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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3318504" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter One-hundred-thirty-six “Rhinehardt”, Monday June 12th, 1882, 3:00 P.M.Chester replies to Hank Hill, "That's good to hear. We haven't any problems with Arcade's Gang, so you're all good at keeping your noses clean. I like that. So, we'll see you tomorrow then, Hank." Chester and Eddie walk back to the office. Chester asks, Chet asks, “Eddie, how happy do you think our friend will be to see us?" Eduardo replies, “Not sure, and I wouldn’t exactly call him a friend.”They arrive at the office. Chester says, "Marshall, we'll be using Mr. Hill's airship early tomorrow morning. That'll give that German fellow, Hans, enough time to prepare. Plus, Mr. Shaw's having a meeting tonight for all the candidates. I'm going to need to go to that." Berg says, "Okay Chet, I'll probably be locking this place up soon. I had Helen bring the glass with the rest of that magical elixir over to the town's new Apothecary, Harlin Porter. He thinks it is something called an Elixir of Gaseous Form.He looked it up in a book and said that unless they had considerable experience before using that type of elixir they would have been at the mercy of the magic and that we should have just tried to following the clouds in the direction of the wind until it wore off after an hour or two and they would have solidified. Doesn't help us much now, but we'll know better what to do if we come up against that again.""Gaseous Form, huh? We'll have to do a better job of checking folks we put in the hoosegow. Eddie replies, "But we did check them Chet, Mitch is always very good about that. He even took away Rixton's pocket watch, Allman's chewing tobacco tin and Skull's pen and notepad before locking them up. He patted them all down real good, there's no way that I know of that they could have had those glass vials on them without them being found."Chester says, “Having those varmints gone should slow down whoever is behind these attacks. Knowing them, they'll try to sneak back into town. Maybe even use one of those magical disguises. I catch you later, Marshall, Eddie." Chester walks over to Drover's.The periodic west to east stage rolled out of Promise City leaving a single passenger and his belongings behind. Shortly afterwards, a broad shouldered man with a stout waist stood in the street outside the Lucky Lady. He glanced one more time at the slip of paper, satisfied he had the correct saloon. He scratched once at his prominent side burns, though the thick black whiskers refused to submit they had long ago been surpassed in number by their gray counter parts. The story on his head was different the black hairs still held on to the majority.As he stood in the doorway, he appeared like a middle aged farmer. The fine black wool of his coat and pants belied his otherwise menial appearance. He placed a small travel bag on the floor and coughed politely.Harry Rote approaches, "Yes, can I help you?" The man turns his face towards Harry, who for the first time notices the large scar on his left cheek. The man thrusts out a hand and fixes his steel colored eyes on Harry, who is momentarily taken aback. "Bradford Rhinehardt, sir. I am here to see Cornelius Van Horne. I understand I have lodging arranged." His tone is pleasant and polite. "Could you notify Mr. Van Horne and send a boy for my trunk?"Jake notices that stranger at the bar and wanders over. "How are you, Jeff? How about a whiskey." He glances at the face of the large man next to him and is mildly surprised to recognize him, though his hair is more gray than the last time he say him. Jake begins a turn to give him a welcoming hug but stops himself and instead says, "Nasty looking scar you carry there."The man with the scar looks to Jake, smiles and then says, "Would have been much worse if a good friend of mine hadn't kept the bruiser who did it from getting in another jab. My friend wasn't all that bright though, he used a full bottle of whiskey to hit the guy with instead of an empty one. The bartender made us pay for it too, cost us the last of our money, what a waste of good alcohol." "Heh." Jake accepts the glass of whiskey from Jeff. "A guy like that probably still does dumb things. To your health."After a sip of whiskey to the toast Jake says, "You in town for the poker tournament?" He replies, "Yes I am. I received a telegram from a Cornelius Van Horne asking me to be a dealer. Funny thing is, I've never met him, I've heard of his reputation and I guess he's heard of mine. So, is that why you've come to town?"Jake says, "You do not know Van Horne? Well then, that puts you a notch higher in my book. I figured you for a friend of his. You must have some reputation, Van Horne is fussy." Jake savors another sip of whiskey. "I came to town a while back and stayed here. Seems like I am no brighter than that friend of