The Railroad War (17 page)

“I haven't heard of any such threats, Miss Starbuck,” the banker frowned. “Isn't it possible that you and Captain Tinker have been deceived by malicious gossip spread by troublemakers?”

“I heard the threats myself,” Jessie answered. “They were made by Mr. Prosssr. You're acquainted with him, I'm sure.”

“Yes, of course. But I can't believe Karl would do anything like that,” Breyer replied.

“I'm not accustomed to being called a liar, Mr. Breyer,” Jessie said icily. She stood up. “If that's your attitude, Captain Tinker and I are wasting our time even talking to you.”

Breyer was on his feet instantly. “Now please, Miss Starbuck! I made an unfortunate choice of words! I had no intention of implying that you weren't being truthful! Please accept my apologies and let's continue our conversation.”

Captain Tinker said, “I'm sure Oscar didn't mean to insult you, Jessie. Why don't we—”

When she chose to do so, Jessie could be as haughty as any titled aristocrat. She kept her face frozen and matched it with the coldness of her voice. “It's obvious that Mr. Breyer is more interested in a group of rapacious scoundrels than he is in the welfare of the farmers and ranchers who - support his bank, Captain Tinker. And I don't wish to spend a minute longer talking to a man who has called me a liar. You stay if you like. I won't.”

Jessie started walking toward the door, Breyer following her, Jessie still ignoring his apologies. The Captain watched for a moment, then picked up his hat and joined them.

Breyer was still talking when they reached the door and Jessie left the bank. Captain Tinker sighed, and joined her on the sidewalk outside. Jessie started walking briskly toward the Tinker residence, the Captain vainly trying to keep up with her, but always a step or two behind. Jessie slowed her brisk pace, and as he came abreast of her and she turned to face him, Tinker was surprised to see her grinning.

“Do you think my imitation of an empty-headed society woman was good enough to fool Breyer?” she asked.

“You were just putting on all that high-hat business?” he asked when he'd recovered from his surprise.

“Have you ever seen me act that way before, Captain?”

“I can't say I have, Jessie. And it took me in, all right. All I could think of was that Alex wouldn't have liked it a bit if he'd been here to see you. But why'd you do it?”

“Because I wanted him to think I'm a vain, snobbish fool who isn't capable of causing a great deal of trouble. I'm sure your friend Breyer will spread the word where that kind of report will help us the most.”

“Don't call Oscar Breyer a friend of mine any longer. Not after what he just did.”

“If we knew the truth, I think we'd find that Karl Prosser has been working very hard to develop a friendship with Mr. Breyer,” Jessie said soberly. “Don't underestimate the cartel's agents. They have a way of corrupting men and still leaving their victims with the belief that they're honest.”

“Are you saying Oscar's in cahoots with Prosser, Jessie?”

“I won't say yes, because I don't know,” she said. “But I intend to find out a lot more about Mr. Breyer and his bank as soon as I have the time.”

“How'll you go about finding out a thing like that, Jessie?” the Captain frowned.

“You know that my father had a lot of business interests here in the West. He did all his banking at the First California Bank in San Francisco, and I didn't change anything. I know they can give us all the information we need about Breyer,” Jessie replied. She did not add that among the other Starbuck enterprises she'd inherited was a controlling interest in the bank. “Banks may have secrets from the public, but they don't have any among themselves.”

Tinker chuckled. “You sure sound like Alex used to, Jessie. If he was here today, he'd be right proud of you.”

“Thank you, Captain. When I run up against a problem that I can't seem to solve, I always ask myself what Father would have done, and usually that solves my problem.”

They walked on in silence for a few moments, then Jessie said, “We can't really afford to regret the past, can we? There isn't any way we can change it.”

“No. But there's sure a lot of things we'd change if we could. Like that bunch of crooks that meddled with the deeds. If we hadn't elected them...” The Captain shook his head. “You know, Jessie, it ought to be possible for folks to change a mistake like that.”

They'd taken a few more steps before Jessie stopped short, put her hand on her companion's arm, and said, “I think you just found the answer we need, Captain.”

“If I did, I sure didn't know it. What'd I say?”

“Never mind that right now.” Jessie's eyes were sparkling. “Is there a lawyer here in the valley?”

“Not a one except the county judge, and he's away. Why?”

“I want a copy of the territorial constitution.”

“Wait now,” Tinker frowned. “Ed Pashke's boy was studying to be a lawyer till last year, when he decided it'd take him too long to learn what he'd have to. Likely he'd have a copy.”

“Where does he live?”

“Right up the street from my house. Why?”

“Let's go see if he has.”

“What about the land deeds?”

“They can wait.”

“Jessie, maybe you better tell me what kind of scheme you're hatching out,” Tinker said.

“I'll tell you as we go. And if I'm right, we'll do some planning about that meeting we're going to have tonight. I think we might be able to tell these Hidden Valley folks what they can do to end the ugly situation the South Sierra Railway Company seems determined to create.”

Outside Captain Tinker's barn, waiting until they were sure there would be no more Hidden Valley residents arriving to join the crowd that had already gathered inside, the Captain, Jessie, Ki, and Jed Clemson stood talking.

“Some of those men in there look mean and mad, Jessie,” the old seaman said. “Do you think we ought to go further than we decided we would, and tell them more?”

“No,” she replied promptly. “Let's stick to our plan. Tell them everything we're sure is true. We can't tell them what we only suspect, things we know but can't prove yet.”

