Far From Home (37 page)

‘Nearly there, miss,’ Kitty said breathlessly. ‘But it’s so hot, should we wait awhile?’

‘Yes, I think so,’ Georgiana agreed. ‘We must think of the horses too and give them a rest.’ She looked up at the rocky outcrop. ‘I remember it was difficult climbing in the heat. We’ll wait and rest for a couple of hours before we move on.’

They put the animals in the shade and gave them water, then settled themselves down to rest out of the sun. They poured a little water into their tin cups and sipped slowly, for there would be no more until they reached the creek. Kitty fell asleep and Georgiana was closing her eyes when she heard a movement from above. The wild man, she thought, he has followed us after all! Slowly she turned and lifted her head, at the same time reaching for the knife.

Bear! Her breath caught in her throat. Black bear! It hadn’t seen them but was standing on a shelf-like rocky promontory not twelve feet above them, sniffing at the ground. Though remembering that they were shy creatures unless disturbed, this gave her no comfort, for she also recalled that they could turn into ferocious killers if alarmed. Slowly she reached for the metal cup and drew the knife from its sheath.

Clink. Clink. Clink.
Gently she tapped the knife on the cup and watched as the bear raised its head and looked around, but not down. Then she tapped louder.
Clank. Clank. Clank.
The bear lifted a paw and she saw the unsheathed claws and its powerful limbs. Again she tapped on the cup.
Clank. Clank. Clank.
The bear, with a great heave of its body, crashed away and she saw the black lumbering shadow of it, scaling the rocky boulders before disappearing into the trees.

‘What was that?’ Kitty suddenly awoke. ‘Did I hear something?’

Georgiana put her head on her knees and tried to breathe deeply. Her heart was hammering loudly and her face was flushed.

‘What is it, miss?’ Kitty asked in concern. ‘Are you not well?’

Georgiana put her head back and exhaled. ‘Perfectly well, Kitty.’ She looked up the mountain which shortly they would ascend. ‘Another hour, then we’ll move on.’

They mounted once more and prepared for the final part of their journey. ‘Kitty!’ Georgiana said. ‘You said you could sing!’

‘I can sing, miss.’ Kitty laughed. ‘Why?’

Georgiana looked up the mountain again. The trail was steep, the trees thinning towards the top, and there was no sign of bear. But still, she’d like to be sure. ‘I think we should sing our way up the mountain. As loud as we can!’

‘All right,’ Kitty smilingly agreed. ‘They’ll maybe hear us down in the valley,’ she said. ‘At Dreumel’s Creek.’

‘I cannot believe that you have travelled alone!’ Dreumel and the other men gazed at them in astonishment. ‘I don’t know whether to be delighted or dismayed.’

‘I hope you’re delighted, Mr Dreumel,’ Georgiana beseeched, whilst Kitty grinned triumphantly at Ted.

‘Well, I’m danged glad you’re back, Miss Gianna,’ Isaac declared. ‘You too, Miss Kitty, specially your cooking!’

‘You could’ve been lost!’ Ted butted in. He seemed to be trying to contain his anger. ‘We’d never have found you!’

‘You wouldn’t have been looking,’ Georgiana said quietly. ‘As you didn’t know we had set out.’

‘Did no-one know?’ Dreumel asked. He too sounded concerned.

‘Dekan’s wife, Little Bear,’ Georgiana said, adding, ‘she knew, though she did ask us to wait.’

As she spoke of Dekan’s wife, a notion occurred to her. She drew in a sudden breath as she thought of the black bear she had encountered. Had Little Bear called on her spirit world to protect them? Georgiana could almost believe that she had. Or was it mere coincidence that the bear happened to be there? The Iroquois were children of the wilderness and worshipped all things of nature. In the misty mountains and dark untamed forests it would be quite easy to believe that ancient spirits lived there.

‘I’m sorry if we have alarmed you,’ she said. ‘But we both wanted to come back and we thought that we knew the way. We only made one mistake,’ she added in mitigation.

‘Now that you are here, dear lady,’ Dreumel said softly, ‘do not think that your presence is not welcome, for indeed it is, but we may not be staying much longer. I am on the point of going to Philadelphia to try to raise more money. Then we shall make one last attempt to drill another shaft.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘And if there is nothing, then the men will move on.’

‘And you,’ Georgiana asked. ‘What will you do?’

‘I shall stay awhile with my few cattle. The grass is lush and green.’ He smiled. ‘They will thrive even if I don’t.’

