by F. M. Parker
He rolled to his knees, shook his head to clear it as he reached inside his jacket for his pistol. Where was his assailant? Who was he? He glimpsed a huge figure springing through the broken window. A heavy-booted foot smashed into his ribs. Errin was lifted off the floor by the impact and sent rolling, his pistol flying from his hand.
“I’m going to beat you to a bloody corpse,” Mattoon shouted down at Errin.
Errin scrambled away on hands and knees, feeling the shards of glass from the broken window puncture his flesh in a score of places. He jumped to his feet and raised his clenched fist to protect himself.
Errin saw, through the window, Levi locked in combat with a man who must be Dokken. But he couldn’t help Levi now. Mattoon was advancing swiftly upon him. How in hell had the man escaped from Scom Lip’s ship?
Mattoon lunged, his big body bearing down on Errin. He expected the smaller man to retreat. To his surprise, Errin leapt to meet him. Each lashed out with his fist.
Errin’s fist struck Mattoon square in the chest. The man’s body felt as solid as a tree trunk. Errin had ducked as he struck and Mattoon’s swinging fist was slightly high and hit him a glancing blow on the top of the head.
Errin came out of his crouch and drove his right hand into Mattoon’s stomach. His left fist landed a hard blow to the man’s ribs.
Mattoon was driven back a step by Errin’s powerful wallops. Then he came back and planted his feet.
Errin and Mattoon, blocking each other’s blows as best they could, stood toe to toe slugging each other in the body and face with a flurry of blows. They grunted and sucked air between their teeth. Their flailing fists landed with sodden thuds.
Never had Errin fought a man with such hard strength, so tough. Mattoon gave no ground at all. His large head was turtled down between his shoulders and the merciless eyes glaring out at Errin showed not one sign any blow caused him pain.
Errin stopped trying to fend off Mattoon’s blows and launched an all-out assault on the man by pounding him savagely with both fists. If he could fend off the man for a moment, perhaps he could find his pistol. Mattoon wavered at Errin’s onslaught, then steadied and lashed back fiercely swatting Errin with a left and right. The blows landed on Errin’s face and a black film fell over his eyes, and stars whirled and exploded in the blackness. He fell to his knees, and caught himself there with his hands in the broken glass on the floor. Mattoon was too strong for him.
Mattoon chortled with a guttural, animal sound. “You’re beat, Scanlan,” he said. “Now I’m going to skin you alive.” He jerked a knife from a sheath on his belt.
Errin felt the shards of glass jabbing into the palms of his hands. Was there a weapon here? He looked down, saw a narrow, jagged piece of windowpane nearly a foot long and snatched it up. He scrambled to his feet, held the piece of glass out in front of him, and waited for Mattoon’s attack with the knife.
Mattoon smiled and scornfully shook his head at Errin’s fragile weapon. Then he struck, a flick of his arm. The steel blade of his knife hit the glass and half of it broke away and fell to the floor.
Errin firmly gripped the slender, stiletto-like sliver of glass left to him. He felt it cutting into his flesh. But that was of no consequence now. Mattoon’s movement had shifted his knife a few inches to the side and exposed a small opening. Errin, thrusting his pointed piece of glass out in front of him, sprang in past Mattoon’s knife.
As Errin went by the blade, Mattoon slashed sideways and ripped a deep wound across Errin’s ribs. Errin felt the searing weight of the knife, but continued on. He must strike now or die, for there would be no second chance at his opponent.
He was now within striking distance. He stabbed out full arm’s length and rammed the fragile stiletto of glass into Mattoon’s throat.
Immediately Errin leapt backward. Mattoon grabbed for him as he retreated, but Errin spun and tore loose from the bigger man. Mattoon followed.
Mattoon took one step and then stopped frozen in place. A stream of blood spurted from the punctured jugular in his neck. In the lamplight, the blood glistened like a jet of quicksilver. He put out his hand and caught some of the arcing stream. He looked at the blood in a disbelieving manner.
“You’re a dead man, Mattoon, for your jugular’s cut” Errin said, in a matter-of-fact voice.
For a few seconds, Mattoon continued to stare at his hand, turning it first one way and then another and looking at the blood in the lamplight. Then he reached up and shoved his finger into the hole in his neck. But the wound was wider than his finger, and the heart pumping wildly, sent the blood spraying out around the finger.
“Don’t die too quickly,” Errin said.
Mattoon, straining with the effort, focused on Errin. His eyes glittered with fear. He tried to speak, but his voice came garbled through the blood gurgling in his throat. He dropped his knife and reached for the pistol on his belt.
Errin moved swiftly forward and wrenched the weapon from the man’s feeble grasp. “You should’ve used that the very first thing. Now it’s too late.”
Mattoon fell back against the wall. He braced himself to keep from falling and fastened his eyes on Errin. His hand dropped from the wound in his throat. The jet of blood came weakly now. He slid down to sit on the floor. Slowly his large head sank to rest on his chest.
Errin turned hurriedly to go to the aid of Levi. To his surprise, Levi, Scom Lip and Ke were entering the undertaker’s parlor by the door. Levi was safe. Now, suddenly, with the easing of tension, Errin could feel the wound on his ribs and the deep cut on the palm of his hand received from driving the glass into Mattoon’s throat.
“Mr. Scanlan, I ...” Scom Lip started to speak.
Errin was within a step of the tong chieftain and his lieutenant. He clenched his fists tightly and hit Ke savagely in the face. The man crashed backward to the floor unconscious.
Errin swung at Scom Lip. The man jumped away. Errin missed, but moved swiftly onward. He swung again and caught the Chinaman on the side of the head with his fist.