“I'd feel like telling them our suspicions too, but I know that whatever we say in there, Prosser and Breyer and the rest of the railroad bunch are going to hear about it before the sun's over the yardarm tomorrow,” the Captain said.

“They already know more than we do about their own plans,” Ki pointed out. “Jessie's right, Captain. We should not let them know what we suspect.”

Jed Clemson volunteered, “When I was out today spreading the word about the meeting, I found out that most of the valley folks know about the fires, but not much else. They haven't fitted all of it together the way you and Jessie and Ki have, Captain.”

“There's one thing we shouldn't mention,” Jessie said. “I don't suppose there'll be anyone here tonight who's ever heard of the cartel, or even suspects that such a thing exists.”

“Well, I sure don't know a thing about it,” Jed told her. “I didn't ask questions when I heard you mention it before, Jessie, but maybe you'd better tell me what you're talking about.”

“We don't have time to do that now, Jed,” Jessie said. “If you'll take my word and the Captain's that it's something that isn't good for Hidden Valley, I'll promise to explain later.”

Tinker added quickly, “Jessie's right, Jed. You've got my word on what she's going to tell you later, too.”

“I'd take either one of you on trust,” Jed smiled. “When you both say the same thing, I figure I'd just better listen.”

“Let's start the meeting, then,” the Captain said. “All those people have to get up early tomorrow, and I've got a notion we're going to be here longer than we expect to be.”

They went into the barn. To make room, the Captain had left his buggy outside, but the clear area in front of the stalls was so crowded that some of the younger and more agile of the men had climbed up into the hayloft, and a few had even shinnied out on the rafters. Jessie saw the eyes of the men focused on her curiously, and noticed that she was the only woman in the barn. Captain Tinker banged on a tin pail with the buckle of a harness strap to quiet the noisy buzz of talk.

“I don't suppose I need to waste your time telling you why we're here,” he began. “Some of us know better than others what happened last night to Jethro and Rose Garvey, and Alice and Henry Clemson and their family. What we're here for is to keep the same thing from happening to anybody else.”

“We know what's been going on,” a man called from the back of the crowd. “Let's cut the talk short and get the necktie party started!”

A half-dozen shouts of approval sounded. The captain held up his hands to silence them. He went on, “We didn't come here to set ourselves up as vigilantes. Nobody's been killed, and if we do the right thing here tonight, nobody's likely to be. We've got laws to go by, and the best thing we can do is use them.”

“You better tell that to Prosser and the railroad bunch,” a man in the front of the group said. “They're the ones that're breaking the law, not us.”

“That's right!” the man standing next to the speaker added. “Nevada Territory ain't the best place in the country to talk about laws, Cap'n Bob. I guess we got enough laws, but nobody pays much attention to them.”

“Especially the railroad,” his companion added quickly.

Raising his voice over the murmur of approval that swept the crowd, the Captain said, “Now before I go on and tell you what we've found out, and what all of us need to do to hold onto what we've got, I'm asking you to keep quiet until I finish. There'll be plenty of time left for all of you to have a say when I get through.” Leaning on his cane, he waited for the men to grow quiet, and went on, “I guess by now you know who the lady in back of me is. If you don‘t, she's Jessie Starbuck. It was her father gave me the land I sold you here in Hidden Valley.”

“We know about Miss Starbuck and her daddy,” someone called from the rafters. “Get on with what you got to say!”

“I will if you'll just let me!” the old man snapped tartly. When the buzz of talk died, he said, “Jessie and I have been going through the courthouse records the last few days, and we found out that somebody's done a lot of dirty work. All the land deeds you men filed are gone, and the record books have been cut up. Even the deed I got for all of Hidden Valley's missing.”

“Hell, that means we ain't nothing but squatters on land we bought and paid for!” an angry voice called.

The Captain's voice cut through the buzz that followed. “That's true! But even if the law calls you squatters, you've still got rights, and one of ‘em is to hold the land you claim until a court can pass judgment on what kind of title you have.”

“What'll we do when the railroad burns our houses and barns? Where are we gonna live while we try to hang on?” the man who'd suggested a lynching shouted above the hum of angry voices. “I say we go find that bastard Prosser and string him up!”

When only a few scattered voices rose in support of the proposal, Captain Tinker said quietly, “If we got rid of Prosser, the railroad would just send somebody else to do the same thing he's doing. Whatever we do has to be legal, or we're worse than the railroad is.”

“They started this fight,” one of the men said. “We didn't ask them to come in here with their damned tracks!”

“That's right!” another angry voice seconded. “They begun it, but I say let's us finish it!”

This time the voices raised in support of fighting were more numerous than before. Jessie decided to take a hand. She stepped up beside the Captain.

“Please!” she called. “Please listen to Captain Tinker! He has a plan to keep the railroad from robbing you without anybody getting hurt or killed!”

Jessie couldn't tell whether the men calmed down because of their interest in what she'd said, or because she was a woman. Listening to the mixture of rumbling voices die away, though, she was glad she'd refused to be the one to explain the plan they'd worked out and had insisted that the Captain do so.

“Let's go back to how all this got started,” the old seaman began. “But first I want to be sure everybody understands what's been going on.”

“We know what's been going on, Cap'n Bob!” a man in the center of the group called out. “That damn railroad's started burning our houses so we won't be in shape to fight back when they take our land away from us, because we can't prove we bought it!”