‘Would you take another partner, Mr Dreumel, if there was one willing to take a risk?’

‘Like Charlesworth?’ He raised his eyebrows. ‘No, I don’t think so.’

‘N-no,’ she said slowly. ‘I didn’t mean like Charlesworth. I meant someone who believed in this valley and was willing to work with you, and not only for profit.’

‘If there was such a man, yes, indeed I would.’ He glanced around at the men, who all seemed very weary and despondent. He shook his head. ‘We have looked into all possibilities, but there is not such a person. Most men only want the certainty of gold.’

She smiled then and glanced at Kitty who was standing next to Ted, their fingers touching. ‘I am not a man, Mr Dreumel,’ she said. ‘But I am willing. I have been to the bank in New York and arranged a transfer of my funds to their branch in Philadelphia. If you are prepared to work with a woman, then I will gladly be your partner. Kitty and I have travelled here only for this purpose. At least – I have.’

Wilhelm Dreumel’s gaze flickered for a second between her and Kitty and Ted, who was now gripping Kitty’s hand. Then he took a breath. ‘You may lose your money, Georgiana.’ It was the first time he had called her by her Christian name. ‘I cannot promise you good fortune.’

‘Can you promise me a challenge?’ she asked.

‘Oh, yes.’ He laughed. ‘That I can promise!’

‘Then will you accept my offer?’ She waited in anticipation, willing him to agree.

His eyes held hers. Such an honest blue, she thought. I would always trust him to do what was right. Then he smiled and his round cheeks dimpled in the way she remembered. He gave a small formal bow, which only he would do, she mused, out here in the mountains.

‘Thank you,’ he said simply. ‘I will be glad to accept.’

They talked into the night, Georgiana, Dreumel and Ted, whilst Kitty went with Isaac to see what was in the stores. They decided on a plan of action. Dreumel wouldn’t after all mortgage his newspaper business, which had been his reluctant intention, but they would use Georgiana’s capital. He was, though, uneasy about it and suggested that in case the project should fail, he should take her on as a joint partner in the
Star
newspaper.

They would travel to Philadelphia after she was rested and have everything drawn up legally. Then they would buy more equipment for the shaft and explosives for opening up the creek.

The journey took three days of hard riding across the hot rocky plain and then continued by canal boat. Wilhelm had insisted that Kitty should come too. ‘You can buy the stores you need,’ he had said, but they both knew that she was there as a chaperone.

It was whilst Dreumel was showing Georgiana around his newspaper office and introducing her to his staff that she had an idea, which she put to him when they adjourned for coffee in a nearby hotel.

‘I suggested to you once before that you—
we
,’ she corrected humorously, ‘need people to come to the valley. Not only miners,’ for he had said that they would need more men for working on the shaft, ‘but people to make the valley into a proper community. Why don’t I put together a news article about this rich land? This—’ She contemplated. ‘This
golden valley
, and invite people – families – to apply.’

‘Yes,’ he agreed. ‘I do remember what you said, and I have given the idea consideration, even though I did not think that it would be possible to carry it out.’

He reached out and touched her arm, letting his hand lie gently and patting her with his fingers. ‘But now, because of you, all things are possible.’ His eyes for a second seemed sad and moist, but as he withdrew his hand he added cheerfully, ‘Together, Miss Gregory, I feel that we can succeed.’

‘Mr Dreumel,’ she began, ‘do you not think that we could be less formal? As you know, my name is Georgiana. I wish you would use it.’

‘I would like to,’ he admitted. ‘I have old-world values. I have only been waiting for permission! It was a slip of the tongue when I used it previously. The men call me Bill,’ he added.

‘But I would like to call you Wilhelm,’ she said softly. ‘It suits you so well.’

Their first priority was to open up the creek at the eastern end to let the waters flow out more easily, and to blast an opening through the rock to allow waggons in. Georgiana had been astounded when she and Wilhelm had set out on their journey to Philadelphia when, at the end of the valley, they appeared to be confronted by a mountain wall. As they drew closer she realized that the rocky outcrop in front of them stood apart from the mountain and that there was a track leading out behind it. It was a canyon with high rocky walls, which, from the outside of the valley, couldn’t be seen.

‘At some time in history,’ Wilhelm had said as they rode through onto the open plain, ‘there has been a rock fall which hid the valley from view.’

