Alex also had trouble sleeping. His mind kept going over the events of this fateful day. I killed a man tonight for raping the girl I love. Hour after hour, he thought about what he could have done to prevent Cindy from being raped. If only I had waited for Cindy to go with me to get the gold. Could this possibly be one of the bad things Talking Drum said would happen if we angered the spirits of the people who had lived in the city of gold? Was it their voices I heard when I was in the cave getting the gold block? They sure sounded angry. . . . Nah. That was my imagination. We have the gold, and our parents need it to buy their land. Cindy and I need the gold to make Thunder Canyon ours; we’ll lose it if we don’t buy it. I wonder how long it will take Cindy to recover from her terrible experience. I need her so badly. Is it wrong to want her?
* * *
Alex was up with the first glimmer of light. He had a lot of things to do if he were going to turn the gold block into coins while their parents were gone. They’ll be going to town tomorrow, he thought, and I still have to make a clay mold that will cast a hundred duplications of the gold coin each time we pour; a smaller mold will take too long. Also, the narrow passageway in the dry cave has to be opened so that our story about finding the coins will be believable.
Cindy awoke early to help her mother prepare for the trip and stayed close to her all day. She could have helped Alex but thought it best if he worked alone. He could do everything that needed to be done.
Alex had a successful day, but he was too tired to rendezvous with Cindy—or was he afraid to be alone with her? All he could think about was how much he loved her and how much he blamed himself for not protecting her. he had to hurry to round up the horses and hitch them to the wagon.
* * *
Since the trip to Timberland would take four hours each way, their parents would be gone all day. Alex put two extra horses and two pack mules in the corral. They needed both the horses and the mules to carry the gold to his father’s blacksmith shop. Each step had to work precisely. They had to mold the coins, transport them to the dry cave, and bury them where no one had ever looked before.
As soon as their parents’ wagon disappeared around a turn in the road, they dashed to the corral, saddled the horses, and started for the base of the cliff. When they passed the spot where Cindy had been raped, they exchanged glances and continued on.
The gold slices were too heavy for Cindy to load, so Alex did the loading while Cindy helped with the mules. It took only an hour to get the gold to the blacksmith shop, but before they could mold the gold into coins, they had to shape the clay and remove the design of the mountain. Alex had to fire the clay to make the molds strong enough to receive the pour. The iron kettle was large, so it accommodated all of the gold. With a ladle, they poured mold after mold until they had 1,023 coins. Then they went back to their secret place and buried the mold along with a hundred coins under the large rock where they met each evening. Alex withheld three coins to give to the elders of the Ute tribe, and then withheld twenty more to show to their parents.
They loaded nine hundred coins on the mules and led them to the dry cave, then unloaded the coins and buried them. They spent the rest of the day making sure they had left no evidence. In the meantime, they discussed what they would tell their parents so that their stories would jibe.
* * *
When their parents returned, Cindy and Alex ran to them, each carrying ten gold coins to show what they had found.
“Oh my God!” Marian exclaimed. “Where did you find these?”
“There are more in the cave,” Cindy said, “but this is all we brought home.”
“More? How many more?” Marian asked, unable to take her eyes off the coins.
“We don’t know,” Alex replied. “They’re buried in loose dirt in the back of the cave.”
“Well, let’s go see,” Marl said, jumping off the wagon.
“Don’t you think we should unload the supplies and tend the horses first?” Vard asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Marl replied sheepishly. “The news of finding more gold coins was overwhelming. I completely forgot about the supplies.”
“All of us are excited,” Eva said in defense of Marl. “I want to see how much gold is in the cave, too. Do you realize what this means? We can buy our land.”
“Let’s hurry and unload the supplies so we can turn the horses loose in the pasture,” Marian said. “Then Alex and Cindy can show us where they found these coins. They’re beautiful. They’re so bright, they look freshly minted.”
Cindy and Alex exchanged glances and smiled. They were hoping no one would suspect that the coins actually had just been minted.
They hurriedly unloaded the supplies, tended the horses, and then they all went to the cave.
“I see you widened the opening to the back chambers of the cave,” Vard noted. “What made you think there would be more coins buried farther back?”
Alex hated to deceive his father, but circumstances made it necessary. “These coins are of unknown origin, and we had no way of knowing the size of the people who buried them, so I thought it might be worth looking farther back. My hunch proved right. Notice how musty the cave smells. No one has been in here for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years.”
“Where did you find these coins?” Vard asked, looking around in the dim light. “I’m amazed at their size. They must be nearly three inches in diameter and weigh more than a pound.”
“Come, I’ll show you,” Cindy said. When they got to the back of the cave, Cindy uncovered another coin with her foot.
“The ones I found were about here,” Alex said, pointing to the floor of the cave near where he was standing. They all started digging in the loose dirt, and they each found coins. It was like a wild, crazy Easter egg hunt. They found more gold than they could carry. It was already dark in the cave and it was getting dark outside. They hadn’t brought lanterns, so they had to stop digging.
