California Woman (Daughters of the Whirlwind Book 1)

by Daniel Knapp

  "This is an outrage!"

  "Not nearly as much of an outrage as what you have tried to do to me. Now, if you will kindly pay me my due, I will not drop this lamp on the floor, where it will shatter, light the spilled kerosene, and burn its way to the barrels against the wall."

  "You wouldn't dare."

  "I will count to ten, Mr. Brannan. After which, I believe you will probably lose your entire store." For emphasis, she jerked her wrist. The lamp swung under her hand.

  "All right, all right! You've made your point!"

  He counted out the exact amount in bills, stacked them, and pushed the money to her side of the counter. "You're crazy, you know that? You haven't heard the last of this." He eyed a rifle standing in a corner to his right.

  "And now, Mr. Brannan, as a last consideration for my not dropping this lamp, I would like you to walk at least thirty yards from this store. In the direction I can see through that window. When you are that distance away, I will leave the lantern outside the doorway and make my way inside the fort—where there will be witnesses to any retaliation a huge man like you might take on a smaller creature like me."

  A pair of miners came into the store. They were both as large as Brannan.

  "Never mind my last request," Esther whispered. "I see there are two strong witnesses at my disposal right here." She scooped up the money, set the lantern down before Brannan had a chance to react, and moved quickly toward the door. Both miners took off their hats, held them to their chests, and moved out of the way courteously as she passed. Brannan watched dumbfounded as she smiled sweetly at the miners and called back, "Good day, Sam. Thank you for treating me so fairly."

  Thirty-four

  Esther found August Sutter at the door to a room in Kyburz's Hotel. Ironically, it was the same room, unchanged for the most part since the German had leased the building from John Sutter, where she had first awakened after the Indians brought her to the fort. Sutter's son had converted it into an office. Two well-dressed men were talking sharply with him as she reached the second-floor landing and turned into the hallway. They lowered their voices as she approached. Nervously, the pale, well-mannered young man glanced at Esther and unsuccessfully tried to conclude the conversation he was having without her hearing anything.

  "It is just a question of a little more time," he said quietly.

  "There's been too much time already," one of the men said.

  "I assure you, the matter will be attended to as soon as I have returned from Monterey."

  "It had better be, Mr. Sutter," the second man said. "Thirty days and no more."

  Esther stopped and waited a few feet away from them. "Am I interrupting anything?" she asked.

  "No, ma'am," the first man said, tipping his hat. "We were just leaving."

  Inside young Sutter's room, Esther sat down and waited while he composed himself. His desk was strewn with papers. More spilled out onto the floor from his father's old trunk. An image of Sutter reaching into the trunk for her diary crossed Esther's mind. Memories of those first days after the ordeal in the mountains followed in quick succession. She thought of Mosby and felt herself grinding her teeth so hard her jaw ached.

  "It is almost too much for any one man to deal with," August finally said, bringing her out of her thoughts.

  "You know I am one of your father's closest friends. You can speak freely to me. Who were those men?"

  "Creditors." He took out a handkerchief and wiped his forehead.

  "But surely with all your father's holdings, there is no need to become rattled by one outstanding bill. Or even a half dozen."

  August Sutter reached for a ledger book, his hand shaking visibly, stood up, and walked to the bed he had pushed over against one wall. He placed the ledger in one of several packed bags that lay open on top of the quilt. "It is not a matter of one bill or even a dozen." He gestured to the desk and the trunk. "There are scores." He walked back to the desk and sat down, slowly massaging his temples.

  "Scores?" Esther was incredulous.

  "Perhaps two hundred or more. My father owes tens of thousands of dollars to businessmen and bankers in Monterey and San Francisco."

  "But I don't understand."

  "He has built an empire on credit. He started modestly, but it has been going on for almost a decade."

  "But the fort, the mills, the shops…?"

