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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3045774" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter 163, "Discovers and Disagreements", Saturday, March 25th, 1882, 9:00 PM Chester asks the bartender, "Which one's Foote? I'd heard good things about him."   The bartender points to a pair of men who instead of watching the fight are sitting on a couch on the far wall with two of the Palace's working girls in their laps. The bartender says "The one in the blue shirt is Foote." Chester gets a good look at the man. It is hard to tell exactly with the man seated but he looks to be just under six-feet in height with a bit of a beer gut on him. His hair is a medium brown but his unkempt beard has some steaks of gray in it. He also has one other distinguishing mark, a long scar that starts on the right side of his neck and runs diagonally up to the middle of his chin. The man alongside him is taller and thinner, looking to be maybe late teens or early twenties but with prematurely white hair worn in a crew cut. Neither man is dressed very well.Rex Hooper is tough and manages to make it into the sixth minute of the boxing match until a right cross takes him out. The next fighter is announced as Robert Pierce and Adair says the fight will start in ten minutes. Hooper is carried out of the ring while Flannigan climbs out and is handed a tankard of water by the young lady who Chester had made eye contact with during his last visit to the Palace.   Chester asks, "Who's the guy next to him? Looks too small to be a boxer."   He is told, "Don't know, they came in together. Friends from Galeyville I suppose." Berg comes over and says, "Come on Martin, time to check out a few more places around town. We'll come back here later."Nanuet who had been waiting nearby in the shadows was confused when he saw Jake leave and got no sign from him. He had seen Chester enter, but realized he was working so he may not be able to pass information so easily. He waited watching the doorway trying to listen for any names that he recognized, especially Foote.Chester and Berg exit the building. "Where to now?" Chester asks. Berg replies, "I want to stop back at my office then we should probably check out the Lucky Lady, Gay Lady and Long Branch." Nanuet moves just enough to catch Chester's attention and the Deputy says, "I'll meet you at the Lucky Lady." "Very well," Berg replies. Chester walks away in a different direction over towards an alleyway that Nanuet can reach without being seen by the bouncer McCoy over at the Palace. Once there Chester gives Nanuet a good description of Foote and his companion. Kate concludes her conversation with Kevin Tomlinson, "I see. You're very wise, I wouldn't play at a table with Fisk either. Thank you, I'm sorry to have interrupted."  Kate hurried away to deliver the drinks, then sat down with Dorita, Pedro, and the Kelley's. It was quiet enough that she could keep up without much effort, and it was nice to just sit and talk, and eventually laugh. She had the feeling Dorita knew something was wrong, but then Dorita always seemed to know these things. Finishing up their conversation Ruby curtseys, then nods to Stanley in thanks, making sure Helen is paying attention to her cards and not to them.   Kate is stilling chatting, so Ruby continues to sing unaccompanied. Ruby felt there was something freeing about singing alone, you could let yourself wander in whatever direction you chose, faster, slower, giving into your own whims. Ruby didn't mind singing that way at all and she focused on singing mostly Spanish songs before switching to some Irish lullabies, in honor of their guests.  Ruby did this set unaccompanied. She seemed to be happy that way, so Kate didn't move to accompany her. After thanking Senor King for escorting her to the Lucky Lady Minerva enters to find Kate serving drinks to the dwindling crowd and Ruby singing for Dorita and Pedro. She sits in one of the many empty chairs, orders a drink and passes the time waiting for Nanuet, listening to Ruby sing.   Ruby sings for another half hour. As she leaves the stage Stanley Barker walks up to her and says, "Thank you so very much for inviting us back here Miss West. I spoke to Helen about your conversation with me and she said you had discussed it with her as well in Tombstone. You are quite right, it would have been unfair to your customers for us to have stayed away. Please accept this as a token of our appreciation." He hands her a metal tin that is eight inches square and three inches high. She slips off the lid to see that it is filled with his toll house cookies.'Thank you so much, Mr. Barker," Ruby responds with genuine sincerity. She takes a bite of one of the cookies. "These are so good I doubt I'll share them." Smiling, she continues, " And I'm sure our patrons thank you too," she nods to the few customers still remaining. "I would hug you but doubt Mrs. Barker would appreciate that. So instead I'll offer if you have a song you'd like to hear let me know and I'll be glad to sing it."He replies, "Oh yes, that would be wonderful. If you could wait until Mr. Kane's table takes another break to sing it I would appreciate hearing Sir. Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert's song 'Sweethearts'.  "I will be sure to do that," she smiles. Ruby takes her time speaking with the remaining customers before heading to her normal break spot on the porch to look at the stars.The evening wore on, Kate alternating between playing, serving, and chatting. When Miss Florencia came in Kate got her a drink and sat to talk with her.  Chester heads over to the Lucky Lady, arriving there before Berg. He walks through the building, has a short conversation with his friends and at Dorita's insistence pokes his head into the kitchen to get a quick bite of food from Maria.   Berg arrives and they continue their rounds, spending a half-hour at both the Gay Lady and Long Branch. Neither saloon has much of a crowd, although at the Gay Lady Madge Duprey, Julia Barbeau and Fifi LaFarge put on a lively and entertaining dancing routine as though the house were packed. Chester notices a definite resemblance between Julia and her cousin Clarisse and concludes that both women must take after their mothers, who were sisters. The visit to the Long Branch is less exciting as the only patrons are four men playing poker with Hamilton Fisk and none of the four working girls appear to be around. They make a wider circle around town to make sure that nothing out-of-the-ordinary is happening. When they near the Indian Head Saloon over on South Street Nanuet makes his presence known again to Chester and points towards that building. The Marshall and Deputy enter, finding the smoke-filled 20 by 25 foot room filled with a dozen men, including a recently battered Rudy Foote. All conversations cease as the men enter the building. One man at the bar nods to Berg and says, "Got a badge now I see." "Indeed I do Mr. Wilton," is Berg's reply. Berg talks briefly with saloon manager Porter Norris about how business is. The lawmen then depart.   Once they are a good hundred feet away Berg says, "I defended that guy last year on a drunk and disorderly charge. Thought he was just a stranger in a bad situation but later found out that he rode with Curly Bill. We'll have to keep on eye on that place, although our visit just now probably spooked them enough for tonight. Remind me to talk later to Elton Hubbard, he rents that building to Norris."Berg and Martin continue with their rounds. Nanuet stays outside observing the Indian Head Saloon for a while longer. He positions himself on the side of the newspaper office rather than the bank. If there are any windows that appear unobserved he will try and listen in for a while.   Nanuet only catches some of the louder comments made, listening for anything of interest. Most are routine, discussing women, alcohol and card playing. Through a dirty window Nanuet sees that several card games are in process. At the Lucky Lady, Jake becomes determined to entertain his players tonight, making sure they will want to come back and have no thoughts that boxing may be better. Jake throws all his concentration into the game and the Lucky Lady around him fades away. He quickly takes a few hands for some working money and proceeds to liven up the game. Pots grow large quickly, betting is aggressive but he keeps the banter friendly and humorous. He works hard to make sure if one player starts to win too much that he takes some money back and loses it to another. No one stays ahead long, the stack of money moving quickly around the table. The enthusiasm for tonight’s game is such the players decide to skip the second break and continue. Jake can see the familiar look of enjoyment and greed on the faces at his table. Eventually the men are getting a bit antsy having skipped break. Satisfied that each will have some good stories to tell about tonight’s play and that no one went away with too big a loss, Jake winds up the evening a little early for a Saturday night. He spends a few minutes each with Wilbur and Carl who seem to be ready to head home, then with Don and Alfredo who stay a little longer. Finally he shares a drink with Zach Morand letting him update Jake on his business interests. With all of them Jake compliments them on their play, relives a particularly good hand they had, and finally gives them a tip on improving their poker. Content that he handled his table well, even though he was down a few dollars, Jake lets his poker face fall and a smile comes to his face. Then he remembers that he and Ruby had words earlier and she spent the first half of the night avoiding his glances. "Right." His smile fades. He gets another whiskey and returns to his table. Jake is sitting high on the back of the chair with his feet on the seat. His upside down hat is on the poker table. The young gambler is methodically tossing cards from a deck in his hand into the hat. His eyes move from the hat for each throw to Ruby and back repeatedly. He makes no attempt to hide his glances at Ruby. His face, however, remains an unreadable mask.   