“What are we going to do with all these coins?” Marl asked. “We can’t leave them here, and they’re too heavy to carry, so someone is going to have to get the wagon, but we’ve already unhooked the horses.”
“If you’ll wait,” Alex said, “I’ll go get the wagon and a couple of lanterns.”
By the time Alex got back, Cindy and their parents had the coins stacked and ready to load. They had nine stacks, with one hundred coins in each stack.
As usual, Marl was nervous. “Someone will have to stay here to guard the gold to prevent others from finding it.”
“We stirred that dirt pretty thoroughly,” Cindy said. “I think we found everything that was buried there.” Cindy’s remark told Alex that she had counted the coins.
“This gold has been buried for maybe thousands of years with no one finding it,” Vard interjected, “so I don’t think anyone will be looking for it tonight.”
“I never thought about it like that,” Marl chuckled and reluctantly agreed to take only what they had. On the way home, they all chattered with excitement about how they would spend their newfound wealth. They counted the coins and stacked them on a bench in the Vanor dining room.
“Eva and I will keep half of the coins here,” Vard suggested. “Marl, you and Marian can take the other half to your place.”
“How much do you think each coin is worth?” Marian asked.
“I saw a double eagle a long time ago,” Eva said. “It weighed only an ounce, and it was worth fifty dollars. These coins must weigh at least a pound each—that would make each coin worth at least eight hundred dollars.”
“I’m getting hungry,” Vard said. “Let’s have supper and decide what to do with the gold while we eat.”
It was late, and they all had had a big day, so they dug into their food. Vard, being the practical thinker, was the one everyone listened to in situations like this.
“No one will suspect that we have gold,” Vard said, “so no one will be looking for gold unless we try to spend it, but the minute someone knows that we have gold, everyo
ne will want to know where we got it.”
“There’s no established value for coins like these, so we couldn’t use them for money anyway, and the closest market for gold bullion is in St. Louis,” Marian commented.
“I’ve heard that there’s a gold buyer in Denver,” Alex joined in.
“The man in Denver won’t pay as much as the man in St. Louis would,” Marian countered.
“Yeah, but we can be in Denver and back in a few days,” Vard responded, “and it would take months to get to St. Louis and back. We can buy the land at the land office right here in Timberland.”
“Land in these parts is laid out in sections, and each section contains six hundred and forty acres. We’ll have to buy several sections, but we’ve got enough gold to do it. We’ve got to be sure to define the sections we want before we buy them,”
Alex added. “The government house in Timberland has charts showing the price and location of each section. I’ll ride into town first thing in the morning and get copies.”
“May I go with you, Alex?” Cindy piped up, and then looked at her mother for approval.
“If you start early, you can be back by midday,” Marian said with a nod.
“I’ll be ready at sunrise,” Alex said, smiling at Cindy.
“Take your half of the gold to your house,” Vard reminded Marl.
Vard helped Marl, Marian, and Cindy load their coins in the wagon and then unload them in their front room. They still had to decide where to stash them.
“I’m going to bed,” Cindy said over her shoulder as she hurried away to bathe. “I want to be ready to go to Timberland at sunup.”
Chapter 6
The morning was chilly, and the sun rose feebly. When Alex and Cindy mounted their horses, their saddles were cold, and Cindy was glad she was wearing heavy pants. Her face showed her discomfort, and Alex laughed. He, too, was sitting on a cold saddle.
As Alex and Cindy rode along, talking hopefully of the change that finding gold would bring to their lives, they saw a couple of Bar H riders approaching. Alex pushed the tail of his jacket aside, clearing the grip of his gun, hoping this would be a friendly meeting.
As men usually do, they looked at Cindy first, and their gaze was admiring. Cindy acknowledged with a smile and a nod. When they addressed Alex, they called him Mister, showing the respect he had earned in front of their bunkhouse a couple of nights ago.
The taller of the two said, “Mr. Vanor, after you and your father rode away, we buried the results of your defending yourself, and no one shed a tear. In fact, everyone was smiling. We all shared a drink and thanked God that you were fast with your gun.” Then the tall cowboy tipped his hat and looked curiously at them. “Why are you riding into town so early?”
“Our folks forgot to get a couple of things when they bought supplies yesterday, and we’re going in to pick them up,” Alex said, hoping his deception would be believed.
“Well, you’d better be alert. A couple of strangers rode into Timberland last night wearing their guns tied down and everybody was talking about your fast draw. I think those strangers are looking to prove themselves as gunfighters.”
“Thanks for letting us know about the strangers,” Alex answered. “We’ll try to avoid them.”
“The way I’ve got it figured,” the other rider said, “if you avoid them, they’ll be the lucky ones. That draw you made the other night was the fastest any of us had ever seen, and your shot landed dead center.”
