The Railroad War Page 14

  “No. We’re close to being through the worst of it,” Jed replied. “By noon tomorrow we’ll be through these hills and on the flats. Then we’ll make better time. I’ll have us in Carson City by sun down tomorrow evening.”

  Though the sun had set the next day when they reached Carson City, Jessie and Ki agreed that Jed had kept his word. They’d passed through the foothill spur before noon and crossed a series of wide, sagebrush-dotted valleys; then, as they mounted to the rim of a shallow, saucerlike depression, the town suddenly came into sight on their left.

  “We’re there,” Jed announced. “That’s Carson City.”

  Long before they could make out details of other buildings and houses, they saw the slim dome of Nevada Territory’s capitol rising from the saucer’s rim. The dome’s silver coating was a light-washed blue in the early, uneven twilight. While the capitol dome was bathed in brightness even in the fading day, the slope beyond it was in the shadow of the Sierras. Houses stood in ranks almost to the top of the rise, and lighted windows were already showing in some of them.

  Jessie and Ki moved up to ride abreast of Jed as the trail became a street lined with small, neat, gingerbread-trimmed houses. They turned into the main street and rode toward the capitol’s dome. After they’d passed the square, squat façade of the U.S. Mint, houses gave way to a scattering of stores, small office buildings, and saloons. Almost directly across from the capitol, Jed led them to the rear of a rambling stone building set back from the street, pulled up beside a row of carriages that stood in front of a huge barn, and swung out of his saddle.

  “Even if it’s past sunset, it’s still daylight,” he said. “And just like I promised you, we’re at the Ormsby House. It might not look like much, but the beds are clean and soft, and they set a real good table.”

  “I’m hungry enough after two days of trail rations,” Jessie said. “But I saw a lot of lights in the windows of the capitol building. Even if it’s getting late, I wonder if the governor might still be in his office.”

  “If you and Jed are willing to wait for supper, I am too,” Ki told her. “Let’s go across the street and find out.”

  “Why don’t you and Ki go, Jessie?” Jed suggested. “Let me stay here, I’ll see the horses are tended and get our rooms.”

  “If you don’t mind, Jed,” Jessie replied. “Perhaps if Governor Kinkead hasn’t gone home, he’d be willing to talk to us now. It might even be possible to finish our business with him this evening and get an early start tomorrow for Virginia City.”

  Governor Kinkead was in his office, and when Jessie sent her name in to him by the clerk who guarded the inner door, Kinkead himself came out to greet her. He took both her hands and held them between his palms while he gazed into her green eyes.

  “Alex Starbuck’s daughter!” he exclaimed. “And I can see the resemblance, Jessie—I’m going to call you Jessie, because I feel like I’m your uncle. Your father was as close to me as any of my brothers ever were.”

  “I’d like that, Governor,” Jessie replied. She responded at once to the friendliness radiating from the bearded face of the tall, sturdy man standing in front of her. The feeling of the governor’s palms on her hands comforted her; they had the firmness that told of calluses formed by work and not yet gone soft, the hands of a man of action. She nodded in Ki’s direction and said, “This is Ki. He was my father’s friend and companion for years, and now he’s mine.”

  The governor nodded, releasing Jessie’s hands to shake Ki’s. “If you were Alex’s friend, Ki, consider me yours.”

  “Thank you, Governor,” Ki said. “Mr. Starbuck spoke of you often during the years I was with him. I remember that once he was getting ready to go to Alaska to visit you, but some urgent business problem made him postpone the trip.”

  “I’m deeply indebted to Alex,” Kinkead said. “He used his influence in Washington to help those of us up there who finally persuaded Seward to buy Alaska from Russia back in ‘67.”

  “That was before I was old enough to understand anything about my father’s business,” Jessie said.

  “Even before that, your father had helped me, Jessie,” the governor went on. “When I was first setting up my business in San Francisco in ‘54, he did more than any other man would’ve done for a ragged stranger.” His face grew sober. “It’s tragic that a few scoundrels should rob the world of a man with his vision and foresight.”

