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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 1887372" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Fifty-three, “The Accident”, January 7th, 1882:Back in the Saloon the well-dressed Southern Gentleman had just said in his rich Georgian accented voice "Why hello Miss West, I am pleased to make your acquaintance. May I offer you a drink?" "I'd love one," she replies. Tom Whipple asks Van Horne "Are you going to join Tony?" The older man says "Maybe at the next hand, it would be rude to pull myself away from the lady. Please get her a glass of her favorite beverage and I'll try that bottle we spoke of." Tom takes out and opens a bottle of Kentucky Bourbon and pours Van Horne a glass. "And what are you drinking tonight Ruby?" Tom asks.  "I'll have with your having, if you don't mind too much."  Ruby keeps her eye on Jake's table to make sure they aren't getting fidgety.Van Horne pours her a large glass of the Kentucky Bourbon while he finishes his first glass and pours himself a second. Tom Whipple says, "You may want to go a little slower on that. I believe it is the last bottle in town." Van Horne laughs and says "Good Sir, there is no reason to save something that can be shared with one as lovely as Miss West here. If her singing voice compares in any way with the beauty I see before me I'll consider myself fortunate." “Why Mr. Van Horne, how very kind of you. I only hope I can live up to your high expectations.” When Tom spoke Ruby looked up at him and noticed he was looking at Katherine. She glanced over her shoulder and noticed Katherine tending to a table, having no idea that Tom was looking at her. Tom had a look on his face that Ruby had never seen him make before, a look that should have been reserved for his wife. Ruby cleared her throat to see if Tom would stop.Kate's step got livelier as she became more assured that Mr. Whipple was not watching her. How foolish felt, imagining such a thing. This week had been such a whirlwind, it was good she would have tomorrow to relax and her gets her head on straight. Suddenly she looked forward to coming back tomorrow to play the piano and talk with Maggie. Hopefully Tom's father would not be making any suggestions she felt the need to leave over, she thought lightly to herself. Her suspicions about Flossie melted as her suspicions about Tom did. She was actually humming by the time Mr. Barker sat down to play again.  Stanley finishes his fifth love ballad to his wife. He stops and the two embrace and lose each other in a passionate kiss. Several people applaud. A short distance to the west, Jake has now reached the intersection of Main and Front Streets and is about to turn north towards Drovers.  Meanwhile, further to the west, approximately 600 feet west of the Lone Star Dance Hall and Saloon the prospectors and their wagon have arrived at the hill up to the Breakheart Stamping Mill. They see that their destination is around one-hundred-and-fifty feet up the hill at a twenty-degree angle. Elliott whips the horses to move onward.At the hill to the Breakheart Stamping Mill, the short distance upward proved to be too much for one of the overworked draft animals to bear. When they were twenty feet from the top, one of the physically depleted horses collapsed dead. The remaining animal could not support the weight that it was pulling by itself and the wagon began to quickly roll backwards. Elliott applied the wagon’s break lever, which broke off in his hand. Both prospectors immediately jumped from the rig. It continued to roll back down the hill dragging the horses with it and picking up speed. After rolling for around sixty feet the already damaged wagon wheel struck up against a rock imbedded into the hill, causing the wheel to split. The broken wheel shattered into pieces and fell to the side off of the wagon. This resulted in the back end of the wagon crashing hard onto the ground. The flimsy wooden side rails holding in the stones broke off as the 2,500 pounds of mined stones struck against them and then cascaded down the hill. Jake hears the sounds of this deluge of wood and rocks a short distance off to the southwest and decides to go investigate. Back at the hill, one of these rolling stones was an 85-pound rock, approximately fifteen-inch long and seven inches at its widest point. It tumbled down the hill the remaining seventy feet, picking up speed along the way. At the bottom of the hill it continued to roll for another thirty-five feet, the journey coming to an abrupt end when it struck against a sage bush. The rock finally stopped as it landed with a sharp impact on a spot where a glass sphere filled with green liquid had been buried just beneath the sand, causing the glass to shatter.Ruby suddenly felt overwhelmed. She felt ill, hot, bothered, she wasn’t sure. Without excusing herself she got up and went outside into the cool air. She started fanning herself but it was only getting worse. A thought suddenly crossed her mind. Tom Whipple had been looking at Kate very inappropriately and she was going to have to do something about it. She marched back inside and noticed that Tom was still looking at Kate. She walked right up to him, blocking his vision of Kate.   “What do you think you’re doing?” she said angrily. “Isn’t that a bit improper? Especially with your wife around?”Tom Whipple turns to her and says in a rather low voice "I ummm, well, I was just watching how she waited on the tables. She is a new employee you know. So are you...."  Ruby yells back,"What are you saying, Tom? That Kate is incapable of waiting on tables? And I sure hope for your sake you're not looking at me like that when my back is turned because I'm new here. I don't believe you for one second. You should be ashamed of yourself! That girl is just coming out of mourning and your wife is standing over there!" Katherine is busy clearing a table. The two men at the adjacent table are watching the altercation between him and Ruby with amused expressions on their faces. Katherine overhears one say to the other "It looks like old Tomcat is at it again." "What?" Kate stood up, startled. The men at the adjacent table saw her face go white, but her voice was steady. "Did you gentlemen need something?"  "Uh, no ma'am," one of them answered. She looked over at the bar, where Ruby had been smiling and having drinks with richly dressed man just moments before. Now her face was livid and she was grating out something at Tom Whipple. Even as Kate picked up her tray of empty glasses Ruby strode over and grabbed her by the arm. The glasses shattered on the floor as Ruby pulled her out the door.   As Ruby is exiting she yells back over her shoulder "You need to cool off Mr. Whipple!!" "Wait, Ruby!" Kate pulled back against her once they were a few steps out the door. "What happened? I...I thought it had stopped, but you must have noticed something. Did he make some kind of threat? What happened?"  She replies, "He made a threat alright. I know that look he was giving you and..." Ruby paused and looked at Kate with narrowed eyes. "What do you mean, you thought it had stopped? Kate how long has this been going on?" Ruby's hand was tightening on Katherine’s arm.  Kate answers, "I just noticed last night, but I didn't notice it tonight. I thought maybe he was just surprised by my clothes last night." Kate tried to pull her arm free and couldn't. "Please Ruby, you're hurting me."Ruby answers, "Why would you keep something like that from me? I thought we were friends" Ruby lets go of Katherine's arm with a little push. "I guess I should know better than to trust anyone."   "I suppose I should leave you to deal with Mr. Whipple then?"Kate's face was stricken as Ruby pushed her away. "We are friends, Ruby. I thought I was just imagining it. And I did ask you to watch him tonight, remember? The only reason I didn't tell you were because I didn't want you to be influenced. I didn't want you to see it because you already suspected."Ruby stops to think about what Katherine said. Then she says slowly, “I’m not sure I believe you Katherine. I don’t know what to think. So you can go back inside if you’d like. I’m done working here tonight. As a matter of fact I think I’ll go out and have some fun of my own. Who needs this job anyway? Mr. Stanley Barker can sing to his smart-ass wife all he wants, that’ll keep the crowd happy.  Unless of course you want to come with me? But I might end up somewhere you don’t want to be. Somewhere people like you don’t usually go…”Kate replies, "As long as I can get a drink, I don't care where we go. I can't go back in there, not with him, not ever. Please believe me Ruby. I knew I could trust you to tell me the truth about Tom Whipple, or the truth about myself if I was just imagining things." Meanwhile, Jake has continued west for a few blocks down Main Street and out of town. He sees a broken wagon on the hill with a pair of dead or injured horses lying beside it. Two men are checking the horses. There is also a large pile of rubble covering the base of the hill beneath the wagon and Jake sees bits of silver sparkling in the moonlight.Jake walks towards them quickly but without stealth, best not to surprise folks in the dark unless you mean to he thinks to himself. "Good evening gentlemen." he announces loudly "Quite a bit of bad luck you have going on here." He mumbles to himself, "More likely bad choices, but one mans bad choices are another's silver lining." One man says to the other "He's going to steal our ore" and reaches for the gun on his belt. "Whoa there, don't be so quick. I ain't threatening you." Jake exclaims "And you'll have the whole town out here if they hear a gunshot."The man keeps his hand on the holstered gun but doesn't draw it. "Who are you? What do you want?"  