Showdown at Dead End Canyon

Chapter 16

IT TOOK FOUR DAYS FOR JAY DUPREE AND HIS LITTLE wagon train to reach South Pass. Three of the wagons had precut lumber, windows, doors, and other building items, and the fourth had furnishings.

At the time of Dupree’s arrival there were no permanent structures in the mining camp, so the fact that he had the building material was enough to attract notice. But what really got the attention of the prospectors in the camp were the three beautiful women riding in the surrey with him. Though less than six weeks old, the mining camp, which called itself South Pass City, had nearly a thousand residents. It was now the third largest settlement in Wyoming, but the three women with Jay Dupree made up the entire female population of the settlement.

The men flocked down to the edge of the road and walked alongside the convoy, keeping pace with it and looking on in awe. Libby, Lulu, and Sue smiled, waved, and blew kisses at the men.

The shelters were tents, though many of the tents, including the saloon, had wooden floors.

Jay drove until he reached what he considered a suitable location. There, he stopped, stood, and called back to his drivers, “We’ll unload here!”

“What is all this?” one of the men from the gathered crowd shouted.

Jay held up his hands to call for quiet, then addressed the men who had crowded around.

“Gentlemen, I bring you greetings.” He paused for a second, and with a broad smile continued. “But greetings are not all I bring. I bring you also three of the most beautiful women this side of the Mississippi River. Take a look at them, boys. Am I exaggerating?”

He made a sweeping gesture to draw attention to the three women with him, and the men cheered loudly and lustily.

“As you can clearly see by the beauty of these women, they are not your ordinary soiled doves. And you’ll never find these girls keeping a crib, working in a bar, hustling drinks, or walking the streets. No sir. These ladies are beautiful, talented, intelligent, and gracious. Stand up, ladies.”

The three women stood up, smiled, waved, blew kisses again, and flirted outrageously with the men in the crowd.

“I’m sure you understand that ladies of this quality do not come cheap. They are reserved for those of the most discriminating tastes, those who are knowledgeable enough to understand that something worth having is worth paying for. They are reserved for you. So, there you have it, gentlemen, the three lovely ladies I have brought to help me run the Golden Cage. As proprietor of the Golden Cage, I promise you a place to come to relax, have a few drinks from my specially selected stock of beer and blended whiskey, enjoy a good meal, and spend some very interesting private time with one of these beautiful women.”

“What do you mean by very interesting private time?” someone called from the crowd. “I mean, you said they was intelligent, but I ain’t interested in any of ’em readin’ no poetry to me, or anything like that.”

The other men laughed.

“By private time, I mean just that. You, and the young lady of your choice, will retire to her room. Whatever you do there is strictly between you and the young lady. Now, propriety and common decency prevents me from spelling out exactly what you can do there, but I guarantee you, they won’t be reading poetry.”

Again the men laughed.

“Yeah, but what will we be doin’?” the man asked again.

“Mister, if you are in a private room with a beautiful woman, and you can’t figure out what to do, then perhaps you have no business going in there with her in the first place.”

This time the laughter turned to hoots and howls. “Jimmy, my boy, I tell you what,” one of the men said. “You pay for me, and I’ll invite you to come along and watch and learn.”

That elicited more laughter.

“Of course,” Dupree continued, “none of this can happen until we get our establishment built. I’m wondering if there are any carpenters among you who would volunteer to build it? Those who help will be given ten dollars credit toward drinks, food, or women.”

As Dupree knew there would be, more than a dozen men rushed forward to offer their services.

“Thank you, gentlemen, thank you,” Dupree said. “I think you will find everything that you need to begin construction in the wagons.”

In Green River, nearly every business had closed down for Roy Hilliard’s funeral. Hilliard had been an exceptionally popular man in the town. He was active in the Holy Spirit Episcopal Church, a volunteer in the Green River Militia, and a member of the Green River City Band. On the Fourth of July he had played a trumpet solo at the Green River Independence Day picnic.

Because of his popularity, the entire town turned out for his funeral, and the band, wearing black armbands, led the cortege from the church to the cemetery. Behind the band was the glass-sided hearse, brought by train from the St. Louis Carriage Company just two months earlier. Behind the hearse was a buggy, its wheels laced with black bunting. Cindy and Roy Jr. rode in the buggy. The rest of the town fell in behind and followed it to the cemetery.