  “Father’s death wasn’t the work of just a few scoundrels,” Jessie said quietly. “That’s the reason I’m here. I hope you’re not too busy to talk for a few minutes, not necessarily now, but when you finish whatever work is keeping you here so late—”

  Kinkead interrupted her. “We can talk right now, Jessie. The legislature’s having a night session, and all I have to do is wait. We may be interrupted long enough for me to sign my name, that’s all. Let’s go in my office, where we can talk privately.”

  When Jessie and Ki had settled into the big horsehair padded armchairs that stood in front of Kinkead’s desk, the governor said, “I never enjoy night legislative sessions. When I miss my supper—” He stopped and looked at Jessie and Ki. “Have you had yours, by the way?”

  “No,” Jessie replied. “We saw the lights in here and I was so anxious to see you that Ki and I came over at once.”

  “That means you’re stopping at the Ormsby House, then,” Kinkead said. “I was just about to send my clerk across the street to order my supper. The Ormsby House is used to sending me meals when I can’t leave at noon, and when I’m working late. Suppose you and Ki have dinner with me here in the office?”

  “We’d enjoy it,” Jessie answered after a quick look at Ki. “There’s a young man with us, but I’m sure Ki will go over and explain to him.”

  “Include him in my invitation, if you like,” the governor suggested. “I assume he’s with you because he has a part in the matter that’s brought you here.”

  “Yes, he does.”

  Ki stood up. “I’ll go tell Jed, then.”

  After Ki had gone, Kinkead was silent for a moment, looking at Jessie. Finally he said, “You’re very like your father, you know. And I feel badly about something, Jessie. Perhaps if I tell you this now, it’ll ease my feelings. Do you mind?”

  “Do go ahead,” she invited.

  “I didn’t learn of your father’s murder until after I got back from Alaska, Jessie. And I didn’t realize that you were carrying on what he’d created. I should’ve written you, but business and politics combined have a way of keeping a man busy day and night. You’ll overlook my negligence, I hope.”

  “Of course I will, Governor! I’m just glad I’ve gotten to meet you. And while I’m not involved in politics, trying to preserve what Father left me has kept me busy too.”

  “That’s what’s brought you here, then? I know that Alex had some very substantial land holdings here in Nevada Territory. If I recall correctly, they were in Hidden Valley, but I thought he’d passed all that land on to Captain Bob Tinker.”

  Jessie nodded. “He did. And I have a letter from Captain Tinker to give you, about the trouble the people are having in Hidden Valley.”

  Kinkead frowned. “I haven’t heard of any trouble there.”

  “It’s just begun,” Jessie said. “Until a few days ago, the people there didn’t understand what was happening, and most of them still don’t. But the cause of the trouble goes back to the days when Father bought the valley land, not because he needed it, but because he wanted to keep—” She stopped and frowned, then asked, “Governor Kinkead, did Father ever mention that he’d been invited to become a member of a large European cartel?”

  “He mentioned the offer, but told me he’d refused them.”

  “Oh, yes, he refused. But they’d told him too much about their schemes and the way they operate when they were trying to persuade him to join them.” Jessie was silent for a moment, holding her emotions firmly in check. Then she went on, “You said a few minutes ago that a few s
coundrels murdered my father. That covers the bare facts, but the whole truth is that the killers were a gang sent by the cartel to murder him.”

  “And the cartel is trying to get a foothold now, here in Nevada Territory?”

  “I’m sure they already have a foothold, or at least a toehold,” Jessie replied quietly. “What they’re trying to do now is to expand their power and influence through a new railroad. They call it the South Sierra Railway Company, and they must have been planning it for years.”

  Kinkead frowned. “I know about the railroad, of course. It was chartered by one of my predecessors, so I’m not really too familiar with it, but it seems to me that it was chartered only two or three years ago.”

  “I’m sure that’s right. But when Father bought the Hidden Valley land, the cartel was trying to buy it even then, and he got it away from them. Now they’re after it again for their railroad, and they’re starting—well, I suppose it’s something close to a small war to get their hands on the valley.”