yours." Jake offers him his hand. "Jake Cook. I am part owner of what you see around you."The man shake's Jake's hand and says, "Bradford Rhinehardt, from New York by way of Kansas City. Pleased to make your acquaintance Mr. Cook." Jake asks, "Would you like to meet Mr. Van Horne? I can take you up to his room." Mr. Rhinehardt takes Jake up on his suggestion to go meet Van Horne. Jake takes him up to the room and knocks on the door. "Mr. Van Horne, you have a visitor." Van Horne asks for them to come in. The man with Jake says, "Hello Mr. Van Horne, my name is Bradford Rhinehardt, you sent for me."The large man lying in the bed puts down the book he was reading and says, "Yes I did Sir, I am sponsoring a high-stakes poker tournament here at the Lucky Lady this upcoming weekend. I need honest dealers and your reputation proceeds you as to being one. The pay would be an even $ 1,000 plus room and board here at the Lucky Lady for this week if you are interested." The man says, "Yes Sir, I am." Van Horne replies, "Very good then, Mr. Cook will get you settled."They leave Van Horne, Jakes takes him to an available room. "How will this do?" Rhinehardt looks the room over briefly and replies, "This will be satisfactory." Jake nods, closes the door and gives the man a sudden hug, "It had better be satisfactory. I do not want any of my other rooms smelling of greasy German sausage and stale beer." He releases him and smiles, "Rhiney, it has been a while. How in Hades are you?"He replies, "I've been good Jake, not very rich, but getting by. And you're looking well yourself. Nice looking place you have here. I gather that you were the one who recommended me to Van Horne." "I mentioned your name, but he had already heard of you. Not sure if my recommendation helped or hurt." Jake shrugs, "Sometimes the fancy Mr. Van Horne and I annoy each other. Business is business though. Speaking of which, I will be playing in the tournament so best we do not look too chummy in public for now. Not to worry though, we will take good care of you. Besides you will be in good shape for a while, a thousand dollars buys a load of lager and wurst."He replies, "Thank you Jake. I must say, I am surprised to find you in such a small place as this. I could always find myself at home in a small town like this but you always struck me as needing something like Kansas City or an even larger place.""And you were always too astute for your own good." Jake slaps him on the arm and smiles, though the smile is a bit pensive. "It was a routine, you know, start in the city until I was no longer welcome. Then work the surrounding large towns, followed by the outlying smaller towns. Bored again I would move to another city. Somehow I ended up here, made a few friends, talked my way into part ownership of a silver mine, earned enough money in various ways to buy into this saloon, and got myself caught up in a war between outlaw gangs, and a bunch of other ill considered activities I will not even mention. Did I mention I also ended up with a regular girl?"Jake takes his time tells him some of the story. "When she is here, it is like a siren song. Now that she is away, I think I have come to my senses. She is probably the best thing that will ever happen to me, but you know Jake..." He looks sad for a minute but quickly snaps out of it. "Look what you have done to me," Jake smiles again. "It really is great to see you again. I should have come to visit you in Kansas City. You think the law has forgotten about me by now?"Rhinehardt replies, "The Armour family never forgets anybody they don't like, but I believe it's O'Brien who they are still looking for not you. Do you know what ever happened to Old Red, I haven't heard anything from him since you two skipped town together.""I did hear from him earlier this year. He is still laying low. He seemed well enough. It sure would be nice to spend some time with him, all three of us for that matter. I will let you settle in. If you get hungry, our cook Maria is pretty good though it has a decidedly Mexican flavor. If you want someplace else, try the Promise City Hotel." Jake turns to leave, but stops with his hand on the door knob. "Watch yourself here, at times it can be a dangerous place. The good news is my liquor distributor is also one of my bartenders, so if I have to break a full bottle of whiskey over anyone's head this time I get a good discount." They both laugh. As Jake leaves he says over his shoulder, "That and I can afford to pay for it."At the bar Jake gives Jeff a ten dollar bill. "That guy says he prefers German style beer. Give this to Harry and tell him it is from Rhinehardt to grease the skids in locating some for him." Noting that it is getting late, Jake departs for the dinner meeting with Shaw.Kate decides that there was something comforting about falling back into routine. The endless high spirits of the students was infectious and the day teaching seemed to do her as much or