Hawke attended the funeral, along with Dorchester and Pamela. In addition to Dorchester, there were several other ranchers present to pay their last respects to their friend.

When the hearse reached the cemetery, it stopped in front of an already opened grave, and the pall bearers—a mix of ranchers and townspeople—moved the black-lacquered coffin from the hearse to the grave, then lowered it by ropes. Cindy and Roy Jr. sat on folding chairs under a canopy. Father Cumbie, the vicar, stepped to the head of the grave and began reading from the Book of Common Prayer.

“‘Man, that is born of a woman, hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up and is cut down, like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay.

“‘In the midst of life we are in death; of whom may we seek for succour, but of thee, O Lord, who for our sins art justly displeased?

“‘Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty, O holy and most merciful Savior, deliver us not into the pains of eternal death.’”

The vicar nodded at Cindy, and she and Roy Jr. stood up, then walked over to the mound of dirt alongside the grave. Cindy picked up some dirt and put it in Roy’s hand, then picked up a handful for herself.

The vicar continued, “‘For as much as it hath pleased Almighty God, in his wise providence, to take out of this world the soul of our deceased brother, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; looking for the general Resurrection in the last day, and the life of the world to come, through our Lord Jesus Christ.’”

Cindy and Roy Jr. dropped dirt on the coffin, then, weeping, she turned away. Dorchester stepped up to her and, putting his arms around her, led her back to her chair.

Later, Dorchester brought her out to Northumbria for a meal and to relax after the funeral.

“I can’t get the sight out of my mind, of Roy lying dead while that horror of a man stood over him with his gun in his hand,” she said. “He was one of the most frightening creatures I’ve even seen.” She made a motion across her face with her finger. “He was disfigured by a terrible scar.”

Hawke, who had been quiet till then, looked up when he heard that. “Ethan Dancer,” he said.

“Ethan Dancer?” Pamela said. “What was he doing out there? He’s working for Bailey McPherson.”

“That’s a good question,” Hawke said.

“What will you do now, Mrs. Hilliard?” Dorchester asked.

“I don’t know. Go back to Pennsylvania, I suppose,” Cindy answered. She shook her head. “I really don’t know what else I could do.”

“What about money?”

“I have enough money for railway tickets back home. Once I get there, I will find something to do, some way to raise Roy Jr.”

“How about your cattle? How many head do you have?”

“We had five hundred head,” Cindy said.

“Why, at thirty dollars a head, that’s fifteen thousand dollars,” Dorchester said. “That should be enough to keep you and your son quite comfortable for a while.”

“I don’t have them anymore. When they took our land, they said I had twenty-hours to move the herd. All I could think of was poor Roy lying there dead. I mean, to come through the hell of Andersonville, only to wind up like this.” Cindy sighed. “Anyway, there was no way I could have moved the herd, even if I had tried. There was just simply no way it could be done.”

Dorchester shook his head in sympathy. “That’s too bad. If you could have gotten the herd here, I would have bought your cattle.”

“Mrs. Hilliard, did they give you a piece of paper when they took your land?” Hawke asked.

“Yes. I wasn’t even going to take it, but they said I would need it if I planned to apply for compensation.”

“I’d like to see it, if you don’t mind?”

“I don’t mind,” Cindy said. She looked through her handbag, took out the paper, and handed it to Hawke. He looked at it for a moment, thanked her and handed it back.

“Mr. Dorchester, could I speak to you in private for a moment?” Hawke asked.

“Yes, of course,” Dorchester said. Then, to Cindy and Pamela, “Would you ladies excuse us?”

Dorchester and Hawke left the parlor and stood out in the hall, next to one of the suits of armor.

“Were you serious about buying the cattle if she had brought you the herd?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t have paid the same price Mr. Hilliard would have gotten at the railhead, but I would have paid a fair price.”

“What if the herd was delivered to you now? Would you still buy it?”

“Well, of course I would,” Dorchester replied. “But how is the herd going to be delivered to me?”

“I’ll bring it to you,” Hawke said.