The men doffed their hats to Cindy, and as they rode away, the tall one called back over his shoulder, “Stop by the Bar H anytime; you’re always welcome.”
“Thanks,” Alex answered.
“Do you think there’ll be trouble?” Cindy asked Alex as they rode on. “There’s no law in Timberland.”
“Nah, we’ll go straight to the courthouse and get our job done, and then we’ll have something to eat at the restaurant. Men, like the ones they’re talking about, hang out in saloons. If we meet them on the street, we’ll ignore them.”
* * *
The land office had been open for about an hour when they walked in. After introducing themselves to the clerk, they asked if they could look at the charts. A short man in a white shirt and green suspenders, with eyeglasses pulled down on his nose, led them to a table.
“What parcels are you interested in?” he asked.
“We want to see the land encompassing the big canyon north of here, the one we call Thunder Canyon, and the sections both east and west of it. In addition, we’d like to know the asking price,” Alex answered.
“You kids named that canyon, didn’t you? Yours is the first request we’ve had for that land. The canyon is so remote, no one wants it, so it’s priced cheap.”
Cindy and Alex examined the charts and asked for a scroll of paper. Alex drew a map indicating the section numbers, and the prices of the land they or their parents might be interested in. They even got information on the land grazed by the Bar H cattle. Alex folded the paper and placed it in his jacket. He thanked the little bespectacled man for his help. As they were leaving, a heavyset man in a business suit walked out of the land office and stopped them.
“My name is Patterson,” he said. “Mr. Pelter told me that you were looking at land charts. I’m in the business of selling land. May I be of assistance?”
“Is Mr. Pelter your employee?” Alex asked as he examined Patterson’s demeanor, instantly aware of how important it was to keep their gold find secret.
“No, but I give him a referral fee. Buying land can be complicated, and I know how to do it. I can make buying land easier and save you money at the same time. I received a letter this morning informing me that the owner of the Bar H Ranch wants to sell. Would you be interested in buying the Bar H?”
“We might, but you’d have to talk to our fathers. Can we depend on you to keep our business interests secret?”
“Yes, of course. I wouldn’t be in business very long if you couldn’t.”
Alex shook Patterson’s hand and said, “Thank you, Mr. Patterson, we’ll meet again.” As they walked out onto the street,
Alex said, “Cindy, let’s get something to eat. It’s only a short walk to the restaurant. We can lead our horses.”
As they were tying the horses to the hitching rail, a tall, thin man and a short, squat man walked toward them. Their pistols hung low in well-worn holsters. They were dirty and unkempt, tobacco juice dripped from the stubbles of whiskers on their chins.
“Are you Alex Vanor?” the tall one asked with a snicker.
“Yes, my name is Alex Vanor.”
“Kid, you’re too young to be carrying a gun. You might hurt yourself,” the short, stubby one sneered.
“Thanks for your concern. I’ll try not to shoot myself in the foot,” Alex joked as he and Cindy turned to go into the restaurant.
Men gathered to witness what they thought would be a gunfight.
“Why bother with a kid like that?” the taller of the two gunmen said. “He can’t possibly be as good as people say.”
A rider from the Bar H, standing on the boardwalk in front of the restaurant, heard his remark and said, “We buried the last two men who thought that.”
Cindy knew Alex wouldn’t walk away from trouble, and she didn’t like the way this was turning out, so she took Alex by the elbow. “I’m not hungry, Alex, let’s go home.”
“Yeah, I lost my appetite, too,” Alex agreed.
As they rode away, the shorter gunman shouted, “Get off that horse, kid, and let’s see how good you really are!”
Neither Alex nor Cindy looked back.
“You don’t need to prove anything,” Cindy said. “Having a shoot-out with them benefits neither you nor them. Everyone in town knows you’re no coward.”
* * *
When they got home, their parents were waiting lunch for them. After they ate, they spread the drawings on the table, and everyone gathered to look.
“Thunder Canyon runs righ
t along the section line between our two properties,” Alex pointed out. “If we buy both sections, our land will be bordered by Indian land to the north and Bar H land to the east and south. The land to the west is nothing but wild mountain land. A land salesman in Timberland said he has obtained rights to sell the Bar H. He saw Cindy and me looking at the land charts and asked if we’d be interested in buying the Bar H.” Looking at his father, Alex said, “We told him that he would have to talk to you. Cindy and I would like to own Thunder Canyon and the land on either side of it so that we can retain exclusive rights to the waterfall and the land above it.”
“That’s a good idea,” Marl said. “That way we’ll have water rights to the stream.”
“The land is cheap because it’s so remote and inaccessible,” Cindy added.
“Buying the Bar H would be a good investment,” Vard commented. “That would save us the trouble and expense of fencing our land. We could keep the present foreman and his cowhands, so no one would lose their jobs. The only thing that would change is who pays them.”
Legend of the Lost Page 6
