with any real amounts of cash.” Dorita tells Grant Keebler to accompany them.

Kate and Grant walked over to the bank with Janet and waited near the door as she did her business. They walked back to the El Parador first, then back to Kate's house just so it wouldn't be quite certain where they'd left the money Janet had taken out. It was probably more than necessary but Kate didn't relish the idea of any late night visitors thinking there was money to be found in the house. Janet tells Kate that she will spend the next hour or so packing and then go visit the members of her sewing circle to say goodbye. Kate nodded. "I'm sure they'll be as sorry to see you leave as I am. I have to go out in a little while, so I may not be back until later."

She filled a basin and took it upstairs to her room, then warmed the water with a prestidigitation spell and washed up. A long soak would have to wait until later. After last night's finery she put on her prim blue down and left her hair loose, just pulling a ribbon through to hold it back from her face. Once she was ready she went downstairs to the kitchen to read and nibble until Edwin Booth arrived.

At 10:30 A.M. there is a knock on Kate's door. Kate looked at the little clock on the shelf, noting that it was only 10:30. She went to the window and looked between the curtains to see who was there before opening the door. Kate sees Virgil Earp standing on her doorstep. She resisted the urge to go fetch a gun. Instead she took a deep breath and opened the door. "Good morning, Marshall. What can I do for you?" she said flatly.

He states, "Good Morning Mrs. Kale, I'm sorry to disturb you this early in the morning. I'll get right to the point, I have spoken with my brother and he indicated that you are a very trustworthy individual. He has also indicated that you currently operate a ranch. If I should need to discreetly obtain a mount or two, with tack and saddles, would I be able to count on your for assistance?" Kate stepped outside and shut the door behind her. "I have a houseguest," she said, looking up to make sure Janet's window was closed. "Forgive my bluntness, but considering our past history what possible reason could I have to risk myself for you?"

Virgil states, "I haven't asked you to undertake anything of risk, I'm not planning anything without the approval of Judge Isby. I just don't want the people who want Wyatt dead to know about this, which is why I've asked for some discretion. As for why, well, my brother saved your brother's life during the Tombstone fire. Isn't that enough for you?"

Kate replies, "When all you tell me is that you want horses and quiet it sounds risky. You didn't mention Judge Isby. As for your brother, he also jailed my friends on obviously false charges in order to squeeze information out of me. Lucky for you he knows how to admit when he's wrong, tell the truth, and apologize. Where do you need the horses to be and when? My weekend is busy so I'd need to find time to get to the ranch and make the arrangements."

Virgil says, "Monday as soon as the trial gets over, assuming my brother is acquitted. I'm optimistic that will happen, but getting him out of this county alive is another matter. That's why I need the horses, and for Frank Leslie and his buddies to not know that I have them available." She asks, "And where did you want them? I usually stable my animals at the El Parador, but I don't want to bring trouble down on their heads."

Virgil replies, "I don't care where you put them just so they're available as soon as the trial is over. Let me know what they cost, you'll be well paid for your assistance." She states, "I'll take care of it. Something built for stamina without sacrificing too much speed. Where are you staying so I can get word to you?" Virgil replies, "I'm staying with Deputy Rodriguez in his room over by the Tolucca house. Thank you."

She asks, "How impossible would it be to get to see your brother before the trial? I had thought of it before, but they're keeping the jail so heavily guarded I thought they wouldn't let me." He replies, "Not very likely, they let me in because he's my brother. Other than me I think the only one they'll let in is his lawyer." "As I suspected. I'll choose some animals for you. Was there anything else?" Kate asked. He replies, "No, that's it for now. Thank you for your time." He walks away and Kate notes that his arm and hand are still crippled from the injury he sustained last December.

Kate went back inside but couldn't settle back down to her snack. Instead she went through and started pacing up and down the long schoolroom. It was hard to tell which was more worrisome, how aggravated that man could still make her, or the fact that she couldn't seem to forgive him. His injuries and the loss of his brothers should illicit her sympathies but the only feeling she had toward Virgil Earp was relief at seeing him walk away. She wiped away the few tears that stubbornly insisted on gathering in her eyes and tried to collect herself before Edwin Booth could arrive.

Out her window she sees Chumbley heading down East Street carrying a stack of newspapers. Kate got a nickel and went outside. "Mr. Chumbley, may I have one of those please?" He sells her the paper. The main headline reads "Watson Attempts Booth Assassination". Also on the front page is the headline "New Douglas Gang Escape from Colorado Prison". The final front page story, on the bottom right of the paper reads "Van Horne Tournament Begins Today".

"Can't anyone keep those people in prison?" Kate said, shaking her head. She thanked Mr. Chumbley, then went back inside and sat back down with her snack. Her calm was still disturbed but the newspaper might help her put Earp's visit in it's proper perspective.

The main story is a rather accurate account of the shooting at the play the previous night, crediting Watson with shooting Edwin Booth, Katherine Kale and Rolf Larson. It quotes Helen Barker admitting to having accidentally shot Earl Hogan. It says that Mr. Watson will go to trial on Monday morning, that Judge Isby anticipates a short amount of time after the names are drawn for the jury to gather the jurors during which time he can take care of Watson's trial.

The tournament story mentions that thirty gamblers registered to play and that there will be $ 50,000 in prize money split as $ 30,000 for first place, $ 15,000 for second place and $ 5,000 for third place. It says that Saturday the tournament will run from 12:00 noon until 2:30 A.M. with half-hour meal breaks at 4:30 PM and 9:30 PM. It will then resume at noon on Sunday.

The jail break article states that on Thursday evening there was a prison break at one of the three cell blocks in Canon City Colorado. Two guards were killed and six were wounded. Nine prisoners were killed attempting to escape and eleven more made it over the walls. Of those, five were recaptured on Friday. Of the six still at large three were members of the New Douglas Gang, namely Mongo Bailey, Pamela Yeats and Sally Fox.

Kate spent another moment being grateful that she would never be allowed to sit on Wyatt Earp's jury. The story about the escape of the New Douglas Gang members held her attention. Bailey and Fox she couldn't care less about, but her only real memory of Pamela Yeats was of a woman in tears over the death of her husband. She hoped the woman would take whatever money she had and fade away rather than keep running with the Douglas Gang.

Kate is interrupted by the sight of Ginnie bouncing down the stairs from the second floor. She is wearing her very best dress, polished her shoes, and her freshly washed hair is tied back with lace and ribbon. She hurries towards the doorway saying "Goodbye Ma'am Kate, I will see you later." Kate exclaims, "Wait, Ginnie! Where are you going? At least come over here for two seconds and say goodbye."

Ginnie hurries over and says, "I'm off to the Lucky Lady. They've asked myself, Colleen, Cathleen, Melvin, Nakomo and Burt Hoover all help out today with waiting on people during the Tournament. Mr. Van Horne asked us to all come early for instructions and to wear our better clothes, that we'll get higher tips if we look professional." "Ah. And I see you took him seriously, you look quite lovely."

Kate kissed her cheek and gave a loose hug so as not to muss her. "I guess they'll want me to wear something a little nicer than this dress then, I'll have to change after I run my errand. love you, honey. I'll see you in a little while. I'm very proud of you, you know." "Thanks Ma'am Kate, yes you should look nice too, but you always do anyway." Ginnie kisses her cheek and hurries out the door. Kate had to reach into her pocket for her handkerchief and wipe her eyes. Ginnie had been almost like a ghost lately, it was a relief to see her, even for a moment, looking happy and confident.

Ginnie bounds down the steps and westward towards Main Street, almost knocking Edwin Booth over in the process. He has his arm in a sling and is carrying a small suitcase in the other hand. He exclaims, "My, where is your little one off to in such a hurry?" Kate replies, "Mr. VanHorne has recurited Ginnie and a few other children to help out during the tournament. Ginnie has worked there since she moved here to live with me and she's excited about the potential for good tips,"

Kate laughed. "She lived on her own for a time and once you've been responsible for yourself it's hard to let someone else take care of you." Edwin replies, "I understand. Even though I was with my parents in the theater they were often busy with productions and my brothers and I often had to learn to fend for ourselves."

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter Two-hundred-five, “Bonnie’s Tale”, Saturday, June 17th, 10:45 A.M.