“What? You mean you would steal the herd?”

Hawke shook his head. “It wouldn’t be stealing,” he said. “The paper they served her said that she had to vacate the land, and she had to leave the fixed property there. But it specifically granted her the right to take all movable property, including her livestock. And there was no time limit.”

“No time limit?”

Hawke shook his head. “It gives the property owner twenty-four hours to vacate the property, but it does not say when the livestock must be moved. Technically, even though the herd is still there, it belongs to her.”

“So you think if you just ride up and ask for the herd, they’ll turn it over to you?”

“I don’t plan to ask for the herd,” Hawke said. “I aim to take it.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Dorchester said. “That’s far too dangerous. I would hate to think of you getting yourself killed trying to do something for me.”

Hawke smiled. “Then let’s say I’m doing it for Mrs. Hilliard. And I don’t plan on getting myself killed.”

Dorchester drummed his fingers on the helmet of the suit of armor for a moment as he studied Hawke.

“Do you really think you can get the herd here?”

“Yes,” Hawke said. “I’ll need a few men to help me, but if you would pay a bonus to anyone who volunteers, I will get the herd to you.”

Dorchester smiled broadly. “Then, by Jove, let’s do it.”

Dorchester returned to the parlor. “Mrs. Hilliard, I am prepared to pay you $12,500 for your herd,” he said.

“What?” Cindy gasped in surprise.

“I don’t want to cheat you. You do understand, don’t you, that you could get more for them if you delivered them to the railhead?”

“Yes, I understand that, but I don’t understand why you would make such an offer. I told you, I no longer have a herd.”

“Not according to Hawke.”

“What?”

“Tell her, Hawke.”

“According to the paper that was served you, Mrs. Hilliard, that herd still belongs to you. It is on confiscated land, but it is still your herd.”

“I thought he said twenty-four hours.”

“Twenty-four hours for you to leave. That has nothing to do with your herd.”

“That may be true,” Cindy said. She sighed. “But true or false, the effect is the same. Thank you for offering to buy my herd, Mr. Dorchester, but I still have the same problem. I have no way of getting them to you.”

“You let me worry about that,” Dorchester said. “If you are agreeable to the deal, we’ll go down to the bank and I’ll write out a draft for the sale and buy them where they stand.”

“I…I…Mr. Dorchester, I don’t know how to thank you,” she stammered.

“Don’t thank just me,” Dorchester said. “Mr. Hawke is the one who discovered the loophole in the contract. And he is the one who is going to deliver your herd to me.”

“Oh!” Pamela gasped, putting her hand to her mouth. “But won’t that be very risky?”

“Life is risky,” Hawke said.

“Father, no. Don’t let him go,” Pamela pleaded.

“My dear, you have already observed this stalwart fellow in action. Do you think for one moment I could stop him from doing anything once he sets his mind to it?”

“No, I suppose not,” Pamela agreed. She looked at Hawke. “But please, Hawke. Be careful.”

Win Woodruff and Eddie Taylor had been cowboys at Northumbria for three years, but four weeks ago they quit their jobs. Buying picks, shovels, pans, and other supplies they might need for prospecting, they went up to the Sweetwater Mountains to try their luck.

So far their luck had been bad.

It was late in the day and the two men were exhausted, having spent the last three days breaking large rocks into smaller rocks, looking for any sign of gold. At the moment, Win was sitting on an old log smoking his pipe, while Eddie was a few yards away, near the campfire he’d made.

“Ha!” Eddie said aloud. “You shoulda seen that, Win.”

“I shoulda seen what?”

“I pissed this here grasshopper clean off a weed.”

“If it’s all the same to you, Eddie, I’d just as soon not watch you take a piss.”

“Well, it was just funny, that’s all,” Eddie said, buttoning his pants as he came back over to the log. “I mean that little grasshopper wrapped his arms and legs around that weed and was hangin’ on for dear life.”

“Grasshoppers don’t have arms.”

“Uh-huh. This’n here did,” Eddie insisted. Getting his own pipe out, he began filling the bowl with tobacco.

“Eddie, you think Mr. Dorchester would take us back?” Win asked.