Jake's glances do not go unnoticed. After Ruby finishes her last set and says goodnight to a couple of patrons she starts making her way to him. No matter what was going to happen she preferred to have it over with so she could get drunk. Berg and Martin note that the Arizona Billiard Hall and Peacock's Saloon appear to have closed early. They check out the Alhambra, finding only owner Steve Lord and his friend Chumbley inside, then go to the Comique, which only has a handful of patrons playing Faro at Rolf Larsen's table. Manager Warren Watson tells Chester that he send Clarisse home early since business was off. They hear the Wells Fargo Stagecoach ride into town from Tombstone and wander that way. They see Nevers and Gilly squaring things away and Berg suggests "Let's head over to Drover's Hotel and Restaurant, they'll be there in a few minutes." Indeed, the stage men soon arrive and before they can join all of their friends at another table Berg offers Nevers a drink at the bar. "So, what's new in Tombstone?" Berg asks. Chuck Nevers drinks the beer that Berg buys for him and replies, "More information about that Thursday shootout over at Iron Springs. Wyatt took on the Cowboys single-handed. The groups were on opposite sides of a rushing stream and Wyatt walked right towards them guns blazing, making himself a target. Amazingly none of the two-dozen or so shots fired at him hit, and he managed to kill five of the Cowboys. Ringo however managed to get away." Back at the Lucky Lady, Job Kane's game breaks up at around 11:15 PM. Helen Barker is the winner of the night, coming out $ 120 ahead. Job is up $ 90 and Neil is up $ 75. Most of the money this night was lost by prospector Ned Walters, who lost over $ 300 but he got lucky on the final hand winning a $ 35 pot so Job had decided to end the game then while Walters was in a better mood. Helen doesn't mind, as Stanley is anxious to play again. They begin with a two-person piece with Harry Rote taking a seat beside his teacher. After that Stanley launches into a rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty ballet suite. Job and Tomlinson remain at the table and chat after the others leave.  Neil Cassidy heads over to Minerva's table and reintroduces himself to her. He asks if he can join her for a few minutes.  He tells her "On the ride back from Tombstone with Ruby and Jake I saw in the Tucson paper that Samuel Clemens, known by his pen name Mark Twain, will be in this area next week on a lecture circuit promoting his new book. I spoke to Judge Lacey about it and he thought it would be a good idea to invite the author to the celebration, thinking that would draw in a lot of people. Lacey's book distributor works with the publishing house for Twain's books so should be able to contact him. This afternoon we had a telegram sent off to him from Tombstone with the invitation. We should have an answer in a day or two."She replies, "How are you this evening, Senor Cassidy? Samuel Clemens! That is wonderful news. I have heard of him. He is certainly an interesting author. Quite entertaining. I especially enjoy his sharp observations of life. I am sure that he will draw a crowd. The festival is coming together quite nicely. Speaking of newspapers. I was hoping to publish the event in the Tombstone paper along with an itinerary , as well as any other surrounding papers and maybe place posters in the outlying towns. I believe that Steve Lord had offered to take care of that but I have not spoken to him since our original meeting. Would you be willing to remind him when you see him?" They sit together and listen to Ruby sing while they make small talk.Job gets up and walks over to Jake a few minutes later. "Jake, I never made it up to Wilcox this week and would like to talk to my lady friend about the festival. Kevin also wants me to pick up some of his things too. Plus Chumbley wants me to run an errand for him there too. Could we maybe switch nights this week, with you taking Monday and I'll do Wednesday for you? I'd head out tomorrow morning and be back before Tuesday night's games."Jake replies, "Sure Partner, my pleasure. Do you need more time than that? If you are late getting back I'll cover Wednesday."   Job answers, "Oh, more time might be helpful. My lady friend may take a bit of convincing to come along, she hasn't set foot from Wilcox since her husband died two years ago. Okay, how about we flip this week. You cover Monday and Tuesday for me and I'll plan on covering Wednesday and Thursday for you. We'll figure out the weekend once the festival schedule is ironed out."Jake says, "She's a widower, huh? Seems to happen in Arizona quite a bit. What's her name, if it isn't a secret?"  Job tells Jake, "My lady friend is named Bernice Turner, I'm hoping you'll get to meet her next weekend.  