by David Liss
Isaac still fiddled and the singers still sang, but this conflict had attracted no small attention. Mr. Skye, who from his expression indicated he had expected it all along, was standing now at my side. Mr. Dalton and Jericho Richmond were there too, and I saw from the former’s face that he wished to save Andrew this fight. He opened his mouth, ready to speak, but Mr. Richmond whispered something in his ear, and so Mr. Dalton held his tongue.
Mueller gazed upon the onlookers and then at Andrew. There was a pause, and then Mueller lurched forward and wrapped his arms around Andrew—but not in attack. There was a gasp among the onlookers, and several took steps back. Mr. Dalton and I both stepped forward, but there was nothing to do. Mueller had embraced Andrew in a hug.
“You are in the right, friend Maycott. I beg your pardon.” I thought at first he sobbed, but no. He let go at once and smiled through the foliage of his filthy beard, and he clapped a hand upon Andrew’s shoulder. Once more he said, “Friend Maycott,” as though they had been through many adventures together, and no more needed to be expressed.
I did not care for it, however. A man like Mueller might a quarter hour from now decide he had been humiliated and come upon Andrew without warning. I had not been dwelling on this thought for more than a moment before Mr. Dalton appeared at my side.
“You’re not easy, are you, missus?” he said.
“No,” I agreed. “That man is barbaric. I think he is hardly sane. He could be about murder before Andrew had a chance to defend himself. Can he not be cast out?”
Mr. Dalton shook his head. “That’s not what you want, Mrs. Maycott. It’s best he be got rid of, but you don’t want him making you and yours the object of his anger.”
“Then who?” I asked, though I believed I already knew the answer.
“I’ll tend it. We’ve got a new carpenter now, and a better one. I’ll ease your husband’s way.” He said nothing else for a moment, only shifted away from me and toward Mr. Richmond, with whom he began a private conversation, keeping one eye the entire time upon his target. After a moment, Mueller looked over and Dalton pointed to him and said something to Mr. Richmond, who responded with a hearty laugh.
That was the bait, and it was quickly taken. Mueller was at once upon his feet. He strode four or five steps over to the two men and kicked dirt upon the younger one. “You have something to say to me, Richmond?”
Both men met his gaze, but it was Dalton who spoke. “Sit back down, Mueller. Maybe this time you can leave the frolic without a fight.”
“What if I don’t? I ain’t lost one yet.”
“You haven’t fought me yet, have you?” Dalton said, his Irish inflection exaggerated.
“Not yet, and maybe not tonight. ’Tis your good wife I heard laughing at me.” He flicked his hand contemptuously at Mr. Richmond.
Dalton took a step forward. “What say you?”
Mueller laughed. He raised his mug to drink, but it missed his mouth entirely and sloshed down his thick neck, soaking his hunting shirt. “I guess Miss Richmond’s afraid to fight. The Irisher, I don’t doubt, is the man of the house. I reckon every morning—”
This was as far as the speech progressed, for Dalton, who’d had in his mouth a thick wad of tobacco, spat it into Mueller’s face. Remarkably, he missed the beard near entire, and the shot landed true in the ruffian’s eye.
I watched in stunned silence, clutching Andrew’s hand. These men were about to engage in brutal, bloody, maybe deadly combat, but I could not regret it. Better Mueller should fight Mr. Dalton upon these terms than fight Andrew. Even so, I had the uncomfortable feeling I had done something if not precisely wrong then at least improper. Dalton made the choice to put himself at risk, but I could not shake the feeling that he did so for me, not for Andrew, and that I had somehow, without meaning to, convinced him to act.
Mueller stood still, his face red in the light of the fire, the wet of Dalton’s tobacco shimmering on his forehead. The crowd stepped forward. One mass of hands pulled at Mueller, the other Mr. Dalton. In my innocence, I believed that the people wished to stay the hand of violence, but that was not the western way. It soon became clear that there were rules to be obeyed. In an instant, the fiddler was done playing, and the singing and dancing had come to an end. Here was the real entertainment of the evening.