  For a moment the governor looked at Jessie, his high forehead furrowed thoughtfully. Then he said, “If anybody but you had come to me with this story, Jessie, I wouldn’t have believed it. But when I look at you and see the reflection of your father in your eyes, I know that what you’ve told me is true. Now tell me what I can do to help.”

  During the trip, there’d been plenty of time for Jessie to organize the sequence of events that had taken place in Hidden Valley, and to be sure her interpretation of their significance would be logical and straightforward. Speaking rapidly, she told Kinkead of Bobby’s visit to the Circle Star, and the effort to kill Ki and herself on their trip to the valley. She’d reached the episode of Ki’s capture and what he’d learned from Cheri when Ki returned with Jed.

  When Jessie resumed her story after they’d settled down, she made a point of bringing Jed into her narration, asking him to speak for the Hidden Valley farmers and ranchers. Jed had been anticipating meeting the governor too, and his remarks were as terse and to the point as Jessie’s had been. Their story was still a long one, though. When they’d finished it, Kinkead leaned back in his chair, an angry frown on his face.

  “I won’t say that what you’ve told me is a shock, Jessie,” he began. “I’ve rubbed up against a lot of unscrupulous men in my lifetime. As a boy back in Pennsylvania, I learned there were men who’d stop at nothing to get what they wanted. Since then, I’ve been in business in Ohio and Utah, before I moved to San Francisco and then Alaska, and I’ve found it’s the same all over. From what you’ve told me, this cartel is even worse than most. But there are some things I can do that will help you.”

  When Kinkead stopped, pulled a tablet of paper across the desk, and reached for a pen from the elaborate inkstand in front of him, Jed said, “Jessie told you a lot of things about that cartel outfit that I hadn’t heard before. And right now the folks in Hidden Valley could sure use some help. Captain Bob was even thinking about asking you to call out the militia.”

  “I’m afraid our militia wouldn’t be much help to you,” the governor smiled. “It exists only on paper, Jed. Aside from a few war veterans, nobody’s interested in military matters now.”

  “What do you plan to do, then, Governor?” Jessie asked.

  “Several things. First I’ll get your hasty recall election legalized. It takes a resolution by the legislature to authorize a recall election, Jessie, and the people in the valley will have to vote again, with proper printed ballots.”

  “There won’t be any trouble getting them to do that,” Jed said quickly. “The Captain figured we’d have to vote again to make things legal.”

  “Good,” Kinkead said. “The next move I’ll make is to have the legislature’s Commerce Committee investigate the South Sierra Railway Company, with the intention of revoking their charter. That will take time, though. The election matter can be settled at once, at tomorrow’s session. I don’t know what I can do about the bank, though. The chairman of the Banking and Finance Committee is my chief political enemy, and—”

  “Leave the bank to me,” Jessie broke in. “As soon as I can send a telegram to San Francisco, I’ll take care of that, and the territorial legislature won’t have to be involved.”

  “You can use the wire here in my office,” Kinkead offered. “Or when you get to Virginia City, you’ll find a public telegraph there. In fact, thanks to Hearst and Mackay and Fair and their Combination, Virginia City had telegraph service five years before the capital of the territory did.”

  A knock sounded on the office door, and after a polite pause, Kinkead’s clerk opened it wide enough to stick his head in. “I hate to disturb you, Governor,” he said, “but the chairman and two members of the Appropriations Committee need to consult with you for a few minutes.”

  Jessie stood up, and Ki and Jed followed her example. She said, “I’ll send my wire from Virginia City, Governor Kinkead. We’ll be heading there early in the morning.”

  “But you’ll stop and see me on your way back to Hidden Valley, I hope?” Kinkead asked. “There are still a lot of things I’d like to talk with you about.”

  “Of course we will!” Jessie assured him. “And I’ll save my thanks until we see you again.”

  Walking across the street to the Ormsby House, Ki said, “We found a real friend just when we needed one, I’d say. The governor can do things that we’d never be able to do alone.”

  Jessie nodded, then smiled. “It’s strange not to be fighting the cartel by ourselves, isn’t it, Ki?”