Scom Lip staggered under the blow. He retreated, his hand darting inside his clothing and coming out gripping a pistol.
“I don’t want to shoot you,” Scom Lip growled as he felt his face. “But if you try to hit me again .. .” He pointed his pistol threateningly.
“You should’ve warned us that Mattoon and Dokken had escaped.” Errin raged at the tong leader. “Levi and I could’ve been killed.”
“Captain Chou came at once after docking and told me they had jumped ship. This was only a short time ago. I didn’t know if they were able to swim to shore or were drowned. Still Ke and I began searching for you to tell you to be on guard. We did arrive in time to help Levi slay Dokken.”
“Errin, they probably saved my life,” Levi said. “Dokken was getting the best of me.”
“Mattoon and Dokken are dead, isn’t that what you wanted?” Scom Lip said.
Errin measured the Chinaman, poised on the balls of his feet and prepared to fight him. You are a cunning fellow and I don’t want you as my enemy, he thought. “Since you may have saved Levi’s life, we aren’t enemies,” he said aloud to Scom Lip.
Scom Lip steadily watched Errin as if to be certain he meant what he said. Then he spoke as he re-holstered his pistol. “Help me get Ke to his feet for we mustn’t be found here when the police come. I don’t want them to ever know we helped to kill white men.”
“We won’t mention you,” Errin said. “I’m sure George Louden will have found out what a bastard Mattoon is by now. He’ll believe our story that Mattoon and Dokken tried to kill us and we only defended ourselves.”
* * *
Levi stood on the end of the pier and looked across San Francisco Bay toward the Golden Gate. The big clipper ship had caught the wind and was racing for the open sea. Though miles away, the ship’s tall sails were visible, a narrow pyramid of white against the blue morning sky. The ship carried Chun away from him.
He wiped at his tea
rs as the ship vanished behind the headland. The loss of Chun tore at his heart. With the memory of her beautiful face sharp in his mind, he remained staring at the empty bay. He heard her sad, gentle voice repeating the words that they had never made love.
Trying to subdue his sorrow, he turned and walked gloomily along the pier. He raised his eyes and looked at the waterfront and the warehouses there and higher still up at the main part of San Francisco where the white houses stair-stepped up the sand hills. It was now a lonely city.
He crossed the quay and climbed the sloping street toward the company office. There was only work for him now. The city was rich, and Errin and he could become wealthy here, if they remained strong.
Two horses were tied in front of the office. One was his and a second was strange to him. Errin came out of the office as Levi drew close.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” Errin said.
“What’s the horses for?” Levi asked.
“I’m riding over the mountain to the Beremendes rancho.
I’m going to ask Celeste to marry me. If she’ll have me, I want you to stand up with me at the ceremony. Will you do that?” Levi’s face brightened. “Nothing would please me more. One of us can’t get married without the other being best man.” “Then climb on that horse and let’s get on our way.”
Author’s Note
The American Civil War was the bloodiest war ever fought by the United States. As men were killed, wounded or deserted, new recruits were fed into the ranks. During the four years of the war, two million and eight hundred thousand soldiers were drawn into the fighting on the Union side. Three hundred and sixty thousand died, three-fifths from disease. During the same period, one million one hundred thousand soldiers passed through the ranks of the Confederate Army. Two hundred and sixty thousand died, two-thirds from disease. The Battle of Gaine‘s Mill was the high point of the Seven Days’ Peninsular Campaign wherein the Union Army under the command of General McClellan attempted to capture Richmond, the capitol of the Confederate South. General Lee savagely counterattacked and began to repel the Union forces. On the third day, the main Union force holding firm against Lee was General Porter’s Army. His position was strong with lines of infantry ranged across a long slope, artillery massed on a plateau behind, and the large Boatswain’s Swamp forming a water-filled moat between him and the Rebels. Lee directed General A. H. Hill to break through Porter’s defense. Hill ordered a charge across Boatswain’s Swamp. It failed with men dying by the hundreds.
The United States invaded Mexico in 1846, and captured Mexico City, the capitol, in 1847. Under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848, the Mexican government surrendered claim to New Mexico and California and all the vast wilderness from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, an area larger than France and Germany combined. The treaty bound the U.S. to honor all valid Spanish and Mexican Land Grants on the ceded land. In 1851 the Land Grant Commission was established by the American Government to examine documents and hear testimony to determine the validity of the grants. California contained the largest number of grants, therefore the commission was set up in San Francisco. Eight hundred and thirteen grants, covering thirteen million acres, some of the most valuable land in California, were subject to examination and a ruling by the Land Grant Commission. Of this huge number of acres, nine million acres were eventually confirmed by the Commission. The average length of confirmation was seventeen years. Some cases were fought in the courts for up to thirty years.
Australia was colonized by English convicts. During the eighty years from 1788 to 1868, eight hundred and twenty-five ships transported 160,000 convicted criminals to that island-continent prison. Sentences were either seven years, fourteen years, or life. Male convicts outnumbered women six to one. Children convicts numbered a few thousand. The youngest male transported was nine years old. The youngest female was thirteen. Each had been sentenced to seven years for stealing minor objects. Life was hell for the convicts, male or female. They worked from daylight to dark and were whipped unmercifully with the cat-o’-nine-tails for the smallest offense. The worst hell of all was under the sadistic government officials on Van Diemen’s Land and Norfolk Island.
The Seekers
Copyright © F. M. Parker, 1998 and 2011
F. M. Parker has asserted his rights in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
This digital edition published in 2011 by Fearl M. Parker
ISBN 978-1-908400-91-8
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
About the Author
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Author’s Note
Copyright