Andrew was soon at my right side, Mr. Skye remaining at the other. One of Mr. Dalton’s men, the unnaturally tall fellow, Isaac, stepped into the ring of onlookers, circling some fifteen feet across.
“What’s it to be, boys?” he called.
Dalton did not hesitate. “Eyes.”
Something dark, very much like fear, crossed Mueller’s face, still slick from the tobacco. He might have resented the insult, but apparently did not mind the substance enough to wipe it away. Now he squinted narrowly and gritted his teeth. “Aye,” he said. “Eyes.”
This all sounded confusing to me, which Mr. Skye observed. “Surely you’ve wondered why so many men here are missing an eye,” he said. “’Tis a common challenge. They fight until one man takes the other’s.”
“But that’s monstrous!” I had been pleased that Dalton had been so willing to fight Mueller, but I had not wanted this. If Mr. Dalton were to lose an eye, I would be responsible.
“’Tis the West. But fear not. Dalton’s never yet lost, as you can see from his face. And he’s been yearning for an excuse to shut Mueller’s mouth for two years now.”
“It appears that Mr. Mueller has clearly never lost this challenge either,” said Andrew.
“He don’t often take it. He can’t afford to lose an eye in his trade, which you’ll no doubt understand. And, at the risk of revealing a partiality, he’s never fought Dalton before, and Dalton, you might have observed, is angry. He don’t take too kind to remarks about Richmond.”
I looked over at Jericho Richmond, who stood on the sidelines, arms folded, watching without agitation. Indeed, there was a little smirk upon his lips, satisfied and a bit impatient, as though the outcome of the contest was already decided.
The two men were released. Dalton at once leaped into the air like a panther and landed hard upon Mueller. The two crashed upon the ground, and I heard something crack, though I could not say if it was twig or bone. The crowd of Westerners grunted their approval. A few men cheered, and one little boy laughed like a shrill madman, but none moved closer. The circle remained still and solid, as if this were some sacred place of Druid worship.
Dalton now lay upon Mueller, his knee pressed across the carpenter’s chest, his thick left arm keeping Mueller’s own arms pinned. It was a matter of balance, the result of the momentum of Dalton’s leap, and it could not have been more than a second or two before Mueller forced Dalton off and changed the balance of momentum. The Irishman’s face grimaced with determination and understanding. He bit his lip like a concentrating child as he examined the field of battle and quickly, in an instant too fleeting to be called thought, saw his opportunities and formulated his strategy.
He raised up his right hand, his thumb stuck out like a man beginning an ostentatious count. It hung still, no more than an instant, but I saw that hand like an icon, like a standard, glowing orange in the light of half a dozen fires, and then it plummeted downward, with the fury of a hawk seeking its prey. Mueller let out a piercing cry of surprise, which changed in an instant to a howl of pain. I felt myself tremble with fear and pity and disgust. Mr. Dalton then stood. His face and shirt were covered with blood, which also dripped copiously from his hand as though he had cut open his own flesh. Mueller lay upon the dirt, curled up so I could not see his face, but he emitted a horrible, chilling noise, a lamentation for his life as it had been, as dark blood pooled about his head.
Mr. Skye tsked like an irritated upper servant. “You can’t call the man inefficient.” He looked at Andrew. “Dalton’s a good friend to have.”
Andrew nodded, too numb from horror and surprise to say much. “It’s well he seems to like me,” he managed, tho
ugh he spoke hardly louder than a whisper.
“He likes you both,” said Mr. Skye, “and he don’t take to strangers that often.” He glanced back at Mueller’s pathetic form. “I guess that’s the lesson, though. You can’t be friends with everyone, not out here. You make your friends, but you make your enemies as well.”
Ethan Saunders
Having given Hamilton enough time to work whatever magic he intended to work, I returned to my rooms at Mrs. Deisher’s house that afternoon, where I found that stout German lady ready and willing to receive me. Once her girl opened the door, the landlady herself forced her massive bosoms past the servant and thrust them toward me.