She had looked back. The opening through which they had come could no longer be seen. Even the waters of the creek seemed to have disappeared, emerging as a gushing waterspout through a break in the rocks. ‘Except from the Indians, the buzzards and the eagles who could see it,’ she had replied, remembering what Lake had said.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Only them.’

Georgiana wondered what Lake would think as she sat and wrote the article for the newspaper, extolling the beauty of the valley and creek and its potential for family life. Would he be angry that this once secret valley, which he had shown to Wilhelm Dreumel, was about to be opened up to others and irrevocably changed?

Letters started to pour in and people arrived on the doorstep of the newspaper office after reading the article. Georgiana interviewed the applicants herself, spending several days in the office. The days ran into a week and then another, as more and more people applied.

She chose practical people, men who had a trade but not much money, families with young children, storekeepers and farmers and a young couple who were both teachers and newly married. Wilhelm took on three more men for the mine, older men who had been to California but had grown disillusioned and disappointed with the mediocre returns.

Then, one day, Georgiana had a visit from a woman. She was well built with dyed hair piled beneath a feathered and chiffon concoction, held in place by a glittering hat pin, and wearing a low-cut gown which displayed her rounded curves. She was not young but had been attractive in her day. She wore carmine on her cheeks and lips and said her name was Nellie O’Neil.

‘So, why would you want to come to this valley, Mrs O’Neil?’ Georgiana asked cautiously. She didn’t seem the type to want a quiet life.

‘Well, ma’am,’ she said in a dry, husky voice. ‘I’ve been around and about quite a lot for most of my life. Had a few ups and downs, some good times, some bad. But now I’ve come into a little bit of money – don’t ask me how, cos I wouldn’t want to shock you.’ She gazed at Georgiana from bright blue eyes, which had pale threads of red in the whites. ‘But I’ve had a dream, you see. Had this dream for a good many years, that when I was older – and I ain’t admitting to being old!’ she added hastily. ‘That if I made any money I would set up in some nice place and run a saloon.’

‘Oh!’ Georgiana said. ‘A saloon!’ She remembered that she had once suggested the same to Wilhelm.

‘Nothing rough, you understand,’ Nellie O’Neil emphasized. ‘Jest a nice place where men could come and unwind after an honest day’s work. They don’t always want to go straight home, you know!’

‘N-no, I don’t suppose they do,’ Georgiana admitted and, in spite of her first misgivings, found she was warming to Mrs O’Neil.

‘I know about liquor,’ Mrs O’Neil said. ‘And I understand men, and you needn’t worry that there would be any hanky-panky, though you’ll find that when the word gets around about this place, the dancing girls will start to arrive. I know, cos I’ve done it myself in my time. But I’d send ’em on their way if you don’t want them there.’

‘Well—’ began Georgiana, her breath quite taken away, but she saw something like pleading on Nellie O’Neil’s face. ‘I suppose that men would like to have somewhere to meet, and have a game of cards, a drink or a chat.’

Nellie O’Neil raised her eyebrows. ‘A chat! Well, I guess you could call it that. I was thinking more of a jaw about what’s happening out in the world, gold prices, what price cattle is fetching and so on.’

‘Yes,’ Georgiana said weakly. ‘Of course! That is what I meant.’ She smiled at her. ‘Can I let you know, Mrs O’Neil?’ she asked. ‘I shall need to speak to my partner.’

‘Sure you can. Call me Nellie,’ she said, getting up from the chair and primping her curls. ‘I’m staying in Philly for a few weeks.’ She bent towards Georgiana. ‘Don’t worry about funds,’ she whispered, though there was no-one else in the room. ‘I’ve got plenty to buy what I need. But I’d need help to build a saloon.’

‘There is a longhouse already which could be rented,’ Georgiana told her. ‘It would only need to be adapted.’ And we could build Kitty a new bakery store, she mused, with a proper oven. She put out her hand. ‘I’m sure we can do business, Nellie. I’ll contact you soon.’

When they arrived back at the creek she put the idea to the men, who were all in favour, though Wilhelm had reservations. But he was soon persuaded. ‘You can rent the longhouse to her,’ Georgiana said. ‘Build another storey onto it and she can take occasional visitors as well as live there herself.’

‘Like a small hotel?’ he said.

‘Why not?’ she replied.

The rock was blasted and the waters poured through, leaving the creek shallow. ‘It’ll find its own path,’ Ted said, as he watched the waters run down into the plain.