Chester wakes in his room at the Lucky Lady. It had been a long but uneventful night guarding Watson, until he was relieved by Eduardo. The play was long since over when he got out, so he shuffled back alone. In the morning, Chester rose and splashed water on his face. He dressed and made his way into the kitchen, where he put on a pot of coffee. Lighting a cigarette, he pours a cup from the pot and drinks. Things at the Lady are quiet until mid-to-late morning when Tim Finnegan, Jeff Mills and Thom begin to rearrange furniture for the poker tournament.

Chester asks, "Expecting a big crowd for the tourney? Let me help out. Did anyone stay to watch the end of the play last night? How was it?" Jeff says, "We all stayed until the crowd cleared out. They're doing the play again tonight at the Gay Lady and tomorrow afternoon at the Town Hall, so you should try to catch the last two acts at one of those performances." Chester says, "Thanks Jeff. I'll try. I want to make it up to Clarisse for leaving her last night. Especially with her seeing the shooting. I'll see you later. I'll be back later to keep watch over the tourney." He slaps Jeff on the back and leaves for the office.

The men at the Lucky Lady rearrange the five biggest tables with one in the center of the room and the other four northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest of those. They arrange seven chairs at each of the tables, for a dealer and six players. They then arrange all of the smaller tables and the remaining chairs around the perimeter of the room, leaving plenty of room for folks to get to and from both the bar and the side door to the outhouse. Once they are done Jeff tells Thom and Finnegan "Go get washed up and changed, Van Horne wants us to all look our best."

Minerva sits up and grabs her head. She comes out into the living room and finds Nakomo dressed in his Sunday best. She says, “My don't you look dashing. Where are you off too?"
Nakomo looks over his shoulder and is startled by Minerva's disheveled appearance and gray complexion. "Well you don't look so good, if you don't mind my saying so. where have you been?" he scolds and walks across the room to her. She replies, "I will be fine Nakomo. Just a bit to much celebrating is all. Now where are you off too?" He says, "I am working at the Lucky Lady today and If I don't hurry I will be late. Gotta go." He says and rushes out the door.

Minerva takes her time getting dressed and makes her way to Dorita's in search of a strong cup of coffee and a newspaper. Dorita is quick to give the Priestess a hot mug of coffee. "Gracias Dorita. You are an angel. Would you have something for this headache as well?" She replies, "IF it is an alcohol-produced headache I can make up my hangover cure." She replies, "Si, I would really appreciate it. I would take my punishment for being so foolish but there is so much going on in town today. I feel I must be on my toes."

Dorita disappears into the kitchen and comes back a few minutes later with a mug of steaming liquid that smells like a cross between tar and a dead animal. After taking the first sip she concludes that the taste is comparable to the smell. Minerva finds a copy of today's Promise City Mirror as well. "Ugh," she grimaces and quickly follows it with an appreciative smile. Gracias Dorita. This is just what I need and exactly what I deserve."

She bravely swallows down the foul liquid. "I am not sure that I am ready to read quite yet. Is there anything in the paper that I should be aware of?" Dorita says, "Main story about shooting at play last night. Other stories about Lucky Lady poker game today, bank robbers escaping from prison, Law and Order Party changing some candidates, and some comment about Monday's trial of Marshal Earp."

Minerva replies, "Bank robbers escaping from prison? Not around here I hope.” Dorita answers, "No Colorado, but they same ones who hurt Chet and Jake in January back when they both bank guards. Hope they no come back here.” Minerva comments, “We seem to attract more than our share of trouble and with this poker tournament in town I'm sure that there will be more. What are people speculating about Senor Earps trial? Do you believe that he should hang for what he did?"

The middle-aged Elvan woman replies, “Two editorials, different views. Chumbley like Earps and argue for acquittal. Letter from Sheriff Leslie want him hung. I not know what to think, hope I don't have to be on Jury." Minerva states, "Nobody relishes the thought of serving on a jury. But if it keeps an innocent man from going to the gallows than it is worth the inconvenience do you not agree?" Dorita answers, "Si, life is a thing most precious."

The Priestess says, "I think that I am feeling much better now. Perhaps I will have some breakfast and then see if they need a hand at the Lady. I have an ill feeling about this tournament that has nothing to do with my hang over. I would feel better if I were closer to Nakomo in case of trouble. He and Katherine's girl are serving drinks today." Minerva orders a hearty breakfast and then returns home to dress into fancier attire. She slips on gloves, picks up her parasol and carefully conceals her pistol into her skirt. She examines herself in the mirror. Places a large fancy hat upon her head and strolls over to the Lucky Lady with Luna perched upon her shoulder.

Meanwhile, Jake had awakened the morning of the tournament with a throbbing head. Though tempted to crawl back under the covers, he instead cleans up, dresses, and trudges to the El Parador for coffee. Two large Jake Cook cork bottomed mugs of black coffee later, which is about one hour before the tournament is scheduled to begin, he is standing outside the McCoy residence rapping lightly on the door.

Bonnie McCoy answers the door. Once she sees who it is she looks both ways to make sure that nobody is watching, then ushers him quickly inside. She says, "Have you decided to help us?" "Yes." Jake pauses and takes stock of her and himself. Is Minerva right? Am I a nice guy? Maybe, but I have my motives.

He says, "I have done more than that. If all that Adair has against you two is contained in the three loan documents and various property deeds that he once had in the bank safe box you named, then consider yourself free of his influence. I expect to have them in my possession soon." He watches her expression. "However you have a choice to make. Rest assured that I am no black mailer, and if you and Prosper mean no malice towards me then these papers will never see the light of day. I ask nothing more of you.

If, however, you would like these papers for yourselves, I have some conditions. They are quite reasonable. First, my associates and I incurred some small expense gathering these documents and should be reimbursed for it. Second, which ever of you two knows the whole story must tell it to me. There are documents that may be unrelated to you and I do not wish to inadvertently give away another’s secret. Once I am convinced that I have been told the honest and complete story, I will give the documents to you, to do with as you see fit. I will keep no copies. I will not tell the stories to others to use against you."

Jake gives her an easy smile. "Lastly, after I have given over the documents I ask that you consider me a friend, and that if Evan Adair is planning on doing something that would harm me, my friends or my business you at least give me adequate warning to protect my interests or my life. I ask you to take no other risks." He gives one final smirk, "Of course if you know that snake is doing something immoral and want some help in having him caught in his own foul web, I would be most pleased to assist in that."

Bonnie McCoy's facial expressions change from delight to concern and then hesitancy as he speaks. She then says, "There are four documents that pertain to us, two are loan documents and two are deeds. I'll tell you the story but only if you promise not to repeat it to anyone."

After Jake agrees she states, "Prosper's father and brother are both prominent members of the Greek-Roman Church of California. But his brother also has a gambling problem, and borrowed money from the Church treasury which he planned to pay back but lost instead. It would have been a great scandal if it were discovered. So Adair loaned us the money. It was important to keep the McCoy name off the transaction, so my father was officially the person taking out the loan. Adair made him put up the deed to my family's house and farm in Missouri as collateral.

Around six months later the brother got in trouble again and a second loan was needed, this time the deed to the McCoy home in Oakland was used as collateral. Prosper has been working almost as a slave for Adair to repay those loans." Jake states, "If I count correctly, the McCoy family borrowed ninety thousand dollars from Adair. That would take several life times to repay on saloon help wages. Do not take me wrong, but I do not understand where Adair is in the wrong here. I mean he did loan the family all that money. As much as I despise Evan Adair, it seems you ought to be angry at your husband's brother. Is he Harvey?"

She states, “No, Harvey is Prosper's father, the brother's name is Horace. Mr. Cook, the loans have been fully repaid, plus another twenty thousand on top of those amounts. But Adair has calculated astronomical interest costs that were not part of either loan agreement, that is what he is making Deacon work off. We have no choice as he has threatened to expose the scandal to the church, which would ruin Harvey's reputation and cost him his job."

Jake answers, "Well that is more like the Evan Adair I know. Fine then. So is Augustus Prentiss your father? And is Bishop Charles McCoy another brother?" She replies, "Yes, Augustus is my father. Charles was Harvey's father, Prosper's grandfather. He died last year. Harvey has now been promoted to the Treasurer's position." Jake nods sagely. "Your story squares up with the documents. I will be happy to turn those documents over shortly, and you two can go on with your lives." He taps a finger on his lips a few times and says, "There is the matter of the expenses still....."

