Slocum and the Two Gold Bullets by Jake Logan

Author:Jake Logan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

11

Slocum rode into the Ute camp with three horses Smitty had confiscated for nonpayment of stabling fees. With some clever trading and not a little bit of desperation on the part of a half-dozen prospectors, Slocum had sold the mules he had for enough to cover the price of the horses. Slocum had then ridden into the Ute camp with three horses and rode out with only his roan and a big smile on his face.

The Ute hunting chief, Bear Tail, still used the knife Slocum had given him when they had met before. And now Slocum had a better idea where to wander through the hills west of Victory and what to look for.

He rode to the top of a ridge and looked down over a quiet valley. It’d make good grazing range, but the Utes had hunted here for generations and wouldn’t take kindly to intrusion. They wouldn’t have much choice, Slocum knew. The onslaught of white men hunting for gold would be too powerful a wave to hold back. The Indians might as well try to grab air in their hands and carry it away.

Slocum consulted a compass he had brought from town, squinted to get the angle of the sun and then consulted a crude map the land office had provided him. While better than nothing, it was vague. This would only cause big trouble in the near future when one claim intruded on another as the prospectors became more frantic to find what Slocum doubted was even here.

He adjusted the map, got his bearings and rode down the gentle slope into the valley where a stream ran from higher in the mountains. He jumped to the ground and poked around a bit, then set about putting up stone cairns and put his claim to the land in a baking powder can. Taking one last ride around his newly staked claim, Slocum studied the area nearby and nodded slowly as things came together.

It took the better part of the day to ride back to Victory, but he spent the time thinking and plotting and planning. His confidence was high when he dismounted in front of the land office and got in a line that stretched from the front door, past the Sweetwater Saloon and a goodly ten yards beyond down the street.

“Looks like they’re doing a brisk business,” Slocum said to the dandy in front of him. The man was dressed more for a game of faro in a gambling salon than for grubbing in the hard rock of a mountainside.

“Yes, sir, they are. And I intend to stake out my claim and make a fortune.”

“How’re you going to do that?” asked Slocum. The question caused the well-groomed man’s eyebrows to rise. Then he laughed.

“You are a man of great discernment, I see. I am filing land deeds with the intention of selling them to newcomers.”

“Didn’t think you’d cotton much to swinging a pick.”

“Good Lord, no! The real money is always to be had selling to the prospectors, not clawing the metal from the ground.

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