Miner's Glory

Chapter Two

The young miner reached his stake and dismounted.

“Whew! Nothing’s been touched. Guess I’d better get back to work.”

He took some of his provisions and put them in his cache, and put some of his tools next to them. He thought he heard…splashing? He turned and went to the river, pick axe in hand.

He snuck a peek past a tree. He saw a beautiful woman with skin like cocoa silk swimming in the creek that crossed through his stake. He stopped, unsure of how to respond.

She took the initiative. She stepped out of the water and walked directly to him, took his hat off, and ran her cold, wet fingers through his hot, sweaty hair. The pick axe fell.

“You look hot. Would you like to join me for a swim?” She looked directly into his eyes, giggled, and turned, walking back to the river. When she reached it, she dove in, stayed on the bottom for a moment, then popped back up.

He visibly shook, visions of a wife on the way giving way to to the sight of a woman right here. He swore to himself not to touch her, just swim with her. He started peeling off his clothes.

“Here I come!”

He ran to the creek, stripping as he went. He paused only to take off his socks and boots, the dove straight in. She moved out of his way. As he paddled next to her, she put her hand on his chest. He stops. Delilah pulls her other hand out of the weather. A thin red line forms on his throat. He grabs for his throat. She pulls him down, pushes him away, and starts for shore.

After a few moments, he stopped moving. Delilah had already dressed, cleaned her knife, and mounted. She waited only to make sure that he had died. Should have updated your will, kid; Hanson now has your land. Nice place, though; I liked the swim. She rode off.

***

Sunlight streamed into the bunk house as Cal, Hank and James dressed as Kurt continued to snore. Hank stared at Cal and jerked his thumb at the sleeping boy. Cal finished putting on a boot, then he got up and walked over to Kurt’s bed.

He proceeded to put Kurt a long process of shakes and nudges, becoming more forceful with each shake and nudge, to the point where his nudges were leaving bruises and his shakes moved the bed. He stopped, and was breathing hard.

Hank walked out of the bunk house and returned with a bucket of water. He headed straight to Kurt. Cal and James stopped to watch him. He dumped the water on the sleeping boy, making sure it all went on Kurt, and none on himself.

Kurt woke, sputtering. He popped up, banging his head on the roof. The guys laughed,

Kurt jumped down in his white nightshirt, soaked to the bone, as Jenny walked in. He grabbed for his glasses and pulled them on. H e sees Jenny, and looks down at his semi-transparent nightshirt glued to his body. He grabbed his wet blanket and tried to hide in it.

“Come on, guys, shake a leg. The miners’ll be in shortly after breakfast and we’ll be taking the gold in.” She turned to go and stopped. “Oh, and by the way, Kurt: Try to eat a bit while you’re here; you’d look really cute with a bit more weight.”

Jenny left. Kurt shifts from fear-white to embrassed-red in the heartbeat it takes for her to leave. The other guys just lose it. James left, still snickering. Kurt has grabbed his clothes from the shelf. Hank took a step toward the door, but turned at the last moment. He turns serious and looks at Cal.

“Rat, tell our ‘guest’ everything he needs to know about his job, including our little problem; we need to discuss certain matters as soon as possible and it won’t help to have someone uninformed of the situation there when we do. Especially if it could affect him. That, and make sure that his bedclothes are drying by the time you sit down for breakfast.”

“Yessir.”

Hank left, smiling and muttering something about “greenhorns”. Cal looks at a half-dressed Kurt.

“All right, strop that bed and let’s go.”

They strip the bed and head out the door.

***

Kurt and Cal approach the clothesline and start hanging the bedclothes on the clothesline. Occasionally a corner slips or a blanket threatens to fall. The younger boy started talking.

“Okay, so what exactly do I do? Where do I fit in?”

“Some of the time you’ll be playing look-out for me; it’ll be just like school, when we played those jokes.”

“How bad are the guys? Just bullies?

“Bigger than in school, and with guns.” He caught a blanket as it fell. “But there’s worse.”

Kurt grew apprehensive. “Worse?”

Cal paused just for the build-up. “Well, sometimes the miners’ll need someone small and scrawny, such as yourself, to place dynamite or grab a few inaccessible nuggets. You’re perfect for the job.”

“Great.. Dynamite, tight places, and playing look-out against big guys with big guns. That about sum it up?” He grabbed a corner that folded in, and unfolded it.

“Yep. Any problems with that?” He paused to look at Kurt, smirking.

Kurt smiled mischievously. “This is going to a great summer!”

“Not if you’re as slow as you used to be!”

Cal stole Kurt’s hat, and ran for the ranch house. Kurt felt for the hat, then chased after Cal.

***

Cal entered the dining room followed closely by Kurt. Cal threw the hat at Kurt, who barely caught it. Cal removes his own hat and they both put both their hats on the communal hat rack, that held several other hats, a set of pistols, a bandolier of knives, and a rifle. Kurt put his sling in with the other weapons, and then they sat down.

Hank, James and Jenny were already sitting. At the head of the table sat Mr. Carlson, a robust gentleman in formal clothes, wrinkled but still new. At his left sat his teen-age daughter Abby, wearing curls and a dress. They prayed, led by Mr. Carlson, and started the chore of making the breakfast disappear. Everyone helped out, except Kurt, who was busy staring at Abby.

Mr. Carlson slowed down a bit. “What was wrong with sluice?”

Hank quickly swallowed his mouthful. ”Nothing major; just a hole the size of a shotgun blast.”

“That sets us back, what, one or two days?”

“About that. The Rat needs more hose to finish the job; we could get it when we take in the gold.”

“Sounds like a good idea. That should take until, what, about mid-afternoon?”

# posted by JamaisJ @ 1:14 AM