She says, "I will have to talk to Prosper about that but if we can get those documents back I'm sure he will probably agree. How much money are we talking about?" Jake puts on his best serious poker face and replies somberly, "Eight dollars." Her face changes to surprise, apparently expecting a much higher figure. "Oh, I can get that for you right now," she states and hurries off into the kitchen. She returns a moment later with a five-dollar paper bill and three dollar coins.

Jake says, "Excellent. I will repay my associates, it is a tradition of honor you see. For our time and risk, we only ask your future considerations as I discussed previously. Also, I expect that you and your husband will not reveal who provided you with the documents. One of you ask for me at the Lucky Lady before noon if you please. I will have the documents there and will hand them over to you as promised. I trust this has been a rewarding day for you."

He asks her to check to make certain he can leave without being noticed, for her safety of course. Once it is clear Jake departs. First he goes home to lock up the other documents in the safe. Then he carefully rolls up the two deeds and the two loan papers and ties them with a string and puts it in his shirt. Satisfied, he leaves for the Lucky Lady.

Chester reaches the Marshal’s Office and is surprised to see a quartet of United States Army soldiers on guard duty outside of the town jail. They see the badge that Chester is wearing and the corporal in charge asks for Chet's name before letting him advance to the door. Chester raises an eyebrow at this. "I'm Deputy Marshall Chester Martin, corporal." The soldier says, "You're on our list. Go on ahead deputy." Chester replies, "Thanks, soldier. Carry on."

Once inside Chet sees that Marshall Berg and Neil Cassidy are both on duty. Warren Watson is in one cell and Wyatt Earp is in the other. Chester hangs his hat on a hook. "Hey Mitch, Neil. When did Wyatt earn federal protection? Not that I'm sorry to see them here. Any help we can get is great. Any news on the search for Buckley's killer?" Berg says, "Sheriff Behan asked them to come here. Some of their Regiment are in the play, so the others were happy to join them. They've worked out a schedule so that four will be on duty here and another four on call at the Sheriff's Office while the others are off seeing the play or enjoying themselves elsewhere in town.

As for us, Helen is playing in the tournament so she has the weekend off as long as she is still actively playing. I want one of the other four of us here at all times, another inside the Lucky Lady, and a third out on Main Street between Fremont and Allen Streets since between the Lucky Lady's tournament, the play tonight at the Gay Lady, and all of the gambler's money in the First National Bank there could be trouble at any of those spots. Eddie is off resting and will take over at 10:00 PM for one of us, pick your choice of assignments gentlemen."

Chester states, "I'll take the play again tonight. By the way, I heard it was Helen who shot Earl Hogan. Didn't think she could miss like that." Berg says, "Yeah, she feels awful about that. He moved at just the last second, otherwise we wouldn't be holding him for trial, he'd be at Dick Lester's instead." Chester says, "Yeah, it can be hard shooting in a crowd like that. That's why I didn't fire. My aim is nowhere near as good as hers. Hogan should heal up quick, so no harm done."

"Only to her confidence," is Berg's reply. Mitch says, "Okay, Neil will stay here, I'll head over to the Luckly Lady and you can watch Main Street Chet. The gamblers should be arriving at the Lucky Lady for the tournament so you can eyeball them before they come in." Chester says, "Sure thing, boss. Let's all hope for a quiet day." Chester walks up Fremont Street to the telegraph office opposite from the Lucky Lady.

Jake arrives at the Lucky Lady to see all of the staff present and attired in their finest of clothing. Thom, Timothy Finnegan, Jeff Mills, Tony Lucky, Frank Lucky, Boston Harker and Jonathan Harker are lined up and receiving instruction from Cornelius Van Horne on security. Thom and Finnegan wearing newly tailored suits correctly proportioned for their forms. All seven have red
armbands over booth upper arms with "Securitiy" embroidered upon then in gold script lettering.

Jake sees six youngster, namely Ginnie, Nakomo, Burt Hoover, Melvin Caudell, Cathleen O'Hara and Colleen O'Hara also well attired and sitting at a table together. They each have deep green armbands over both upper arms that read "Lucky Lady" in gold script lettering. Michael George and Harry Rote are behind the bar, also with green armbands reading "Lucky Lady". Stanley Barker is seated at the piano, but has opted not to wear the bands upon his arms having instead placed them around his tips cup.

Jake, attired in his French silk white shirt and black linen pants, looks back and forth, "Very nice, very nice indeed. Mr. Van Horne you have outdone yourself. It must be due to the most excellent people you have recruited." He hands Jeff Mills his Colt, gun belt and derringer. "Take mighty good care of that," tapping the short barreled Colt revolver, "if you please. I assume Mr. Van Horne already given you instructions regarding whom to give it to for safe keeping.” Van Horne picks it up and says, "I'm going upstairs now to speak to the dealers, I will take care of it."

What about the knife," Jake says pointing to his boot with the hilt protruding, "must that be checked as well?" Jeff says, "Yep, I'm afraid so. Don't worry though, the seven security guards, both bartenders, all five dealers and the hostess will all be armed, as will Helen Barker. If there's trouble there are enough weapons in the house."

Jake sighs, unaccustomed to being unarmed, "If it must be....." He hands the big man his dagger and sheath. Jake then goes about getting his mind prepared for the game. As he does so he is watching the other players, learning every little bit about them for the upcoming tournament. Every personal trait he learns is an edge, and Jake is after every edge he can get. Jake is here to win.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter Two-hundred-six, “Mistaken Identity”, Saturday, June 17th, 11:15 A.M.

Ruby West stands and lightly walks over to Richard. Holding onto his back she tries to peer out the window without getting in front of him. He states, "The men appear to be leaving." They wait for another five minutes. Richard says, "Two men left inside a Concord Coach and another was driven off in the Stanhope Coach. The Landau Coach and it's driver still remain." "Good," she whispers. "We can get out of here!" She pauses then giggles, "Why am I whispering anyway?"

He states, "Hold on, somebody is still here. We don't want to get seen by whoever that is or the driver." She comments, "I wonder what they're doing here on Saturday anyway?" She doesn't wait at the window, instead she hurries back over to the bed and the pile of clothes she left on the floor. She rifles through it with her toe before she lifts her suitcase onto the bed and start rummaging through. "What am I going to wear today? Hmmm...,"

She throws clothes left and right. "Ahhh, this!" She pulls out a beautiful, rich deep red dress with a low but not too low square neckline. "I think it's perfect!" She also pulls out new undergarments. It only takes moments before Ruby is standing completely naked. "I know you don't mind," she says, not even paying attention to if Richard is stealing a glance. "You've already seen me naked anyway." He comments, "In my nearly three centuries I have seen a number of women naked, including our friend Jane during many late night dances."

Looking outside rather than at Ruby he says, "That driver is sitting down in the front of the coach eating a meal from a lunch bucket, so I don't get the impression he is planning to leave any time soon." “Are you saying I'm unremarkable Richard? Please don't insult my delicate sensibilities," she laughs, "I'm already having a rough day." He says, "It may get rougher, do you hear that humming sound? That's the electric elevator. We had better be quiet." "You're just avoiding telling me I'm absolutely gorgeous," she teases as she finishes pulling on her dress.

Ruby does do as Richard asks, and stays quiet as she throws all her clothes and belongings into her suitcase. She takes her glass in one hand and her hairbrush in the other sits at George's desk, looking through whatever he has on the desktop. She gazes overlong on the pictures of herself before looking back to the actual desk to see if he has a calendar or any other sort of papers, all the while listening in to see if someone is approaching. They hear the sound of the door to the executive secretary's area being unlocked.

Ruby's eyes widen and she whispers, "Oh crap!" as she looks to Richard. She points to the bed and the lever, motioning for him to close it up. "Too late," he whispers. He reaches into his shirt pocket and removes a two-shot Derringer pistol. Ruby widens her eyes even more and give Richard a "don't you dare" look. She sits quietly at the desk and just waits to see what happens.
She hears a key turn at the door to the inner office. However, that door hadn't been locked, so instead of unlocking the door the person on the other side actually relocks it, so it doesn't open when the person turns the knob expecting it to.