  Before Ki could answer, Jed said, “Don’t forget I’m here too, Jessie. And the folks back in Hidden Valley are with us.”

  “I didn’t intend to leave you and the others out,” Jessie said. “But most of the time when Ki and I get into one of these open battles with the cartel, the people we’re trying to help aren’t even aware that such a thing exists.”

  “You were going to tell me more about it,” Jed reminded her as they entered the Ormsby House.

  “And I will. But not now,” Jessie replied. “We’ve had a long two days, and all of us need rest. We’ll talk on the way to Virginia City tomorrow, Jed.”

  Jessie had not realized how very short the distance was from Carson City to Virginia City. They’d gotten up yawning from beds they’d found luxuriously soft after a night on the hard ground, and started out when the sun was just gilding the towering peaks of the Sierra Nevadas. Still tired, they’d talked very little. The sun was still low in the east and the cartel had not been mentioned when they came to the first rise in a cluster of cone-shaped hills, and sighted the first mines, marked by huge smokestack-topped buildings that rose above the shafts and housed big steam engines that provided power for the pumps and hoists.

  “We’re nearly there,” Jed said. He pointed to the first and highest of the hills, and with the same gesture indicated the tall, ramshackle structure that clung high on its sloping side. Below the building, huge heaps of raw dirt covered the steep side of the mountain. Jed went on, “They call that Mount Davidson, and if I remember rightly, that mine’s the Yellow Jacket. The town’s just another couple of miles ahead.”

  Belatedly, Jessie remembered her promise and told Jed, “I’m sorry we haven’t talked about the cartel, Jed. I thought we’d have a half-day of riding and plenty of time to talk. But I haven’t forgotten, and we’ll have time while we’re here.”

  “I’m not in any hurry, Jessie,” Jed replied. “Except I am a mite curious.”

  Ki said, “I’m not sure we’ll be in Virginia City as long as you think we will, Jessie. With what we already know, it shouldn’t take us too much time to turn up this Frank Jeffers.”

  “I hope you’re right, Ki,” she replied. “But we’ve both learned that finding someone when we don’t want him to know we’re looking for him can be a long job. And from what I’ve heard, Virginia City’s as busy as an anthill and twice as crowded.”

  “We’ve got to get back to the valley as quick as we can,” Jed reminded
them. “The Captain will need the papers the governor promised us before he can do very much.”

  They passed the base of Mount Davidson and reached the end of the curve that the road made around its base. The wide, rutted thoroughfare stretched ahead of them, a wavering line on a wide, uptilted shelf that extended from the clump of hills. Perched precariously on the sides of each hill were one or two or sometimes three or four buildings similar to that which Jed had pointed out as the Yellow Jacket mine. Absorbed in looking at the mountainsides, Jessie and Ki did not notice that at some point the road had become a street until Jed reined in.

  “C Street,” he announced, pointing to the houses that clung precariously to the sides of the hills ahead. “And that’s Virginia City.”

  Chapter 14

  Jessie and Ki reined in their horses beside Jed. Though Jessie had traveled to many places, she had never beheld a scene like the one that lay before them.

  A short distance ahead, C Street widened into a smoothly paved thoroughfare, and still farther ahead there were buildings stretching away from it on both sides. On the sharply sloped flank of the valley below the shelf, a score or more huge shafthead sheds stood, the tops of their smokestacks towering above the heads of the riders.

  Wagons with teams of ten mules hitched to them were lined up on a narrow wagon road that wove its way from one of the mine buildings to the next, the wagons moving so slowly that they seemed to be standing still. Great piles of raw yellow lumber surrounded the sheds, and the steeply pitched ground that stretched beyond the lumber stacks was covered with heaps of fresh dirt tailings, their conical sides shimmering wetly.

  While they sat looking at the sheds, the chugging of a locomotive and the sharp blast of its whistle almost underfoot set the horses dancing. The train had passed with a screeching of wheels on curving rails before they’d calmed the animals, and when Jessie looked down into the valley, she saw only the caboose disappearing around the curve in the shining tracks.