“I don’t know,” Eddie answered. He looked up from his pipe. “Why? Are you thinkin’ about askin’ ’im to take you back?”

“Yeah, I am,” Win admitted.

Eddie reached down to pick up a twig, then stuck it in the fire and lit it. Using the burning twig, he lit his pipe. “How long—” he started to ask, then took a couple of puffs until the tobacco in the bowl caught. “How long you been thinkin’ about this?”

“I don’t know. At least for a week now.”

“You don’t say.”

“Come on, Eddie. You can’t tell me you ain’t thought of it a few times your ownself,” Win said.

Eddie sighed. “Yeah,” he agreed. “I admit that I have thought of it.”

“Well, what do you think? Do you think he’ll take us back?”

“I don’t know. But if I was a bettin’man, I’d say I reckon he probably would. He’s a good man, even if he does talk funny.”

“Well, I’ll tell you the truth, I’m about ready to go back. I don’t think there’s any gold at all up here.”

“Well, come on, Win, you know there has to be some gold, somewhere,” Eddie said. “Hell, somebody found gold else there wouldn’t be so many folks up here.”

“Can you tell me one person who has found gold?”

“Luke Rawlings has found gold.”

“I mean somebody other than Luke Rawlings and Percy Sheridan. And they don’t count, ’cause they’re the ones that found it in the first place.”

“I know,” Eddie said. “But they keep finding it regular. Sheridan come out the other day with a nugget that was as big as a walnut.”

“Yeah, I know people say that, but—”

“I seen it, Win,” Eddie said. “I mean, I seen that nugget with my own eyes.”

“If they’re findin’ all that gold, how come they ain’t up here all the time?” Win asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I just mean that most of the time they’re gone,” Win said. “Don’t that strike you as peculiar?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just never thought about it,” Eddie said.

“So, you want to stay up here and keep looking, or what?” Win asked.

Eddie looked over at the pile of rubble that represented the rocks they had broken up in the last week.

“We sure ain’t been broke out with luck, have we?” Eddie asked.

“So far we’ve ’bout broke our backs and we ain’t come up with so much as one ounce,” Win said, continuing to make his case. “We’re runnin’ low on food. Fact is, we ain’t got nothin’ left now but some jerky and a little coffee. And what are we going to do come winter if we ain’t found nothin’? You may recall, Mr. Dorchester kept us on all last winter, even though there wasn’t that much work to do. We had three hots and a cot. This tent’s okay for the summer. But it won’t do much for keepin’ us warm in the winter.”

“Yeah,” Eddie finally said. “Yeah, you’re right. As far as I’m concerned, we’re just wastin’ our time here. I say we go back and see if we can get our old jobs back.”

“Good. I was hopin’ you would come around to my way of thinkin’. Hey, how much money have we got left?”

“Fourteen dollars,” Eddie answered. “Why?”

“Fourteen dollars is enough,” he said. “What do you say that, before we go back and start punchin’ cows again, we go down here to the Golden Cage and have us a little fun?”

“Doin’ what?”

“Doin’ what?” Win laughed. “I tell you what, don’t worry about it. I’m willin’ to bet you’ll figure out what to do when we get there.”

The Golden Cage had been put up in only six days, and it was clearly the most impressive establishment in South Pass City. That was the case even though a couple other wooden structures were now being erected. The Golden Cage was two stories high, with a second-story balcony that ran all the way across the front of the building. Below the balcony, at street level, was a fine wooden porch with a swing and a couple of rocking chairs.

For the first week after it was built, business was so good that Dupree thought he was going to have to bring in some more girls. But for the last couple of weeks business had been getting slower and slower.

At first Dupree wasn’t sure why business was so bad. Then, as he began questioning the girls, he learned that the men were frustrated because they weren’t finding any gold.

“None of them are?” Dupree asked.

“None that I’ve had anything to do with,” Libby answered.

The other two girls gave the same response. So far, not one of them had heard a success story.

“Maybe they’re just keeping quiet about it,” Dupree suggested.

“No, it isn’t that,” Libby replied. “Listen, the one thing men like to do more than anything else when they are with a woman is brag. If any of them had found gold, we would have heard about it.”

Dupree smiled. “You mean when a man is with one of you girls, he would rather brag than do anything else?”