more good as going away to rest alone would have. Things weren't all better by any means, but they were better. As the children all rushed out at the end of the day Kate noticed Emery Shaw outside the door, probably her to pick up his niece. "How was your first day, Emily?" she asked the girl.The girl replies, "A lot of tests. I hope I don't have to take any more for a while," the girl said with a sunny smile. Kate says, "We'll grade them tonight and get you in the proper classes tomorrow. I'm not a big believer in tests myself, you won't spend another whole day taking them until you want to graduate. I think your Uncle's waiting for you," she finished as they arrived at the door."Any news on what happened after I left this morning?" Kate asked him as Emily was distracted by Nakomo. Shaw says, "Lots of news, almost all bad. Jason Snavely, Clifford Allman and Bob Skull all managed to escape from jail. So when the Bishop arrived it was anti-climatic. Rixton testified and was proven innocent of Avery's murder.I spoke to him a short while ago, he's decided to drop out of the Town Council race. And word is that Roger and Janet Fly have decided to leave town for good, her being too embarrassed to face the public again after the revelations about her husband."Her disappointment was almost palpable. "I hate to see the Flys leave; I like them both very much. I wonder if it would be too big a liberty to stop over and have a talk with Mrs. Fly. I can see why Mr. Rixton would want to drop the race. It begins to look more and more like we should combine the Unity and Integrity parties, although amongst all these lives hurt I feel terrible to even think about politics. Even though Skull and his compatriots are gone, I'd say they proved themselves guilty by running. What do they hope to do now, I have to wonder."Shaw says, "Combining the parties sounds like a good idea. I'll stop by and see the remaining Integrity Party members and invite them to join us this evening. As for politics, the only plus is that while Isby didn't believe Fisk and his friends part of the hooded riders group both Snavely and Allman testified that they were and by escaping it isn't disproved."Kate replies, "And that casts suspicion even more strongly on Fisk's party. Still and all, I'd rather have gotten to the truth. I still don't know if this school was a target, or if they threw that dynamite because I was here defending it. We can't continue to live like this. The sooner this election is over, the better. Although if the perpetrators don't get their way, the elections probably won't stop it. Do you worry for your own safety at all?"Shaw says, "That's a silly question Katherine, I fought off Cochise, I served two years as an Officer during the Civil War, I stood by your side against the Cowboy Gang a few months back. Was I afraid on those occasions? Damned right I was! Only a fool isn't afraid, but I've learned there are times that a person has to take a stand. I'm more determined than ever now to become Mayor of this place!""I'm glad I'm not the only insane fool left in this town," Kate said with her first genuine smile of the day and impulsively laid her hand on his arm. "Sometimes I feel like I'm standing by myself. I really needed to hear someone else say that today." Shaw bids Kate goodbye, saying he'll see her in another hour-and-a-half at Drover's. He and Emily head away and he asks her how her first day at school went.After the school emptied, Kate sound down with Emily Banks' exams and began to go over them. It kept her time filled until about four-thirty when she headed upstairs to change into a less drab dress. She decided on the red, and rearranged her hair. Presentable was probably the best she could say for her appearance, but it was all that was needed.Shaw and Emily head north up East Street and then west on Sierra, passing by the ruins of the buildings that burned down. Most of the fencing around the Papago Corral is still standing. Shaw says, "There's a guy up on that hill to the east named Hayes who catches and trains wild mustangs. He's buying this corral from the Shermans."They pass the Palace, which now has makeshift beams supporting canvas tarps over the holes in the walls and roof. They go another three more blocks to the corner of Sierra and Federal Streets. She can see the foot bridge over Pine Creek a block further west with just a few houses and then open space beyond it.They knock at the door and Jesse Sherman answers. It appears to Emily that the woman has been crying. Most of their possessions are backed in boxes or rolled up in blankets. Ike Sherman comes over and shakes Shaw's hand. Ike says, "I appreciate your being willing to buy most of the furniture, that'll save us trying to move or sell it individually." Shaw replies, "Well, that will make it easier for us to move in right away."He introduces Emily and the Sherman's give a tour. The building is twenty-five feet wide east to west and twenty-feet