“Mr. Saunders,” she said, “I your pardon beg. I mean to say Captain Saunders. I trouble myself for the misunderstanding, but the man from the government has everything made clear. Are you hungry? May I make for you something to eat?”
“Be easy on the matter of food,” I said. “I am, however, much in need of a wash and a change of clothes, not having had access to fresh linens in well over a day.”
She colored. “I must beg again your pardon, Captain. Now I shall send my Charlotte to bring for you the waters.”
I smiled benevolently at her, for now we were good friends. All was easy between us, and we had nothing but love in our hearts. “Oh, and one more thing, Mrs. Deisher. Before I send you away, please be so good as to mention why, precisely, you chose that night to cast me out.”
She cringed a bit at this. “It was just a notion, a terrible foolish notion. You must forgive.”
I continued to smile, but my voice was icy. “I shall forgive you when you tell me the truth.”
“Oh, I would never lie,” she said, to her shoes.
“Madam, you have seen how friendly I am with the government. If you do not tell me what I ask, I shall have you arrested for a foreign spy—let’s say French, since the notion of a German spy is absurd—and you will be cast out of the country forever. Perhaps, as reward, I shall be given your property for my own. Leonidas! Take a letter for me. Dear Secretary Hamilton: It is with grave concern that I must report to you the presence—”
“Enough!” she called. “I will tell you, only you must not say I did. He promised to hurt me if I did not remain quiet.”
“I shall protect you with my life,” I said, “if you but tell me.”
“It was a very uncivilized-looking man,” she said, “with a gray beard and long hair. He gave his name as Reynolds. He paid me twenty-five dollars and said he would burn down my house if I did not do as he says.”
“Did he say who he was or why he wished me gone?”
She shook her head. “No, but I believed him. He seemed to me like the sort of man who might a house burn.”
I nodded. “Be so kind as to give me the twenty-five dollars. I think I’ve earned it.”
“I have already spent it,” she said.
“Then give me a different twenty-five dollars.”
“I have not got it.”
“Perhaps she could apply it to what you owe,” suggested Leonidas.
It was not as good as having twenty-five dollars in my pocket, but it would have to do. I turned to Mrs. Deisher. “I accept those terms. Now, let’s not forget about my bath.”
She stood and shook her head. “It don’t make sense.”
“What is that?”
“He say, this Reynolds, that he throw you out behalf of Secretary Hamilton, but he must lie, for it is Secretary Hamilton that make me take you in.”
I felt something, like a dog catching a familiar scent in the air. Leonidas turned quickly, but I caught his eye and gave him a most subtle shake of the head. Long ago I learned that when someone inadvertently stumbles upon something important, you do not draw attention to it. “How interesting,” I said, in order to say something. “Now to the bath.” There could be no further progress without washing off the accumulated filth of my trials.
At last I was able to remove the grime and humiliation of the past two nights. The warm water was a balm, the clean clothes as good as a full night’s sleep. Once I had cleaned myself and had Leonidas shave me, I felt free to examine my reflection in the mirror that hung over my fireplace. In truth, I was not entirely displeased. My face was a bit contused. There were bruises and a few wounds, which were healing far more slowly than they had in my youth, but in my newly scrubbed state, these now bespoke manly combat and not impoverished desperation.
Able to enjoy the calm of my room, I sat in a well-padded chair near the window in the fading afternoon light. Across from me, Leonidas put away the shaving things. Once finished, he took one of the chairs and gave me a meaningful look. “Perhaps,” he said, “it is time to consider your next move. Do you truly wish to squander your time attempting to find Mr. Pearson?”
“Of course I intend to find him.”
He leaned forward in his serious way. “Ethan, you should think about this. You have little money right now, and I understand that you care for Mrs. Pearson, but caring does not mean you must sacrifice yourself to her memory. If Mr. Lavien does not wish your help, perhaps the matter is in hand.”
