Silver Dreams (9 page)

"What is it?" she breathed, unable to take her gaze away.

"It's pure silver, that's what it is," Dooley announced with pride. "The white gold of the Rockies." 

“Is it really?” Elizabeth was still confused as to why the old-timer was so impressed with his possession.

"I got me a whole bag of them rocks hid upstairs,” Dooley said. “And I know where there's half a mountain of them just waiting for me."

A wide grin spread across Ross's face. "Go ahead, Dooley, tell her the story. Tell her what you told me."

Dooley squinted up at Elizabeth a few seconds until he must have decided she was worthy of his tale. "Alright, girlie, I'll tell you, but only because you've come with my good friend here.” He turned the squint to Ross. “What'd you say your name is, boy?"

"Ross Sheridan. Remember I told you before?"

"Of Course I remember. I ain't daft."  He settled back against the brick wall of the stairwell. "It was the fall of '90," he began slowly. A milky veil appeared over his eyes. It was almost as if the scene he was about to describe was being played out in a tableau in his mind, and he could watch the events unfold as they had three years ago.

"I'd been working the west side of Devil's Fork Mountain in Colorado. Long ways from any town it was, and when the cold winds started blowing down the pass that fall, I knew it was time for me to come down off the mountain. A whole passel of men before me had left their bones froze in them Rockies, and I wasn't about to do the same, even though I hadn't found me any good ore all summer.

"I'd come around to the east face of the mountain, the steepest side of the Devil's Fork, but also the fastest way to the bottom. I come upon these two sorry souls that had been beset upon by thieves. It couldn't have took much effort to beat them bloody, being as they were near skin and bones when I found them. There ain't much to eat in them mountains when winter comes on."

Elizabeth sat on a step and leaned toward the story-teller. "Were they...dead? Had someone killed them?"

"One of them already was, and there warn't much I could do for the other. They were brothers come all the way from Wales, the one told me. Named Ian and Clyde Faraday. They'd made a good strike and were toting their bags of ore into Georgetown to the assayer. It was a rich vein, according to Mr. Clyde. He told me it ran four feet wide in some parts, with the silver all near to the surface, so's a body could practically chip it out with a hat pin. Those boys had dug a good ways into the mountain and the vein ran as far as their eyes could see with no end in sight."

In light of the grisly but intriguing story, the rock in Elizabeth's hand took on a personality all its own. She looked from the ore to the animated face of Dooley Blue. "So what happened to the Faradays and all that silver?"

"Their burro was loaded with bags of the ore when they started down the mountain. They’d come only as far as the spot I found them when robbers jumped them both, killing Mr. Ian right off and torturing Mr. Clyde for the whereabouts of his claim. He never told where it was, and the thieves took the burro and left the poor miner for dead. I found him some hours later, and it was while he was breathing his last that I learned the terrible tale."

Ross poked Elizabeth in the ribs, though he wouldn't have had to. She was listening to every word. "Wait till you hear this, Lizzie," he said, pointing to the rock. "Tell her how you got this sample, Dooley."

The old man sat a little taller and basked in his celebrity. "I done what I could to make Mr. Clyde's last hours on this earth as comforting as they could be. That's why in his remaining few minutes he told me about the one bag of ore he'd thrown over the ledge when he seen the robbers bearing down on them. And Mr. Clyde Faraday says to me, 'Dooley, you’re a good man, and I want you to have the claim.'"

"He told you where the mine was?" Elizabeth asked.

"He did, right then and there, and gave me the deed. He’d named it the 'Fair Day' Mine, and I remember the landmarks he described like it was yesterday."

"Did you go to it?"

"Girlie, I tried. Nearly starving myself, I went a quarter 'round that mountain to the south side just like Mr. Clyde told me to and started looking. I might have found it if the blizzard hadn't come. You heard about the storm of '90, I guess." 

Elizabeth shook her head.

"Was the fiercest snow I ever seen. Turned the sky black as coal and the ground as white as a virgin's nightdress. No human eye could look upon it without blinding himself. I decided it wouldn't do no good for me to find that mine if I was to die in ten foot drifts. So I come back down the mountain, near dead myself, but determined to go back."

"And did you?"  Elizabeth asked.

"I ain't yet."  Dooley rubbed his index finger over his upper lip and cackled with excitement. "I got back to town and had that ore assayed. The silver come in at ten thousand dollars to the ton. It's a powerful fine vein, let me tell you. Folks all over town heard about it and showed up in the restaurant where I was eating and the hotel where I slept. Dooley Blue never had so many friends."

"But he never told a soul where the mine was," Ross interrupted. "Did you, Dooley?"

"Nope. I figured why tell anybody when I could have it all to myself? There was only one little problem, though. I'd run out of money. That's why I decided since it was winter anyways and no way of going back up the Devil's Fork, I might as well come to New York and fetch my cousin. I figured he'd have a few dollars tucked away that he wouldn't mind investing to make a million. That's just what I done. Came all the way to New York, only to find my cousin had passed. I been living in his little room ever since. And I never got back to the Devil's Fork."