Richard extends his arm, aiming the gun towards the door. Ruby gulps and stands, glass in one hand, hairbrush in the other. She waits in anticipation at the door opening but readies herself to throw off Richard's aim if he actually fires. The key turns again, this time unlocking the door. The door opens and George Eastman is standing there, a newspaper tucked under his left arm and a metal lunch pail in his right arm. His eyes go wide at the sight of Ruby and then shift over towards Richard and the pointed gun. Eastman stands proud and exclaims in a loud but calm voice "Don't harm her Mr. Douglas, I'll pay whatever ransom you are seeking."

"George!" Ruby exclaims and before she knows it, she runs towards him, jumping into his arms for a hug. Richard lowers the weapon. Eastman returns Ruby's hug and then intentionally steps between her and Richard, shielding her with his own body. George says, "State your terms Douglas." Glancing over towards the rolled out bed he then adds, "I'm unarmed, your accomplice can come out from her hiding place." Ruby's opinion of George shot through the roof as he took a step between her and Richard and her eyes sparkled.

She takes his hand and says, "George, he is not Deadeye Douglas. And there is no one else here, it's just the two of us. They thought I was Clarke. We're here hiding out actually, on our way to see you. some bad people are after us. He's been trying to protect me." George opens the morning's newspaper and says, "No, they think you're somebody named either Yeats or Fox." The headline reads "New Douglas Gang in Rochester" It has a large photograph that appears to have been taken outside of Bella's Restaurant in Tarrytown of Ruby, Jane and Richard standing together. George says, "The article identifies all three of you. If this isn't Douglas then who is he?"

"Oh George," Ruby sighs, her hair still a nest on one side. "This isn't how I wanted us to meet again. I've been trying to get to you..." She takes his hand and pulls him into the office. "This might take a while." She sits on the couch and motions for his to sit next to her. "His name is Richard Broughton. He came to New York with me to protect me." "You see, I finally got to see my grandmother! She's living in Tarrytown George. She found me and I came here to meet her. That," she pauses and actually blushes, "And to see you."

He replies, "Oh Constance, I was so worried after I saw today's paper. I notified the police already as to who you are as did your parents. We assured them that that you are probably Douglas's unwilling hostage. This Richard Broughton, are you sure that he isn't Arthur Douglas in disguise? The Pinkerton Men seem rather sure of their facts." She exclaims, "I'm positive he's not Douglas. I've seen Deadeye, he robbed a bank while I was in it. And this isn't him. Like I said, he's a friend, here to protect me. My grandmother gave me some items to hold for her and apparently they are something really important, important enough for the people who want them to lie about who we are so they can get access to our belongings. George, I need your help."

Eastman replies, "Yes, it sounds like you do. Ruby, have you been following the newspapers about the Douglas Gang? They robbed over $ 1.6 million from a Colorado bank and killed several soldiers in the process. Douglas and Clarke disappeared. They caught four of the others, but three of them escaped from prison the night before last. There's a nationwide manhunt for this gang, with orders to shoot to kill. You're both at risk from anybody who sees today's newspaper." "Oh crap," Ruby swears. She turns her back to Richard and looks George in the eyes. "Will you help us? I've been insisting we can trust you George, and I hope you prove me right. What should we do?"

George says, "Well, for now why don't the three of us talk. Nobody knows you are here so we're safe for the moment. Once I know enough of specifically what brought you here I can call up the Chief of Police and try to straighten out this mess. Then we can contact the newspaper for them to update the errors in today's paper." Richard interjects, "Not so fast, calls to anyone will alert the Pinkerton's who are after us to get those documents that Ruby referenced." Ruby exclaims, "He's right George, about the phone call. We had a plan to get rid of the documents. Maybe we can stick with our original plan Richard, then leave here and go from there?" She turns back to him, "What do you think?"

She adds, "George, I am terribly sorry we broke into your office. I just didn't know where else we could go that might be safe. We'll pay for everything we used..." George replies, "You don't have to pay for anything, I am just glad that you are safe." Richard interjects, "This appeared to be the safest place for us to go. I had read in the newspapers that you spend a lot of time here so found it reasonable that you might come here on a weekend." "Richard, you didn't warn me he might show up here!" Ruby scolds.

Ruby smiles at George then suddenly remembers her hair is a total mess and she has no makeup on. "Oh, excuse me!" She hurries over to the corner and puts her back to the men. The brush still in hand she starts brushing her hair and smoothing it down. Without a mirror she does the best she can. When she's done she smiles again and sits back on the couch. "There, at least I did something. I had planned on having a bath and looking my best when I came to see you George. Unfortunately circumstances didn't permit it." George says, "There will be sufficient time for that later. Now, please tell me more about this trouble that you have found yourself in."

Ruby nods, and sits. She explains to George about her trip to meet her grandmother, and how her husband is a historian, how he came about the "papers" and why they are being chased for them.
"I don't know what exactly is in them, even James does not know. Something of great importance I imagine for these people to go through so much trouble. But he bought them rightfully and they belong to him now, fair and square."

"We came up with a plan to get the papers away from us. Jane is gone and she has most of the papers with her. But I still have some in my possession. We could stick with that plan, get rid of them today, and leave with you George, if you are willing to help. Otherwise, we can find our own way to leave, deal with this problem the best we can, and I can come and see you when it's done, like I planned. We never meant for you to get involved or put you in harms way. We only came here, well, because we had no where else to go. I hope you aren't mad." Ruby smiles at him, but it's a feeble smile and reveals that she hopes that leaving him isn't what she has to do.

George says, "Hmmm, those papers sound curious. We could indeed mail them from Rochester, but once your opponents know that you are affiliated with me they might try inspecting my outgoing mail. However, I know quite a few other business owners in town, so it could be shipped from one of those businesses." He gestures over towards his large mostly-empty desk and says, "If you want why don't we spread out those documents on the desk and we can look them over now. Maybe we can deduce something from them that you Grandfather missed."

She gives a glance to Richard, hoping he's okay with her revelations. Ruby retrieves the papers from her suitcase and does as George says, spreading them out over his desk. She starts looking over the papers to see if she can deduce anything. George joins Ruby at the desk and she is suddenly aware of his being so close to her. She watches him look at the papers out of the corner of her eye, her long hair spilling over one shoulder as she leans forward over the desk. He is close enough she can smell his cologne, feel his body heat and her heart starts racing against her will.
She gives a little cough to clear her throat and mind, "*Ahem*. Do you see anything odd?"

George replies "Nothing yet, what about you Richard?" Richard is also sorting through them and says, "I'm not sure, most of these appear to be receipts. There's a small journal of some sort here that I want to look at as well, it might provide a clue." Richard takes the journal and walks over to the bed, sitting on it as he reads and ignoring Ruby and George. Ruby stays close but stands upright, looking George in the eyes. With much sincerity and her voice soft she says, "I really am sorry you know, for a lot of things. I hope we aren't getting you in trouble or worse, in danger." "I will risk any danger for you," he replies softly.

Ruby smiles softly and she just stares into George's eyes, momentarily losing herself there. "It's nice to hear you say that." She realizes what a stupid thing that was to say and starts to stammer, "I mean, uh, not that I want you in danger or anything, uh, I just meant, uh, oh forget it!" She takes his hand in hers as she collects herself. "I just mean I have a lot to say to you but I'm not sure now is the time. I wasn't even sure you would want to see me after the way I treated you the last I saw you and then that terrible night or that you could even forgive me for any of it." George looks up and says, "Richard, would you trust me to give Ruby a tour of my factory?" Richard appears to be very interested in what he is reading but stops and looks up then says, "As long as you stay away from the telephones yes."

"Oh, I'd love to!" Ruby exclaims and takes George's hand. "Please take me on a tour George." George takes her on the tour of all six floors of the factory, using the elevator to get from floor to floor, starting at the bottom and working their way up. The bottom floor houses the reception room, accounting offices, and vast mailroom where the products are shipped from. The next three floor are the manufacturing facility for the photographic dry plates, with a different step of the process occurring on each floor and with freight elevators used to move the product along. Using common rather than technical terms George explains to Ruby how photography works and the use of the plates.

They then reach the fifth floor which he explains is "The future of photography". He says that is where his laboratory is located, and where he and the men he was just working with are in trying to revolutionize the entire industry. He takes her into a dark room lit only by a red light and shows her several wet pieces of paper soaking in metal pans of chemicals. She sees photographic images on the papers. He explains, "We are experimenting with using paper film to hold the images. This paper can then be rolled up in a cartridge and stored inside the camera. The cameras will be small enough and strong enough that they can be mailed back here to be developed. Do you realize what that will mean?"