It was a teasing comment, and the three girls laughed at its implication.

“All right,” Libby said. “Bragging is the second thing he wants to do.”

“Lookie here,” Lulu said, looking through the front window. “We’ve got a couple of customers.”

“In the middle of the day?” Dupree said. “That’s odd.”

“Get on out there and meet them, Jay,” Libby said, pushing him. “We can’t afford to lose them. As it stands now, we aren’t doing enough business to keep the doors open.”

“All right, all right, I’m going,” Dupree said, stepping out onto the front porch. He smiled at the two men as they approached. He was smoking a cigar, and as he greeted them, he tapped off the ash at the end.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen. My name is Jay Dupree, and on behalf of myself and the young ladies of the Golden Cage, I welcome you.”

“My name’s Win Woodruff, this here is Eddie Taylor.”

“This is our first time here,” Eddie said.

“I see. And you are gold miners, are you?” Dupree asked.

“Ha,” Eddie said. “I reckon you could say that, but we ain’t been doin’ a whole lot of what you would call gold minin’ so far.”

“Fact is, we ain’t done no gold minin’ at all,” Win added. “Mostly what we been doin’ is huntin’.”

“But no findin’,” Eddie said.

“Well, then it sounds to me like you two gentlemen need some relaxation,” Dupree suggested. “Come on in and get acquainted with the girls. Maybe it will bring you a change of luck.”

Inside, a dozen or so chairs and sofas were scattered about, along with several potted plants, mirrors on the walls, and a staircase rising to the second floor. Three girls were sitting in the parlor, but there were no customers anywhere to be seen.

Two of the girls got up and walked over to greet them.

“My name is Lulu,” the one who stepped up to Eddie said.

“And I’m Sue. What are your names?”

“I’m Eddie, he’s Win,” Eddie said. He looked around. “Where at’s all the men?”

“Oh, honey, don’t tell me you like men better than you do women,” Lulu asked, and she and Sue laughed.

“What?” Eddie replied in an almost explosive reaction. “Hell no! What do you mean, do I like men better than women? Why would you ask me such a thing?”

Win laughed. “Don’t get in such a huff. They was just teasin’ you, that’s all.” Then, to the girls, he explained Eddie’s question. “What he means is, how come you ain’t got no customers?”

“Because they’re all working their claims,” Lulu replied. “We normally don’t get anyone in the middle of the day. That means you fellas have us all to yourself.”

“Well now,” Win said with a big satisfied smile. “Ain’t we the lucky ones?”

“Listen, you got a place to take a bath in this here whorehouse?” Eddie asked, rubbing the stubble on his chin. “It’s been a while since I’ve had me a proper bath.”

“Oooeee, tell me about it,” Lulu said, pinching her nose and laughing. “Come on, I’ll give you a bath.”

“You’ll give me a bath?” Eddie replied. “Well, I don’t know about that.”

“What do you mean you don’t know about that?” Win asked. “Are you crazy?”

“Well, come on, Win, I ain’t had nobody give me a bath since my mama done it when I was real young.”

“I said you would figure out what to do when you got here,” Win said, shaking his head. “I can see now that I was wrong.”

“You mean he’s a virgin?” Lulu asked Win.

Win nodded. “He’s a virgin, all right, and about as green as they come.”

“Well, then, I’ll just have to teach him, won’t I?” Lulu said in a husky voice. “And we’ll start with the bath. Honey, I’ll just bet you that your mama never gave you a bath like the one I’m going to give you.”

“Why? What’s different about it? A bath is a bath, ain’t it?”

“Jesus, Eddie, you are one dumb turd, do you know that?” Win asked in exasperation.

“Shh, don’t scold him. You have to be patient with virgins,” Lulu said, chuckling. Then, to Eddie, she said, “Here’s something your mama never did. I’ll be naked while I’m giving you this bath.”

“Oh,” Eddie replied. Then, finally understanding the implications of what she’d just said, he smiled broadly. “Oh!”

“Honey, you could use a bath too, you know,” Sue said to Win.

“That’s fine with me,” Win replied. “As long as I don’t have to share a tub with Eddie.”

The girls laughed as they led the two men away.