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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 1788265" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Fourteen, “First Day on the Job”, January 6th, 1882, 10:00 A.M. Jake arrives at the bank. The front door is still locked and he knocks. The door has a small glass window with metal bars covered over by a curtain on the inside. The curtain is drawn back and a man looks out. "You Silver Jake Cook?" the man asks. Jake indicates that he is. The door is opened and a man ushers him inside. "About time you showed up. I'm Morgan Condon, co-owner of this bank. My brother Frank hired you. We have a few minutes until we open up so I'll show you around. Glad to have you here, as Frank and I have been doing double duty for the past two weeks since our last guard got shot." Jake stops at that and gives the bank owner a stare. He says, "Oh, it didn't happen here. He had a run in with the new Sheriff over at the Comique Variety Hall and Saloon. Doc Eaton say's he'll live but will always walk with a limp. Can't have us a lame guard, looks too inviting." A man with a nervous facial tick interrupts "Mr. Condon, it's ten o'clock." Condon replies, "Then we open a little late. I'm showing our new guard the secrets of the place. Can't be having customers around to hear that." The man walks away and Condon says "That's Scott Taylor, our Head Teller. During the robbery last summer the James Gang held him and his wife Mona hostage at their home. Mona worked as a housekeeper for me and my brother and the James boys forced her at gunpoint to show'em where the safe was in the house. They really outsmarted us on that one. We heard they was in the neighborhood and had moved most of the bank's money to our home figuring it would be safer. So instead of hitting the bank they robbed our home. Lost us a small fortune on that one." He points to another guy and says "That's Bruce Maxwell, our Junior teller. Only other employee is our part-time maintenance man Danby Jones, but he ain't around right now. You've actually met him before, he worked on the same riverboat as you a few years back. He vouched for your honesty, otherwise we wouldn't have hired you." He shows Jake where two loaded rifles and two loaded shotguns are stored for easy access by employees but out of the sight and reach of customers. "Come on, let me show you the vault." They head out back and he unlocks a large walk-in vault with shelves lined with bags. "We keep the money in here." There's always one open money bag for the tellers for easy access, but the rest of these bags are all dummies, with a few real bills on top and there rest dummy money, mostly confederate bills. There's a false floor under our feet and the bags of real money are beneath the floorboards. Wish we'd just kept it here last summer, ah well, live and learn." They return to the front and the doors are unlocked.A few customer have entered and are conducting transactions with the tellers. Condon calls him aside to answer any questions that Jake might have about the job.   "So Mr. Condon, besides you and your brother I am the only guard?  Condon replie “‘Fraid so, can't afford more than one. Pretty light work week though, as we're only open four days a week and we don't open until ten and close at three, although we'll want you to stick around after that until we've finished the day's counting and closed up the vault, which shouldn't take more than an hour most days.”Jake then asks, “And what do you do for security after hours?"  Condon replies, That's what the vault is for. One of the finest models that the Harrisburg Safe Company ever built. And with the brick building, and bars on all windows, getting into this building wouldn't be a easy task. Plus with the Indian Head Saloon next door there are always people around to spot troublemakers.  Jake then inquires of him. "Am I supposed to be noticeable and clear to all that I am the guard? And although you have weapons stored for use, you don't mind me carrying my own in addition do you?"  To which Condon answers, “Frank wouldn't have hired you unless you had one. Make yourself visible. The fact that you're a stranger in town will only help.” "And excuse me for being the curious type, but would you mind answering two other questions? Did you ever find out how the James Gang knew to look at your house for the money?   Condon replies, “Inside job. Their cousin Cleatus James had lived here for the year before that and showed them where to go.” Jake then asks “What exactly did you last guard do to cross the Sheriff?"   Condon replies “He made the mistake of making a joke about Doc Holiday getting shot down by Arcade's Gang. Holiday was a friend of the Earps and Wyatt has a quick temper. I'd suggest you avoid him if you can.”Meanwhile, six miles southeast of Promise City, halfway between it and Galeyville, Alison Caine is thinking to herself “Why did I ever agree to this?” Over the sound of her horse’s hoofs along the dirt road she listened up and still heard the annoying chatter of the little man seated behind her on the saddle: “…for a Galeyville edition, but I only managed to sell nine papers and two of them were to you and your mysterious friend….never did get his name…you’ll have to tell me more about him sometime….so I told my editor I would see if these other towns had enough opportunity….not surprised that Galeyville didn’t pan out, given how little silver has come from it as of late….maybe I should check out the town of Dos Cabezas next, heard it’s almost as big as Promise City although about half of the folks there speak Spanish on they may not want to buy a paper written in English.” Alison tuned him out again and went back to her thoughts. She was relieved to find out that Arcade’s Gang had been blamed for the Comstock House altercation instead of them. In fact, Chumbley even believed O’Dell when he said he knew nothing about it, said that he and Al bought the horse and left for Galeyville first thing that morning. How this little man could claim to be a reporter and be so unobservant was something Al couldn’t understand, but she wasn’t going to object to her good fortune. But this current predicament, she asked herself again “Why did I agree to take him back? Must have been for the money, yeah that must be way.” O’Dell said for her to go on, and that he may or may not catch up with her later. No big surprise there, given how much he disliked the halfling. Did this Chumbley even realize how fortunate he was to have survived both of his encounters with Black Isaac O’Dell?</blockquote>

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