Ruby smiles widely at the proud man standing before her, "It means your dreams have and will continue to come true George Eastman. I'm so happy for you!" Ruby squeezes his hand. "All this is just... amazing... what you've done here. I really am, happy for you. So now, you tell me exactly what it means for people to have film in cameras they can send in. I want to hear you say it." She waits expectantly for him to answer. He says, "It means that photograpahy will no longer be just the realm of professional photographers, it will become open to anybody! People will have their own camera! Photographic portraits will no longer be a thing for the upper classes, every family will be able to have portraits. And pictures will be taken to record family events, weddings, anniversaries, special times! This milestone will provide memories for the world!"

He then gives her an odd smile and says, "And one other benefit of this new technological revolution is that it will also make me a millionaire." Ruby laughs and says, "George, you were always destined for great things." She exaggeratedly spins around the dark room, her hair flying all around her. She stops short in front of him and still smiling says, "But Mr. Eastman, how will you spend your well earned millions?"

He answers, "First of all, I would share the earnings with the workers who will make it possible. I plan to introduce the concept of 'dividends upon wages', over and above the hourly rate of pay. That way the employees will share in the profits. That will also increase worker goodwill, morale and overall motivation which in turn will make us a more productive manufacturing company. I also feel it is a company's responsibility to establish a retirement pension for the workers. I will also support this community through philanthropy. I already sponsor the Mechanics Institute of Rochester, whose mission is to train the young people to the concepts of engineering and mechanics. Those people will be the future of tomorrow. I also admire the work of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and plan to establish scholarships there, with hopes of drawing promising graduates to work for me here.

I would like to do something for all of the people of the city as well, something along the lines of free dental clinics so that people's teeth can be properly cared for. Good teeth are the cornerstone of good nutrition and strong physical well being. And I would like to turn this city into a cultural center for music, establishing a school to promote it. That school could include that concert hall that we spoke of before, one to rival the concert halls of New York City." Ruby's smile slowly fades off her face as George speaks. She watches his enthusiasm for his ideas bubble through his words, his hand gestures showing his excitement, his eyes twinkling at his revolutionary ideas. He really believed he would make things better, not just for some but for everyone.

When he is done speaking Ruby is quiet. She walks over to the bins with the paper in it, gazing into them to see what pictures she finds there. With her head down her hair again covers her face so she pushes it behind her ears. She doesn't look at George as she speaks. "You have some really wonderful ideas George. I hope you don't ever let anyone keep you down or get in the way of making the rest of your dreams come true, any of them. You have the intelligence, kindness and the compassion to help so many people and the ability to do it. You're such a good man, you always were. Just don't let anyone tell you no and they'll all come true."

Silence fill the room again as she tries to focus on the photographs. Instead they go blurry as her eyes fill with tears she won't let come out. This was hurting her more than she expected. Partially because she hadn't anticipated seeing him until she was ready and partly because she hadn't expected to suddenly feel things she never thought she would feel. Of course, when she set this plan in motion she also expected her and Jake to be together forever and that she was only stopping by to drop off a ring; not remember how close her and this man had once been and that she had once cared for him as her best friend. In a soft voice she continues, "This is what I tried to explain to you back in Promise City George." She sighs. She just wasn't ready for this to come so soon. "You have so much potential, you can't and shouldn't waste it."

He walks over to her and states, "My plans are meaningless without somebody special to share them with. As I said back in Promise City, I want to spend my life with you, that hasn't changed. I want your voice to be the one singing out at the city's Ruby West Concert Hall. Don't you see Ruby, despite the valiant efforts of your business partner and my cousin to keep us apart we are drawn together once more. This is fate." Ruby sighs again. "Don't you see what I'm saying? Fate or not, I'm not good for you George. You have big things to accomplish. You don't know me. If you did, you would change your mind about me. I'm selfish and stubborn, both of those things work against everything you're trying to do."

She turns and finally faces him, showing him her teary eyes. "How do you not hate me after what happened in Promise City?" He replies, "After what happened? Ruby, what do you think happened? I got drunk and shot my mouth off, misspeaking so badly that people mistakenly thought that I had murdered you. How is that your fault? That was my fault, entirely!" Ruby scrunches her face, and violently shakes her head no. Squeezing her eyes shut causes the tears to fall down her cheeks as she cries, "That's not true... if I wasn't so mean to you, you wouldn't have gotten drunk and done all that. If I didn't say what I said..."

She wipes at her face but doesn't look George in the eyes. "I shouldn't have done that... I... I felt so bad, I tried to see you... Helen wouldn't let me... then you left and I tried to see you in Tombstone," she continues to sob, "Helen stopped me again, said you were already gone. I wanted to make sure you were okay, and say I was sorry. Jake didn't understand but I never told him..." She shakes her head again, hanging it in embarrassment. "I am, really sorry. I shouldn't have treated you like that, you deserve better."

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter Two-hundred-seven, “The Paternity Test”, Saturday, June 17th, 11:00 A.M.

Edwin Booth is chatting with Kate on her doorstep. He smiles and says, "Well, I have what we need right here in the case. Shall we go see your Mr. Booth?" "It's quite pleasant to hear you say 'My Mr. Booth.'" Kate smiled and took his arm. "Let us solve this mystery once and for all." They walk together to the Booth residence and knock. He comes to the door and lets them in. He says, "I came by after the play to see you Kate but your lights were all off and Doctor Eaton said you were all healed." Kate replies, "Doctor Eaton removed the bullet and stitched my arm up, it will heal. I went to bed early, the elixir he gave me against the pain made me feel very strange and sleepy when it wore off."

Conrad turns to Edwin and asks "How are you sir?" Edwin replies, "A little worse for the wear but otherwise alright." He turns to Kate and says, "And if I am to follow my Doctor's orders and not use the arm you will need to assist me with the artifact." He hands her the case. Kate says, "Of course. Perhaps you should explain what it is? And how to use it, of course." He hands her a key to unlock the case. Inside is paper packing materials and then an finely carved wooden chest made of a dark wood that is six-inches high by eight-inches long and wide. It too has a metal lock and he tells her which key to use on it. She lifts the lid and inside set in velvet is an ornate thick glass ball held within a thick frame made of gold with red jewels on it. A metal lid sits tightly atop the orb and four metal feet are at the base to sit it down.

He says, "That item was made in the 11th century for the Holy Roman Emperor, whose name by the way ,was of all things, Conrad II. It was used to confirm his paternity of his daughter Matilda before she was to marry King Henry I of France. It confirmed her identity but she actually died before the union took place. For many centuries thereafter the French monarchy used it whenever there was any question of royal paternity." He reaches into his suit jacket pocket with his good hand and gives Kate a metal flask. He tells her "Remove the lid on the orb and pour this inside. I will then recite an incantation. Conrad and I will then each make a small cut on our hands and let three drops of blood fall inside the sphere."

Kate carefully pulled the metal lid off, then pulled the flask open. She looked at both men, then slowly poured the liquid into the glass ball. "Whenever you're ready, gentlemen," Kate said softly. Conrad takes out a small leather-bound book from his other pocket and turns to a page. Kate sees that the yellowed pages are hand written in French script. He recites the words in French that translate as "Wondrous sphere of knowledge, grant us insight and wisdom." The liquid within the orb begins to swirl around in a counterclockwise direction.

Conrad takes a knife and makes a slight cut on his left pinkie finger, allowing three drops to drip into the liquid. Amazingly, upon the third drop hitting the water stops spinning, then reverses the spin into a clockwise direction. Edwin hands a second knife to Kate and holding out his hand says, "Will you do the honors?" She hesitated and took the knife in her hand. It was not so different from nursing, sometimes you had to cut instead of sew. She gently drew the knife across Edwin's pinky finger, just enough so a thin stream of blood appeared. A slight squeeze brought enough blood for three drops to fall into the swirling liquid.

Edwin has her close the lid. He then says in French "Show us the results of your wisdom great orb." The liquid begins to bubble then swirl around in random directions. It changes color from clear to blue to red to pink to blue again and starts to turn red. Edwin says, "According to the directions it will reach a final color in around two minutes from the incantation. If I am indeed your father the color will become a bright crimson red."