  "As soon as one enterprise was completed, he would begin another. Then two more. Three. Four more. All begun before the funds he borrowed to begin the first were paid off. Material, seed, equipment, blankets, everything. First a snowball, then a rolling boulder of ice, and now an avalanche of debt. The interest alone is staggering. My God, he still owes someone money for the cannons at the entrance to this place."

  "But he bought them years ago from the Russians, when they abandoned Fort Ross."

  "Almost ten years ago. On credit."

  "And it is all like this, the tannery, the sawmill, the flour mill…?"

  "The flour mill is not even completed, and already it has cost—I am not sure of the figure—upwards of fifty thousand dollars!"

  "And he does not have it?"

  "No. If that was the only thing he was being pressed to pay, it would be a simple matter. But everyone he owes money assumes he has become rich overnight because of the gold. They have descended on him like a flock of vultures. And he has not mined enough to pay off even a fraction of his debt."

  Esther sighed. "Why is he not here? There must be some way he can arrange to…? At the very least, he should be here attending to these matters."

  "He wants no part of it. They have all come at once, demanding immediate payment. It is too much for him. Shortly after I arrived from Switzerland, he asked me to take over his affairs here in New Helvetia."

  "But you, forgive me, you are a stranger to these parts. You cannot possibly be equipped to—"

  "I can only do my best. I have a personal debt to my father. Indirectly, just by being born, I caused him much pain and grief, and this is a way to make up for that."

  "That's foolish nonsense! Your father and mother were the only ones responsible. And you had no part in what your grandmother did to him. But we can talk about that some other time. Put it out of your mind. What's important now is that you understand that Brannan is a dishonest, despicable man."

  "Mr. Brannan? I cannot believe that. Why, he has been…"

  "He tried to cheat me, a woman. Why should he treat you any differently?"

  "But is it all not legal? We have signed contracts."

  "He has copies of them?"

  "Of course. I go to Monterey this very afternoon to record them."

  Esther shook her head. "And you are selling off your father's land to pay off the debts?"

  "Yes. It is the only way I can see out of this."

  "Well, I suppose what is done is done. But do not mention anything I have said to Brannan. Be armed with the knowledge, and watch him carefully. But do not say anything. Do you understand?"

  "Yes, of course. But—"

  "I will be seeing your father this afternoon, tomorrow at the latest. I will try to persuade him to come back to the fort to work with you on these matters. I mean you no insult, but you are simply not up to dealing with a man like Brannan."

  August reached for a glass of water on the desk and spilled a quarter of it on his shirtfront before bringing it to his lips. "Do you think, should I…should I go to Monterey?"

  "Yes, I suppose so. But do not enter into any transactions until your father is here. Two heads are better than one."

  "I hope you can persuade him to come."

  Esther sighed, stood up, and shook the young man's trembling hand. "I will do my best. Your father has been like an… uncle, no, like a father to me, as well."

  On a signal from Manaiki that Brannan was occupied with customers in his store, Esther rode out of a side entrance to the fort the following morning and headed for Coloma. It was late afternoon when she arrived at the abandoned mill
. The sight of it shocked Esther. Canvas tenting had been set up by Sutter's Kanakas. While they were out panning, passing miners had dismantled most of the sawmill for lumber and carried it off. The Indians Sutter had hired were gone. The Kanakas were demoralized, at a loss over what to do next. Sutter no longer led them out on panning expeditions. He spent his days in his tent drowning himself in liquor, the procurement of which was the only task left for the remaining half-dozen loyal Kanakas to perform.

  Esther found him lying on his cot, caressing a nearly empty whiskey bottle and talking to himself. He sat up when she entered and tried to assume a posture and expression of sobriety.

  "I have been too selfish," he blubbered. "You are my beloved niece, and if you wish for me to become a partner with you in a business venture …"

  Esther sat down beside Sutter and kept him from topping over. "Do not trouble with that now. There are other things you must deal with."

  "Auwgoost is attending to everything," he said, his accent more pronounced than she could remember.