“To begin with, I would never turn my back on an old commitment.”
“I am not convinced of that,” he said, with much bitterness. “I’ve seen it happen.”
I was not about to get dragged into another conversation about his emancipation. “On top of that, I have been personally injured. Men have sought to intimidate and harm me, to have me cast from my home. I cannot simply turn my back. And what is most amazing to me is Hamilton. All these years I believed it was he who chose to ruin my reputation by putting it about that I had committed treason, and I hated him for it. Now, it seems, I was mistaken. Hamilton turns out to be a fairly decent fellow, and he went so far as to say that he values my skills.”
“What of it?”
“Don’t you see? If I can find Pearson first, if I can beat Lavien at his own game, Hamilton will bring me back into government service. I will be of use again, Leonidas. I cannot let something like that slip between my fingers.”
“How are you going to best a man like Mr. Lavien, who has his own impressive skills, is younger than you, and enjoys the protection and power of the government?”
“I believe we shall do so not by pursuing the obvious but by pursuing lines of inquiry that are ours exclusively. What do we know that Lavien does not?”
“We don’t know what Lavien knows, since he won’t share anything.”
“But we can operate on certain assumptions. Let us assume, first of all, that Lavien and Hamilton don’t know about the Irishman, they certainly don’t know about the note from Mrs. Pearson, and it seems to me likely that they don’t know about this Reynolds man pretending to be one of their own. Lavien has been looking for Pearson for nearly a week now, but he does not seem close to finding him; otherwise he would not have followed Mrs. Pearson to my rooms. I’m sure he is going about it the usual way—speaking to his family, his friends, his business associates—but this method has yielded him nothing. We shall try it my way, Leonidas, the old Fleet and Saunders method, and we shall see who finds the man first.”
“And what does that mean?” he asked.
I took out my stolen timepiece and checked what o’clock it was. “Let’s return to see Hamilton. I have an important question for him.”
Leonidas shook his head. “He won’t like it.”
“I know,” I said. “It’s why we need to find a newspaper first. I will require something to persuade the secretary to be amiable.”
“A newspaper,” he repeated.
I was on my feet, reaching for my hat. “You were not so privileged as to be in my company when I served the nation during the war, Leonidas.”
“No, but I have heard the stories,” he said, his tone implying that they were somehow tedious. I must have misunderstood him.
“This is your lucky day, then. Now you will, at last, see how business is done.”
It had surprised
me how quickly Hamilton had seen me that morning. It did not surprise me that he made us wait well over an hour that afternoon. We sat in a vestibule outside the front office, which was, in turn, outside Hamilton’s sanctum. Anxious-looking clerks hurried in and out, avoiding eye contact with us. It was daylight, albeit of a gray and cloudy sort, when we entered the treasury buildings, and darkness fell while we awaited Hamilton’s pleasure. A pair of young Negroes came around lighting candles and lamps, and as they passed through our room they nodded at Leonidas, who nodded back. Did they know one another, or was this merely the recognition of race?
At last a clerk ushered us into the Treasury Secretary’s office, which in the darkness had a far more dour and constricted feel. Hamilton sat at his desk and hovered over his oil-lit work like an angry bear in its cave. “I had not expected to see you so soon,” he said.
“And you do not sound happy to do so. No matter, we won’t waste your time. Just a quick question and we’ll be on our way.”
“I believe I was clear,” he said. “I do not want you inquiring into Pearson’s disappearance.”
“And what makes you think I am doing that?”
“Look at you. You are like a dog on a hunt.”
“Only one question,” I said.
“No, Saunders, I’ll not play games with you. You may wait there as long as you like, but I’ll not start answering your questions.” He turned to his paper and began writing.
“I anticipated this,” I said. “Leonidas, please hand me that newspaper I asked you to bring along. I expected we would have to wait, and so I brought reading material. It is the National Gazette, which you mentioned to me earlier.”
Hamilton looked up, clearly unhappy that I would read a paper whose single purpose was to attack him.