She looked up at Conrad and quietly took his hand. "It's a beautiful object, fitting for something used by royalty I suppose. Your French is excellent as well. I don't suppose you are of French descent?" Edwin replies, "Some, not much, but it is a language one needs to learn for theater work, just as one in the Opera needs to learn Italian." Kate feels the tension in Conrad's hand and the look of hope in his eyes. The color fades from red into more of a purple. It finally stops changing color, settling upon a shade of deep royal purple. Kate feels Conrad's hand go limp and sees his shoulders sag from disappointment.

She wrapped her other hand around his. "My dear, I'm so sorry. I know how much you wanted to know the rest of your family." Edwin says, "Not so fast, if we were unrelated the color would be a robin's egg blue. If you turn to the center pages of the book it will describe what the various other shades of blue, purple and red will indicate. You do read French don't you?" She replies, "Of course. Sometimes better than English." She released Conrad's hand and paged through the book until she found the listings of colors and what they meant.

She finds the pages and sees descriptions of six different shades of purple. For Royal Purple it reads "The two individuals each share one parent while the other parent is different, thus they are half-siblings." Kate looked from one man to the other with wide eyes. "Well gentlemen, you are indeed related. Mr. Edwin Booth, please let me introduce you to your half-brother." Edwin says, "Well that makes a lot of sense. My father Junius Brutus Booth was in San Francisco longer than I was and spent more time in the company of various ladies from the theater."

Conrad has a mixed expression on my face and says, "But...that means that my mother lied to me." Edwin says, "Not necessarily, as I said before, it is possible that I spent my final night in the city with her so she might have believed me to be the father while in reality you were sired by my own sire a short while prior to then." Kate interjects, "Don't assume the worst, my dear. Wait until you can talk to your mother and find out what she has to say. Until then, enjoy knowing exactly who you are. Perhaps you have lost the father you wished for, but you've also gained a brother. More than one, if I remember correctly."

Edwin says, "Yes, my brother...our brother, Junius Junior lives in Massachusetts. I'm sorry that you never had the opportunity to meet our Father. He died in New Orleans just a few months after leaving San Francisco....that would have even been before your were born." “New Orleans?" Kate wished she could be sure enough of this man to ask him about his knowledge of magic. She suspected most of the Booth family to have some kind of wizard talent but the risk of being wrong was to great to bring it up. She says, "If your brother is willing, the next time we travel to Boston we could go to meet him, dear."

Conrad says, "Well, I thank you brother for going to the effort of obtaining this device. This also explains how we look so similarly." Edwin says, "Think nothing of it, it is nice to have family. I am just glad I lived long enough for the test, it would have been most unfortunate if that man's aim last night were more accurate." Kate says, "Let us be thankful Watson needed liquid courage or it could have been much worse. Did you need to go get breakfast my dear, or were you almost ready to go. I'll need to go home and change my clothes before I head over to the Lady. They haven't told me if I'm needed, but I'd best dress the part just in case."

Despite Conrad being attired in a good suit he says, "I should get changed myself and head on over. If I am not there at noon my entry fee will be forfeited." He turns to Edwin and says, "Did you have any problem withdrawing?" The elder Booth says, "Not at all, a young reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle, from a wealthy family, was in town to cover the Earp trial and was more than happy to take the vacancy." "Well, if you gentlemen have no further need of me I should go change and head over to the Lady myself. Mr. Booth, I'm sure you'll forgive me for a bit of a breech of manners," she said with a smile.

Kate turned to Conrad, got up on her tiptoes and kissed him. "For luck. You're going to be wonderful." Conrad returns the kiss and says, "It has already been an excellent day regardless of how this tournament turns out." He sees her to the door. With a final squeeze of Conrad's hand, Kate hurried back home and put on the red dress she'd had made for the festival. It's elegance with in the fabric since the design was simple. The low, square neckline was lined with lace which no longer obscured her now more ample bosom. A pendant and a comb to hold up some of her hair finished her off and she hurried over to the Lucky Lady.

Meanwhile, Chester walks up Fremont Street to the telegraph office opposite from the Lucky Lady. He finds a post to lean on as he watches the poker players filter in. And file in they do, a steady steam of famous and infamous gunslingers and gamblers arrive, some in pairs, some alone and some with friends or hangers on. Chumbley has set up on the doorstep hawking copies of the Promise City Mirror to people as they arrive. Dozens of townspeople also show up and Buck Fly arrives with his photographic equipment. Chester adjusts his position as the press gets in his line of sight. He tries to match the Wanted posters in the office to anyone in the gathering crowd.

Inside, six people come down from upstairs, all of whom Jake recognize. Wearing royal blue arm bands reading "Lucky Lady Dealer" in gold script are Job Kane, Bradford Rhinehardt, Isaac Stevens and Marybeth Osborne. All are wearing tuxedos and bow ties except for Marybeth who has on a black gown and is also wearing Jake's gun held and Colt Peacemaker. Each also has a stack of six metal boxes. They are followed by Cornelius Van Horne whose arm bands are a deep purple reading "Lucky Lady Host". He too has a stack of six metal boxes. The last person is the house Faro dealer Darla Peacock with purple arm bands reading "Lucky Lady Hostess".

Kate arrives at the Lucky Lady as the gamblers are showing up. She sees Cornelius Van Horne with the "Lucky Lady Host" arm bands and Darla Peacock with "Lucky Lady Hostess" arm bands greeting people as they arrive once they have surrendered any firearms to the security men Tim Finnegan and Jeff Mills. Stanley Barker is playing the piano. Kate sees the youngsters attentively waiting on the gamblers and patrons, making frequent trips to and from the kitchen. Harry Rote and Michael George are busy serving drinks to those at the bar as well as taking drink orders brought to them by Nakomo and Ginnie.

Kate scanned the room, looking for Jake. He had to be here somewhere but she didn't see him yet. Instead she went over to the bar and said to Harry and Michael, "It doesn't seem I'm needed today, everything looks well in hand." Harry hands her a pair of green arm bands like those that he and the other employees are wearing with the gold "Lucky Lady" written on them and replies, "Stick around for the first hour until things settle. We'll probably also need you here to serve tonight once the children go home, I sincerely doubt their parents plan to let them work until the games break up at 2:30 A.M."

Kate replies, "I suspect you're right. I'm to play for the intermissions tonight for the play, but I can slip out after the second intermission and be back here for the late evening shift." He replies, "Well, I'm sure you'll do a better job than the intermission pianist last night. I'd suggest you leave your gun behind." Kate slipped the green armbands onto her sleeves. "Probably I shouldn't have worn red." Harry gestures to the security men with the red arm bands and says, "I doubt anybody will mistake you for security." "So do I," she laughed. "I only meant the green is rather garish against the dress. But no one will be looking at me for anything other than a drink anyway, so it's of little matter."

She nodded to the two men and then moved into the crowd to help with the orders, still keeping her eye out for any of her friends. She sees a number of familiar faces in the crowd. While the kitchen door is open she also sees Meghan O'Hara in the kitchen helping Maria. Kate caught Meghan's eye and waved as she went by, then got on about her work, greeting everyone pleasantly and gratefully noting that this was a bit higher-class crowd so she was unlikely to miss Maggie's bustle.

As Minerva approaches the saloon she notices Chester standing against a post and walks over. "Buena Dias, Deputy Martin. It is a fine day for a tournament. I assume all is well so far?" Chester tips his hat. "Hello there priestess. It is a good day at that. Everything's going well, except for the shooting last night. I'm just watching out for criminals and other varmints. How are you?" She replies, "I am fine Deputy. It was a pity what happened last night. I tried to get into the jail yesterday to give Senor Earp spiritual comfort but that despicable man Leslie would have none of it. Honestly, I do not understand why he is allowed to wear a badge. How is Senor Earp holding up? Could you arrange for me to speak with him? After all it is my job to do so. " He replies, "I'll see what I can do. The sheriff's aren't guarding the jail anymore. The Army is, so I'll ask the Marshall about that. He's OK, I guess for a man facing a possible date with the hangman."

Chester does a double-take when he sees the man whose face the vampire Mortimer Turner had been wearing enter. As the man was walking in during broad daylight however he is clearly a living and breathing human. Chester asks somebody who the man is and is told that it is former Governor Anson Safford, who served as the Territorial Governor for a six-year term in the 1870's.