  She took the bottle out of his hands and laid it on the floor. "Brannan will tie him in knots. You must pull yourself together…"

  "He is a fine boy, a fine boy," Sutter said, not really listening. "You know when he first come here this summer, I say to myself, oh, Gott, a bad sign, a bad sign. But it is not that way at all. I sign all my property over to him and he takes care of the whole business. He is a smart boy. Smarter than his father."

  "He cannot—"

  "You know," Sutter went on, "it is, how do you say?—poetic chustice. He was, you know, illegitimate. The mother-in-law, very rich, makes us get married. I would have, anyway. I would have. But she makes us gets married, und then she never forgives me for spoiling her daughter. She lends me money to start a business, not so good, and then when I am threaten with debtor's prison, she throws us out of her house. How do you like that? That is why I left Europe, my beloved Switzerland."

  "You have told me this story…"

  "So, when Auwgoost comes here, I say to myself, John, the past is catching up with you. But it is not that way. It is fate balancing the scales. He tells me, Auwgoost, that he knows the whole story. And sees the piggle I am in and says he will get me out of it. He wants to make it up to me the things his grossmutter did to me. And it is going to work. He is going to straighten this mess out, you wait and see. Fate is on my side this time."

  "He can't possibly handle it all. He's too young and too inexperienced."

  "You wait and see. He's a smart boy, Auwgoost. And strong-minded, like you." He reached out and stroked Esther's long hair. "My beautiful niece."

  "If you will pull yourself together and go back to the fort, I will lend you what I have to help you through this."

  "No. No. I couldn't do that. You don't have enough to even start. I appreciate it, what you are saying. But don't worry. Auwgoost will get it all straightened out. He sells some property, pays the debts, then we build a city. Sutterville. You know the one I show you with the maps?"

  Frustrated, she reached out and grasped his shoulders, shaking him. "John! Listen to me! Your site is too far upriver! Can't you see? Brannan's parcels are closer. Nothing at Sutterville will match them. No one will set up business there when he can be closer to the docks."

  Sutter waved his hand. "We build a new embarcadero. We build a better city…"

  "It won't work! Why would anyone…?"

  "We beat Brannan at his own game. You think I don't know him? You think I am a child?"

  "John, please!'

  Sutter picked up the bottle and drained it. "Go now. Take care of your business. You are doing well?"

  Thwarted, she began to cry. "Yes. But I'm worried about you!"

  He put his arms around her. "There, there, little beautiful niece. What are those tears for? Your Uncle John can take care of himself."

  "Will you please promise me you will go back to the fort?"

  "Yes. Yes. Yes. I promise. Now go, and don't worry so much about me. Everything… will… be…"

  She felt his head loll over on her shoulder, turned, and saw that he had passed out.

  That fall and winter Esther's worst fears for Sutter were realized. She rode to Coloma several times, but Sutter was always too drunk to reason with. The last time she went, the mill was deserted. She sent word to the fort, but no one had seen him for weeks. Esther sent Murietta with a letter to Sutter's son, but she received no reply. She was soon to learn the reason. The poor young man had collapsed from physical and mental exhaustion.

  Finally she heard that Sutter was back at the fort. He had taken over what August was handling before he fell ill. But it was too late. While small towns sprang up everywhere in the mountains, as far north as the Yuba River and south to the Tuolumne, Sutter's empire was torn from him. To satisfy all the claims, some of them fraudulent, August had sold off almost all of his father's property. What was left, Brannan wheedled and swindled away, enriching himself as Sacramento City, engorging and enlarging itself on the gold spent in its tent-hotels, restaurants, gambling dens, and shops, sprang to full size overnight.

  When it was all over, even the fort had been sold—for approximately $39,000. In a month even that was gone. All Sutter had left now was the Hock Farm, a piece of property up the Sacramento River he had bought after his arrival in the valley almost a decade earlier. He came to see Esther at the cabin before he packed up the last of his personal belongings and headed north to his homestead.

  It was a brief, sentimental visit. Finally Sutter rose to go; when he took her hands in his, there were tears in his eyes.