"That's awful," Elizabeth said. "To have lost your cousin, I mean."

"To have lost the silver!" Ross said.

"It ain't lost!"  Dooley shouted. "Silver don't go away. It don't rot, just like a dying man don't lie. It's still in them walls of rock like it's been for hundreds of years. It's just waiting for me to come back, that's all. And I'm tired of sitting here looking for the time to be right to go."

"So what are you going to do?" Elizabeth asked.

Ross jumped up and stood between her and Dooley. "What do you think, sis?  It's destiny. I'm going to help Dooley find that mine. And you too, if you're game."

"Ross, you can't be serious!"

"I'm dead serious, Lizzie. This is the chance I've been waiting for all my life. Dooley and I have worked out all the details. I'm going to be his money man, and we're splitting the profits from the mine fifty-fifty."

Ross grabbed Elizabeth's arms and stared into her eyes. "Think about it, Lizzie. Colorado...where every day men with only half the brains I've got wake up as paupers and go to bed as millionaires. It's the land of opportunity. Wide open spaces where a man can stake a claim to unfathomable riches. Look at me, Lizzie. What do you see?"

She did as he asked though she had no idea what she was supposed to say. He looked like the same old Ross to her, a little more crazed maybe, but still Ross. "I don't know," she said finally.

"An entrepreneur, Lizzie. That's what I am. But I'm living in a city where every square mile has hundreds of people just like me. That's why I haven't been able to make it here. This is my chance. I've got to go with Dooley. And if you're smart, you'll go with me."

Elizabeth peered over Ross's shoulder at Dooley Blue. His eyes sparkled. He watched the scene as if his next breath depended on their decision.

In a coarse whisper, she said, "Ross, this is a good story, but it just doesn't make sense. Why would this man tell you about his ore? Has he ever seen you before in his life?"

"Not before today, but that doesn't matter. He trusts me."

"How did you meet him?"

"He’d come down the alley when I'd stepped out of the building for a smoke and a break from the stench inside. He asked me for a small handout, and I gave him one. We started talking. He didn't set out to tell me the story about the silver. Little by little I dragged it out of him. And he didn't ask me to go along with him or to finance his trip. I see this as
my
chance, sis, not just Dooley's, though I'm happy to help the guy out. When he strikes it rich, I get rich, you see."

"But, Ross, again, why you? There must be hundreds of people in New York who'd jump at the chance to get in on a silver mine!"

"Yeah, and it'd be just my luck for Dooley to find one of them and leave me in the dust. No sir, sis, this is my chance. For once I was in the right place at the right time instead of being two minutes too late." 

Ross leaned so close, Elizabeth could feel his breath on her earlobe. "Besides, the old guy admitted he's told a few people about the strike, but they didn't really believe him. Told him he was off his oats a bit."

"Gee, I can't imagine why."

"Come on, Lizzie, don't be that way. Just think about how you always wanted to be a reporter. What better story could there be for you to make a name for yourself? Why, you could pave a path for women reporters everywhere with a story this big. You'll be on a quest for a fortune in a land of gamblers and saloons and dance halls, where mansions pop up on hillsides like spring daisies. We’re headed where danger lurks on every corner and wine is served in silver goblets in every parlor. Even on the very slight chance that we don't hit it big, it's still a hell of an adventure.” His eyes danced with expectation. “Do you really want to miss it?"

Oh, he was doing a good job of getting her blood pumping at a dangerously irrational rate. But then Ross had nothing if not charm and a silver tongue. Elizabeth might have given in then if a sobering realization hadn't suddenly dawned on her. She eyed him skeptically. This was Ross. He never offered anything without having an ulterior motive.

She swallowed, narrowed her eyes. "You want my money from Mama's trust fund to finance your trip, don't you, Ross?"

A pained expression crossed his face. He slapped his hand over his heart. "Lizzie! How could you think such a thing?"

"Because you haven't a penny of your own to put into this."

He shrugged innocently and grinned at her with his boyishly engaging smile. "Now that you mention it, a teeny, tiny portion of your trust fund would help out."

She wrenched herself free of his hold. "I might have known!"

"For Pete's sake, Lizzie. You'll make it back ten times...no, a hundred times over!" Ross curled his hand into a fist and lightly pounded his chest. "I feel it in here, Liz. There's a fortune to be had. I'm going for it one way or the other, but I'd sure like it if you'd come with me."

"Ross, this is the craziest thing..."

"You're wrong, sister. This makes more sense than anything I've ever done in my life."  His eyes blazed with a persuasive fire that wouldn't let her turn away. "Just answer me this, Lizzie. Do you believe him?"  He cocked his head toward Dooley who was still waiting anxiously. "Do you believe Dooley's story?"