Chester nudges Minerva. "Priestess, do you recognize that man? Our old friend Mortimer Turner? But he's living and apparently an ex-governor. I have to tell the Marshall and the others." Chester pauses, "Could you let Jake know? I can't be in two places at once." She replies, "Si, I will go find him. Por favor let me know when I am able to speak with Senor Earp." Minerva heads into the saloon to tell Jake of the Mortimer Turner look alike. Kate noticed Minerva enter the Lucky Lady and marveled at the hat the other woman was wearing. Kate had never really seen her wear one before and it quite changed her appearance.

She had realized something last night when no one had checked on her even when she was still at the Lucky Lady. That it was entirely her own fault. There was no way to know for certain when she had started keeping herself separate, but it seemed to be a well ingrained habit by now. One that would be hard to break. Perhaps because these were the people whom she was often in danger with, the ones most likely to be lost, that she kept them at arm's length. But that was a disservice to them all and she knew it. So when she saw Minerva come into the saloon she smiled a friendly smile and waved even as she tried to navigate the busy saloon.

Minerva smiles and gives Katherine a hearty wave, pleased that she is being friendly. Life must be going well for her, she looks quite happy She makes her way over to Kate. "Hola, You look quite busy. Do you know were Jake is? Chester wants me to deliver a message to him. Oh, you should be aware too. That man over there," she points to the former Governor. That is the face that Turner was wearing. I don't think it means anything other than that Turner borrowed his face but, you can not be to careful. You take care of yourself these next few days. I am sure that once the tournament is in full swing that tempers will be high. If you could find something for me to do I would appreciate it. I need a reason to be here. I am a bit uneasy about having the children here during this and I would not want Nakomo to think that I am keeping an eye on him."

Kate answers, "Mr. Messier showed us a picture of that gentleman in the mines and told us he was used as one of the disguises. I'd guess it's nothing to worry about. If you need to tell Nakomo something you could tell him that you want to keep an eye on that man, just in case. Or an eye in me in my delicate condition," she laughed. "Or even that you suspect violence might erupt here and want to be handy for healing. If you really want I'm sure we could arrange for you to help out somewhere. As for Jake, I haven't seen him but I have a glass of bourbon with his name on it when I do.

Minerva says, "I am sure that Jake will appreciate the thought and the bourbon. Now I am going to wander the room and see if I can guage the mood of the players. You keep yourself safe now." She says giving Katherine a quick hug. You'll probably see Jake before me. He'll scent that bourbon like a hound dog on the chase." she teases. When you do be sure and tell him about the ex Governor, would you?"

Kate continues, “I wanted to wish him luck before the tournament starts even though my loyalties are a bit divided. I'm a little worried about being here myself, but considering I got shot sitting at a play the tournament can't be any more dangerous." Kate laid her hand on Minerva's arm. "I'm not making light of your warning. If I've learned anything living here it's that danger can come from anywhere." Minerva adjusts her hat and raises her chin a bit, confident that she poses a striking figure, and strolls through the crowd making small talk. She and Luna Keep their eyes and ears open.


Chester waits until everyone has entered the Lucky Lady before finding Berg. Berg says, "Anything amiss, Deputy?" Chester whispers to Berg, "I saw a man who Mortimer Turner disguised himself as. Someone told me he was a recent governor, Anson Safford, I believe."

Berg says, "Yes, I saw Governor Safford enter. I'm not surprised he is here, rumor is he enjoys a good poker game when he can find one. He also wouldn't miss a main event in the Territory, being a strong supporter of Arizona. I will keep an eye on him but I doubt that anything is amiss. Most likely Turner just planned to use this event as an opportunity to replace him, just as Johnny Ringo did with Mark Twain back during the festival. That would have put Turner into some very powerful circles."

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter Two-hundred-eight, “The Tournament Players“, Saturday, June 17th, 11:30 A.M.

Silver engraved nameplates are put on the table for all but three of the gamblers, those three being late additions who have the same type of silver nameplates but with the names hand-painted in black script.

Cornelius Van Horne's table is the center one and at his table are Twitchy Brooklyn, Commodore James Duvall, Moria Stone Enion, Brady Hawkes, Victor Muratz and Jefferson Soapy Smith.

At the northwest table is Isaac Stevens whose players are Helen Barker, Joe Cartwright, Torvald MacNaulty, Forrest Morand, Luke Short and Ben Thompson.

To the northeast table is Marybeth Osborne whose players are Silver Jake Cook, Hamilton Fisk, Jim Franklin, William Randolph Hearst, Burton Lumley and Theodore Roosevelt.

To the southeast table is Bradford Rhinehardt whose players are Evan Adair, Edward Julius Berwind, Conrad Booth, Poker Alice Ivers, Anson Peacely-Killen Safford and Ned Walters.

To the southwest table is Job Kane whose players are Lottie The Poker Queen Dano, John Wesley Hardin, Bat Masterson, Brett Maverick, Wendall Spaulding and Willy Spinner.

The dealers distribute the metal boxes. The gamblers remove the lids, which conveniently fit beneath the boxes and also have felt tips on the corners to keep the boxes from sliding on the tables. Each box is two inches high, ten inches long and eight inches deep. Each contains four rows each with a dozen poker chips, taking up around half of the space in the box as each row has indentations to hold up to twenty-five.

All of the chips are metal and plated with different-colored metals. They appear to have been minted specially for the tournament, as the back of each coin has the Lucky Lady's emblem in the center with "Cornelius Van Horne Poker Tournament June 17 & 18, 1882" engraved outside of the emblem. On the front are numberical denominations. Within each case are ten copper coins numbered "10", sixteen bronze coins numbered "25", ten silver coins numbered "50", ten gold coins numbered "100" and 2 platnum coins numbered "500". The total value of each set of coins is therefore 3,000.

The time is now fifteen minutes until noon. Van Horne says, "The dealers will begin dealing at twelve noon. We will then play until approximatley 2:30 A.M. There will be two half-hour scheduled breaks today at approximatley 4:30 P.M. and 10:00 P.M. Players may leave the table to take care of nature's calling during a hand while the game is in progress but must still put in the minumum ante for that hand. For this afternoon's games the minimum ante per hand is one copper poker chip." He then looks towards the reporters and Buck Fly and states, "Flash photography will only be allowed during breaks.

Tables will be consolidated during each break. Players have been initially assigned so they are with whatever dealer they are least familiar with. Each time tables are considated all players will be reassigned to a different dealer whenever possible as well as different players as much as possible.

Anybody caught cheating will be ejected from the game and turned over to the local authorities for trial. Spectators who are accomplices to cheating will also be arrested and prosecuted. Any player carrying firearms will also be ejected from the game and forfeit all winnings, the lone exception to that restriction being Deputy Marshall Helen Barker, as per town regulation." He gestures to Helen.

"Note that with the exception of food and drink orders there is no actual currency changing hands or stored on the premises. The three winners will not receive their winnings until after the bank opens on Monday. Word of the dealers is final and each of them will answer specific questions regarding the game being dealt. Disputes with any security personnel, who are wearing the red armbands, or Lucky Lady staff who are wearing the green armbands may be appealed to the host or hostess but our decisions are then final. I would suggest that you use the remaining ten minutes to get whatever food or drink you like, to make a final trip to the outhouses, or to divest yourself of any items that might result in your ejection from the game."

Jake looks confident, calm and perhaps even pleased. He remembers back to his youth, to the delivery boy work his father made him perform. He remembers standing in the home of the fat bald lawyer and his politician crony friends. He remembers watching them sitting around the table drinking their fine whiskey, smoking their expensive cigars, dressed in their tailored silk shirts and pushing their piles of silver and gold coins across the felt table. He remembers the cards being dealt. He remembers the thrill that went up his spine at the sights, sounds and smells. Young Jacob Alistair Cooke was mesmerized, Jake thinks to himself, and the dream took root. Now it is your turn Silver Jake Cook, to make the dream real. I have earned my chance. I have sharpened my skills until they shine. It is time. The tournament was like a drug, though his senses were keen and clear. The room called to him like blood in the water calls to a shark. He had anticipation, but no fear. He was ready and he would revel in every moment of it.