  "I thought they would come sooner, the settlers," he said. "Two years ago, these people coming in now would have saved me. I would have sold them land reasonably and watched over them. Now… Now… they pay through, how do you say it? Through the nose."

  "And you?" Esther said sadly. "What of you?"

  "I have the farm, a place to live and raise enough to live on, perhaps even make a little profit. Almost all the debts, the big ones, are paid off. There are a few left, and I suppose someone could try to force me to sell the Hock Farm…"

  "If that ever happens, John, I would feel ashamed if you did not come to me for help. I could never live with myself if you were hounded out of your own home."

  "I do not think it will happen," he said, uncomfortable, impatient to leave. "It will take time, but I believe the crops I raise will earn enough for me to slowly pay off the remaining debts. But I appreciate your offer."

  "You have done much for me, kept my secret."

  "I would under any circumstances…"

  "I know that." She put her arms around him and kissed his cheek. "And I know you would never take advantage of our friendship. So will you promise that you will come to me if you are ever in danger of losing the farm?"

  He coughed and looked away, embarrassed again. "I promise."

  "You have promised before and—"

  "And I wish I had kept to my word. I do not think I could have changed the course of things, but I often wish that I had tried when you urged me to."

  "This time you will keep your promise, then?"

  "I will have no choice." He smiled and gazed off through her window at the mountains. "I will miss this place. And the fort. But I will have more than enough company."

  "What do you mean?"

  "August. For a time he will be with me, helping at the farm." He sighed. "And," he added, smiling again at the irony of it, "I have had another little surprise, another letter from Switzerland. From my wife. She, my daughter, Elise, and another son are on their way here from Europe."

  "Oh, my God."

  "Is it not interesting, the way things work out?" Sutter attempted a smile. "Perhaps it will all be for the best. The woman has always had some love for me. We had to marry, and I was 'beneath her station,' but perhaps, without her mother breathing down our necks, we may be able to make a life together after all these years."

  "I hope so. I want you to be hap
py, more than… just about… anything else."

  When he was gone, she sat for a long while on a boulder by the waterfall, gazing at the tumbling, white water, her thoughts turning for some reason to little John Alexander. I wonder what fate holds in store for me, she thought. And if, when it is all over, when I have accomplished what I have set out to do about Mosby, if Alexander and I might come together after long years. She pictured him working at Larkin's store in Monterey. She saw herself setting supper out for him in a modest little house, then turning and running to him as he walked in the door. The thought held her for a moment, wistful, but then she pushed it out of her mind. She got up, walked slowly for a few seconds, then forced herself into a purposeful stride.

  "There is work to be done," she said out loud to herself. "And it is late afternoon. The men will be finished soon. I had better stop this foolishness and see what the yield has been today. Sooner or later, Mr. Mosby, it will add up to enough to bring you to a reckoning."

  Thirty-five

  There were ten thousand men in the fields by December 1848. Their numbers disquieted Esther. At night she often thought she could actually hear them all breathing. The comfort of being far from civilization—and the things people did to one another—diminished with each passing day.

  Blue Star recovered rapidly as prospectors flooded back into San Francisco that fall to spend their fortunes, or to find jobs after meeting with failure in the placers. The additional manpower brought the volume of the firm's shipping back to normal and then some, the profits almost doubling Esther’s revenue from her claim. Murietta oversaw the gold shipments, and there were no incidents or losses. The hard goods, shipped now to Hyman Kellerman's new wholesale-retail store opposite the embarcadero in Sacramento City, flowed steadily eastward from San Francisco. Esther's share of Kellerman's sales increased her bank account by another 20 percent. The riverbed was yielding less and less gold, but it was of little concern to Esther; she had always known that sooner or later the gold would run out. But now her income from Blue Star, Kellerman, and the half-dozen other mining-town stores that bought her goods was much more than enough to satisfy her needs. And the gold had already provided her with all she required to deal with Mosby.