Jake's concentration continues to focus on the man talking to him, but he also watches the other, who is unhitching one horse that is apparently still alive. He answers, "I reckon I don't want anything, I was just walkin' down the street and heard the racket you are makin'. Do you need some help? Looks to me like you are in a world of hurt. Funny time to be movin' rock."The men calm down and the one doing the speaking comes forward. "Sorry, we're just a bit upset. We were late getting the ore to town and decided to take a shortcut. Guess that was a mistake. Do you have a light mister, I'd like to get a better look at how bad a mess we made. "No, sorry." Jake looks around and guesses a light isn't going to make it any better. "I might be able to get my hands on a mining wagon and necessary horses though." Jake scratches his chin. "But you need to tell me why you are really movin' rocks around after sundown." The guy says "You a friend of Hamilton Fisk?"  Jake answers, Never heard of him. Why do you ask?" "Fisk is a crooked lawyer. Out to cheat us. You like lawyers?" While they are talking another man carrying a lantern comes around the bend in the hill. He yells "Is anybody hurt?" Jake looks over at the man carrying a lantern. "Look, I was actually in a hurry before. Is there some way I can help you guys or are you all set out here?"  His companion cuts him off "Damn that’s Doc Eaton. He and Fisk are buddies." The first one tells Jake "Please go get that wagon. We'll make it worth your while.""Alright, but it may take a bit to get it all hooked up and out here quietly." Jake nods to the two men. "But I'll be back." and turns to head back to town.   He heads over to the Cantina and looks for Dorita. He motions her aside and says, "I need that mining wagon hooked up right now, but quietly. No, nothing illegal, just to help a couple of guys who got themselves in a jam. Can you have someone who can keep their mouth shut get it hooked up for me pronto? There'll be a good tip in it for 'em. I'll come back in a little while to get it." He leaves the Cantina and heads back to the Lone Star. Talking to himself "I guess we'll plan on the stage leaving at the usual time. I didn't want to get up early anyway."  Jake comes around the bend and sees Katherine and Ruby arguing.The two ladies relax as Ruby says, "Alright Kate, if you really want to. Let's go to the Palace Saloon down the street. I hear they offer a good time." Ruby has a very mischievous look in her eyes, a look that Kate has never seen before. "Oh and don't worry if they don't. We make our own good time."   Jake plots his walking path such that the ladies can decide to talk to him or ignore him as fits their mood. Part of him hopes that he can make it to the Lone Star, life has gotten particularly confusing lately.Ruby sees Jake and walks right up to him. Jake notices the same look that Kate did. The first thing she does is slap him across the face hard. “That is for yesterday. I should have done it then but I felt bad because you got shot. But since you are all better now…” Jake can tell Ruby is deciding whether or not to slap him again. She decides against it.   Ruby exclaims, “Kate and I are going out to have some fun. We’ve decided that Whipple is a pervert and we’re not going back, not tonight anyway.”Kate looked back and forth between Jake and Ruby. Something wasn't right. It wasn't as if she had known Ruby long, but anger like this seemed out of her character. It was almost as if the blissful state of yesterday had been turned completely around. She looked at Jake, her confusion plain on her face. She should go back to the El Parador and go to bed. Today had already been long enough. But still, a drink sounded awfully good, and something told her it was a bad idea to leave Ruby alone. For the first time Kate wouldn't be drinking alone. "They're probably waiting for you in there," Kate said quietly, hoping he also noticed that something was off. "Please tell Maggie I'm sorry. I'll send the pillow back to her on Monday. We'll see you back at the El Parador in the morning."Jake rubs his face where Ruby slapped it and squints with one eye. "No good deed goes unpunished, huh." He looks back and forth quickly to Katherine and Ruby. "I can see you are determined to have a ladies night out. Be sure and let me know if I can do anything to help so I can get slapped again." Jake walks on by and heads into the Lone Star, half expecting Tom Whipple to be laying on the floor somewhere.</blockquote>

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