Jake surveys the room again before stepping out on the porch to look for one of the McCoy's. He steps outside he spots the McCoys two doors down. Prosper McCoy makes eye contact with Jake, nods, then walks into Pierre's Gun Shop with his wife. "Oh, Hermes." Jake mutters and quickly crosses to Pierre’s. Jake strides in, glances around and approaches Prosper McCoy. He pulls the papers out of his shirt and hands them to him. "Check them over, I expect you will be pleased. I need to hurry back, I cannot miss the start of the tournament." Bonnie McCoy is busy keeping Pierre distracted, asking him a number of specific questions about various rifles. McCoy says to Jake, "Thanks. I'll look them over later, I trust you, what's the expression? The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Jake answers, "Heh. If not a friend, then at least darned useful. I can appreciate you being careful, he is a poisonous snake at best. Anything else before I run back?" McCoy replies, "Just for you to watch out, he has this plan to steal the Lady away from you during the tournament. Several people are in Adair's back pocket on this one, including the tournament organizer Van Horne and several of the people on security detail. Watch your back." "Thanks for the warning, I will." Jake hurries back to the tournament, eager to continue watching his competitors. .

When Jake came back inside Kate hurried over with the glass of bourbon and offered it. "I wanted to talk to you last night, but I had to leave unexpectedly," she said lightly. "There are a couple things you should be aware of that might be better spoken of privately." Jake guides her to a back near the stairs. "Thank you kindly for the drink, just what I needed. Now, what is this about?"

She says, "Just a few things I picked up over the last couple days, don't look so serious. Conrad and I were out to dinner last night and overheard Mrs. Enion talking with Mr. Maverick. Apparently she has a colorful past. She said she's just a married woman now and not running any scams, but you might want to keep an eye on her. I can't remember if I told you about Mrs. Higgins and Adair as well? Conrad refused the Long Branch's sponsorship because it was attached to an agreement to play in a way that would favor Adair, so you'll want to watch the others from the Long Branch as well. Other than that, Minerva wanted you to know that the man Mortimer Turner modeled his disguise on is playing in the tournament. It's probably just a point of interest now, though."

Jake replies, "Yes, I have played cards with the governor before. I trust he is the real one this time, but you never know. Mrs. Enion knows Maverick? Heh, that IS interesting. I figured there was more to her than was obvious. Now that makes three that I have heard from about Adair and his group of cheaters. He also thinks he has Van Horne in his pocket too, but there he will have a surprise. I suspect you know by now that Mr. Van Horne is not what he seems. Continue to keep that to yourself."

Jake takes a sip of bourbon. "Ah, very nice. Speaking of secrets, Tony Lucky has been feeding Adair information so be careful what you say around him. Frank Lucky is supposed to be Van Horne's man, and should be keeping an eye on Tony but who knows when it comes to blood relations. I have a favor to ask of you. Please privately tell Mr. Van Horne that the McCoy's are no longer in Adair's pocket. Adair's black mail evidence against them is no longer in his possession, but poor Mr. Adair has not learned that yet. Also tell Van Horne that Lloyds of London may show up here this weekend looking for Mr. Adair over past misdeeds." Jake inhales the aroma of the bourbon. "I do believe I will quite enjoy this tournament."

"I can see that look in your eye, of course you're going to enjoy it," she laughed. "And I won't be surprised to see you a great deal richer by the end. Apparently Mr. Maverick is the one who arranged for Mrs. Enion's stay in a women's prison in San Francisco. She rather neatly used that to get the money to enter the tournament out of him. She said they wanted the winnings so her husband could focus on the work he enjoys, painting I believe? My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I know he is a sign painter."

She smiled and added, "You do remember I was with you when Finnegan told us about Tony Lucky being Adair's man, don't you? I will keep my silence about Mr. Van Horne and pass on your message, although if you keep giving me too many things to be curious about one day I'll have to tie you down until I get some answers. Now I have the McCoy's to be curious about, too."



A listing of the Tournament participants (and origins):

1. Evan Adair – Promise City owner of the Palace Saloon and candidate for Town Council. (fictitious character from the TSR Boot Hill module “Ballots and Bullets” by David James Ritchie).

2. Helen Barker – Promise City Deputy Marshall and owner of the town’s Photographic Studio (fictitious character from the TSR Boot Hill module “Ballots and Bullets” by David James Ritchie).

3. Edward Julius Berwind – Pennsylvania Coal Tycoon (1848 - 1936). Known for construction of the Newport, R.I. mansion known as “The Elms”.

4. Conrad Booth – Promise City gambler at the Long Branch Saloon and illegitimate brother of famed actor Edwin Booth. (fictitious character from the TSR Boot Hill module “Ballots and Bullets” by David James Ritchie).

5. Twitchy Brooklyn – Gambler (fictitious character from the 1994 movie “Maverick”, played by actor Dan Hedeya).

6. Joe Cartwright – Rancher (fictitious character from the 1963-1973 series “Bonanza”, played by actor Michael Landon).

7. ‘Silver’ Jake Cook – Promise City gambler and co-owner of the Lucky Lady Dance Hall and Saloon and co-owner of the Fisk Mountain Silver Mine. (fictitious Playing Character played by Baradtgnome).

8. Lottie ‘The Poker Queen’ Deno – (1844 – 1934). Gambler who in 1882 resided in the nearby town of Deming, New Mexico Traveled with her husband Frank Thurmond.

9. Commodore James Duvall – Gambler and owner of the Mississippi riverboat Lauren Belle (fictitious character from the 1994 movie “Maverick”, played by actor James Coburn).

10. Moria Stone Enion – Promise city wife of house painter Patrick Enion and daughter of an English con artisit (fictitious character from the TSR Boot Hill module “Ballots and Bullets” by David James Ritchie).

11. Hamilton Fisk – Gambler, Attorney, Mine Owner and Mayoral Candidate (fictitious character from the TSR Boot Hill module “Ballots and Bullets” by David James Ritchie).

12. Jim Franklin – Gambler (fictitious character from the WotC game supplement “D20 Past” by James Wyatt & Gwendolyn F. M. Kestrel).

13. John Wesley Hardin – Gunslinger (1853 – 1895). Considered the deadliest killer in the history of the Wild West.

14. Brady Hawkes – Gambler (fictitious character from the 1980’s series of ‘The Gambler” TV movies played by singer Kenny Rogers).

15. William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951) Newspaper publisher and politician. Was the basis for the movie “Citizen Kane”.

16. ‘Poker’ Alice Ivers – Gambler (1851 – 1930).

17. Burton Lumley - Promise City owner of the Gay Lady Dance Hall and Saloon and candidate for Town Council. (fictitious character from the TSR Boot Hill module “Ballots and Bullets” by David James Ritchie).

18. Torvald MacNaulty – Dwarven prospector from Promise City and co-owner of the Fisk Mountain Mine (fictitious NPC from the ongoing Wild West campaign where this poker tournament is set).

19. Bat Masterson – Lawman and Gambler (1853 - 1921).

20. Brett Maverick – Gambler (fictitious character played by James Gardner in 1957-1962 television series “Maverick” and by Mel Gibson in the 1994 movie “Maverick”).

21. Forrest Morand – Rancher (fictitious character from the TSR Boot Hill module “Ballots and Bullets” by David James Ritchie).

22. Victor Muratz – Gambler (fictitious character from the WotC game supplement “D20 Past” by James Wyatt & Gwendolyn F. M. Kestrel).

23. Theodore Roosevelt – New York Assemblyman (1858 - 1919) Best known for being the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909.

24. Anson Peacely-Killen Safford – Arizona Territorial Governor (1830 – 1891). Served as the Arizona Territorial Governor from 1869 to 1877.

25. Luke Short – Gambler and gunslinger (1854 - 1893).

26. Jefferson ‘Soapy’ Smith – Gambler (1860- 1898) Worked primarily out of Leadville, Colorado, the Silver Capital of the old west.

27. Wendall Spaudling - Promise City gambler at the Long Branch Saloon (fictitious NPC from the ongoing Wild West campaign where this poker tournament is set).

28. Willy Spinner – Gambler (fictitious character from the WotC game supplement “D20 Past” by James Wyatt & Gwendolyn F. M. Kestrel).

29. Ben Thompson – Gunslinger, gambler and lawman (1851 - 1884). Often traveled with his hothead brother Billy.

30. Ned Walters – Promise City prospector (fictitious character from the TSR Boot Hill module “Ballots and Bullets” by David James Ritchie).