Jake says, "Chumbley's got you running errands for him now? I guess better that than have to listen to his prattle. He's not a bad sort, I would probably even like him if I could muzzle him."Job replies, “Chumbley just needs himself a new source of information to the outside world. The telegram operator in Tombstone is close friends with John Clum of the Epitaph and Chumbley is afraid that any information sent through there will come to him secondhand and he'll be scooped. So he wants me to send out telegrams from the Wilcox office to his associates at other newspapers letting them know he has changed jobs and to wire him through there instead or to write to him here." He hesitates a minute and says, "Speaking of Chumbley, we need to have a talk some time when Niles is around about that newspaper. Ruby is under the impression that we shouldn't be advertising in his paper since he still runs ads for the Palace. She seems to think that we are somehow hurting Adair by not promoting our business. I can't say that I follow the logic of that, seems to me our keeping quiet only helps him. So we're not in the current paper which is okay for now I guess, but that little halfling is planning to put out special editions for each day of the festival. With possibly hundreds of new folks coming in from out of town it strikes me that it would be a mistake to be the only saloon in town that doesn't let people know what we're doing during the Festival of Dionysus."Ruby had been on her way to Jake when Job approached. She caught the tail end of their conversation stating, "I told Niles to take care of that, he is the business manager after all and should be making those decisions. I didn't tell him not to advertise."    Job looks up and says, "Chumbley told Niles that you didn't want to advertise. Nile's wasn't going to go against your wishes. He put an advertisement in the paper for his liquor business but not the Lucky Lady."  Ruby exclaims, "I did not tell Chumbley we weren't going to advertise either. He said he needed to know by 12 noon today and I came in and told Mr. Hoover to please take care of it." Ruby's slightly improved mood was starting to vanish. "Look, now that there is only one paper in town I don't see how we can't put anything in it. My conversation was between Chumbley and myself but if you don't believe me, ask Kate, she was there. Why would I go to Niles, tell him to make the decision, yet go to Chumbley and tell him no? I guess you all really do thinking I'm an empty headed saloon girl.""Ruby," Jake says shaking his head, "perhaps you are being a little bit sensitive, they really were only trying..” Ruby cuts Jake off with, "Sensitive?" Ruby grits her teeth. She narrows her eyes at Jake then speaks slowly, "I'd like to talk to you outside. Now." She starts walking out to the porch.  "Since you asked so nice." Jake throws his cards into his hat and takes it with him. "Nice dress. It really does look good on you. Of course everything looks good on you."  "Does this frown look good on me then?" Ruby huffs, "Because I'm not happy and I don't like having it thereBack at the Indian Head Saloon Porter Norris turns off the lantern and locks the front door shortly before midnight. The other men remain inside, rolling out bedrolls onto the floor, the room now lit by a few candles. The conversations inside are quieter but so is the background noises in the town, most businesses having now closed, enabling Nanuet is able to better make out conversations. He hears them talking about "Johnny getting his ass kicked by Earp at Iron Springs".  A short while later Nanuet hears them talking about the Gang needing to get a hold of some more weapons. "Shoulda hit the place tonight," one man says. The other replies, "Not with that new Marshall watching the town like a hawk. Johnny just wants us to keep an eye on the place and learn the routine. He'll figure out the plan of attack after he gets here."Jake follows Ruby out and sits on the railing. He grabs the deck and drops his hat on the porch floor.    Nanuet has made his way back to the Lucky Lady knowing it is late, hoping that Minerva had waited for him so at least he could walk her back to the Comstock.  Nanuet sees Jake and Ruby out on the front porch and neither looks to be in the best of moods so he heads around back and comes in that way. Inside, Nanuet is happy to see the others still there. He sees Kate sitting with Minerva and motions for her to be quiet. Nanuet then sneaks behind Minerva and gently but quickly places his hands over her eyes from behind. "Guess who?" he says attempting to change his accent to the local dialect"Laughing in delight Minerva raises her arms and holds his wrists as a smile spreads across her face. "Ah, Now let me think which of my many admirers it could be." She teases, "Ahh, I recognize the feel of those big strong hands." And taking his hands from her face she plants a kiss on each and turning gives him a wide smile. "You are a bit late for our date, Senor Nanuet." she says jokingly reprimanding him, "but I shall allow you to escort me home." As she says this Luna silently glides through the door and lands on the back of a nearby chair. "Gracias, Luna" she says thanking the bird for watching over Nanuet. "   "I think the two of you would prefer to be alone," Kate said with a gentle smile and headed over to the piano after Stanly Barker was finished to play some simple but pretty folk songs.Meanwhile, the lawmen have spent a while at Drovers with the Wells Fargo men and a few cattlemen from some smaller ranches in the area who have dropped by there. It is around 11:45 PM when the two lawmen leave Drover's. "Back to the Palace," Berg states.</blockquote>

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