north to south. The first floor is divided into three rooms, with the combination kitchen/dining room being the largest. A staircase up leads to the second floor which is divided into a master bedroom and two smaller rooms. A ladder and trapdoor lead to the attic which has a full pitched roof.Ike says, "This used to belong to the Condons and we rented but they sold it to us last year after the James Gang robbed them and they needed cash. We paid them $ 800 for it, we'll sell it to you for the same, plus $ 100 for the furniture." Shaw replies, "Well, if this is acceptable to Emily I'll make it an even $ 1,000, you have nice furniture here, I wouldn't want to cheat you."Emily had first met Mrs. Sherman with her usual sunny smile, but it dimmed at the woman's obvious sadness. She tried to keep her excitement down as they went through the house. It would be by far the biggest place she'd ever lived in, and from one of the upstairs windows she could see far off to the horizon. "It's a beautiful house, Uncle. I like that I'll be able to see horses and the countryside from here. And it will be much quieter than the boarding house."Emery Shaw says, "Well then, that decides it. Let's go over to the Promise City Bank and transfer some money to you Mr. Sherman." The three of them head over to Front Street and down to Front and Main. They enter the single-story brick building and Emily is surprised to see a young red-haired girl not much older than her behind the teller's window. Emery Shaw greets her with a smile and says, "Hello Miss. Shannon O'Hara, I'm surprised to see you working here."The girl looks up and says in a voice with a slight hint of an Irish accent, "When I heard that one teller had died and another was in jail I approached Mr. Stevens about a job. Mathematics has always been a strong subject for me and I had a letter of reference from my former tutor, a Professor at Belfast University, so he agreed to let me work here on a trial basis. It pays much better than what I was making at the Kelley's, although I still plan to work there on weekends.""Two jobs? And you've been to University? You've been busy." Emily suddenly realized she hadn't really been spoken to or introduced. "I'm Emily Banks, Mr. Shaw is my Uncle. I didn't mean to interrupt." She smiles and says, "Shannon O'Hara and I've heard of you. You met my mother, older brother and one of my sets of twin sisters last night." Shaw says, "And Emily spent the day at your mother's school as well.Shaw explains what he needs. Shannon calls over Mr. Stevens to help with the transaction given the dollar values involved. The money is transferred over into Mr. Sherman's account. So we will only have a couple days at the boarding house. I think Mrs. Russell will be sad we're leaving. She seems like a motherly kind of lady. It was nice to meet you, Miss O'Hara. Next time you'll have to tell me what you heard about me and tell me all about you." They head out, going to the Comique Variety Hall and Saloon. Emery Shaw approaches Vidkan Gerhardsen and asks him to join them for dinner at 5:00 PM at Drover's.Emily had the feeling that when his mind switched to politics he had forgotten she was still with him. Which was fine with her since she doubted he'd have let her come inside this saloon if he'd been thinking about it. She listened curiously to the dwarf speaking his own language. She spoke the elvan tongue herself but didn't often get the chance to. She looked curiously around the room while she waited for her Uncle to be ready.There are around fifteen patrons in the establishment at the moment, nine humans and six dwarves. She hears what is the familiar accents of people from Illinois and sees the bartender talking to a man at the bar, both peppering the speech with familiar Chicago accents and jargon. Emily's ear kept going back to the familiar speech even though she knew how rude it was to eavesdrop. She wanted to say hello, but wasn't sure what to say. Instead she approached the bar and said, "Could I trouble you for a glass of water? It sure is nice to hear some homey voices. I just came from Chicago and I didn't realize I missed it."The bartender smiles and says, "Well Hello Miss, I'm Warren Watson and I originally hail from the city's west suburb of Cicero. I saw you come in with Mr. Shaw, are you related to his wife's side? He said before that they're from the city? Would you like something to drink, I have lemonade and sarsaparilla?" The second man says, "Hello Miss, I'm Hiram Kowalski, grew up in South Chicago along the Lake near Rainbow Beach." "Lemonade would be very nice, thank you. Mr. Shaw's wife was my Ma's sister. He visited sometimes and he thought maybe I would like it better here than in a big city. I lived not far north of where the fire started." Shaw looks at the clock and interrupting Emily says, “We should go, I want to be there when the other folks arrive.”</blockquote>

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