She started in alarm when she spotted coming down the aisle an unshaven, mean-looking man whose wrists were clamped in irons.
Kate tensed, then released her held breath when a skinny, sandy-haired fellow shoved the bearded character down into a seat across the aisle and two rows up. He then sat down beside him.
The man in irons looked back over his shoulder. His gap-toothed, leering grin sent a chill of distaste darting up her spine. Quickly, she turned her head and looked out the porthole.
“Would you mind if I sit beside you, miss?” a friendly voice asked. Kate looked up and saw a white-haired, well-dressed gentleman with a craggy, but kindly face smiling down at her. “Allow me to introduce myself,” the elderly gentleman said, thrusting out his hand. “I’m Dr. Milton Ledet and I’m on my way up to Fortune, just as you are.”
The steamer began to slowly move away from the levee as Kate nodded. “Kate VanNam, Dr. Ledet,” she replied, shaking the offered hand. “Yes, by all means, please join me.”
“Thank you, child.” The elderly physician took the seat beside her. “I so enjoy having a bit of company on long journeys, don’t you?” Not waiting for an answer, he added, “Have I seen you in Fortune before, Miss VanNam? Or is it Mrs. VanNam?”
“Miss. And no, you have not,” she replied. “I’ve never been there.”
The doctor’s white eyebrows lifted. “Then I suppose you live in San Francisco and you’re going up to visit a…?”
“No, sir. I am moving to Fortune from Boston, Massachusetts. I intend to make Fortune my new home.”
“Oh, my dear Miss VanNam,” Doc Ledet exclaimed impulsively, “I’m afraid you’ll find Fortune quite different from the charming old city of Boston.”
“I am well aware of that, Doctor,” she said with conviction. “No doubt there will be a degree of adjustment, but I don’t mind. The truth is I look forward to the challenges ahead.”
Dr. Ledet was instantly curious. Why would this beautiful young woman move to a mountain mining community she had never seen before? Not for a minute did the doctor entertain the possibility that she might be aiming to join the ranks of numerous “ladies of the evening” servicing the lonely miners. There was an innate dignity about her that spoke of good breeding and background. But why was this beautiful, golden-haired girl moving to Fortune, where the males outnumbered the females fifty to one?
Dr. Ledet longed to question her, but was wise enough to wait until she was ready to tell him.
“You probably know my reason for moving to Fortune,” Kate said, as though she’d read his mind.
“Let me guess,” he said, and rubbed his chin. “You have a sweetheart that came out to the goldfields, got settled in, sent for you and now you’re joining him to get married?”
“Heavens, no!” She waved a hand in the air as though it was a preposterous idea. Proudly, she stated, “I have inherited a gold mine.”
“You don’t say,” he replied. “Why, that’s wonderful! Is the mine…?”
“The Cavalry Blue,” Kate interrupted. “You may have heard of it?”
The physician exhaled heavily. “The Cavalry Blue,” he repeated, his brows knitted. “Arielle Colfax’s old diggings.”
“Yes, my dear great-aunt. You knew her?”
“Yes, I did. I knew Arielle, albeit briefly, and her husband, Benjamin. He was a geologist who came out West with Freemont.” Dr. Ledet shook his head. “Miss VanNam, I hate to tell you this, but the Cavalry Blue has been boarded up for years. Ever since your aunt left Fortune.” He paused, then as gently as possible said, “My dear, there’s never been a single ounce of gold brought out of that mine.”
Kate smiled, undeterred. “That’s excellent, Dr. Ledet.”
“It is?”
“Why, yes. Obviously all the gold is still inside, just waiting for me to bring it out.”
Charmed by her childlike exuberance, the elderly doctor had no wish to burst her bubble. That would happen soon enough. He said, “Could well be, child. Could well be.”
Kate kept glancing out at the changing scenery. The banks bordering the ever narrowing river had become lofty cliffs forested with tall, fragrant pines. She was enchanted.
And all the while she conversed with her congenial companion. Kate learned that the doctor was a childless widower who had left his San Francisco practice after Mary, his cherished wife of thirty-three years, contracted scarlet fever from one of his patients. She had died three days later.
Dr. Ledet had been in Fortune for the past six years, and Kate had plenty of questions about the community she planned to call home. He had all the answers and was glad to share them. Enjoying his captive audience, Milton Ledet regaled Kate with tales of the wild and woolly town where he practiced medicine. He knew just about everyone who lived in Fortune and had a story to tell about most of them.
Kate was fascinated by the colorful yarns, which made the time pass quickly. As morning turned to afternoon, Kate noticed that the air thinned so dramatically she was having a little difficulty breathing.
She heard the physician say calmly, “Take a deep, slow breath, Miss VanNam.”
Kate nodded and obeyed.
“They say it’s the air the angels breathe,” he stated. “We’re getting close to Fortune.” He rubbed his chin. “Now where was I?”
He continued by telling her that at one time or another, he had cared for just about every citizen in town.
The steamer rounded a bend in the narrowing fork of the river and the buildings of Fortune loomed just ahead.
Laughing, Dr. Ledet said, “All but one, that is. The sheriff.”
“The sheriff has never been sick or injured?”
“No doubt he has, but he’s never sought my services,” said the doctor. “He patches himself up and goes on with business. He’s one tough son of a gun, begging your pardon for my crude language, Miss VanNam. He was hired by the Committee of Vigilance—of which I myself am a senior member—to keep the peace, and Travis McCloud rules Fortune with fast fists and faster guns,” he declared, his eyes twinkling. “Step out of line and you have to deal with the fearless Marshal McCloud.” He paused, then smiled at Kate.
Feeling as if she were expected to comment, but not knowing what to say, she said, “And this courageous sheriff, is he from San Francisco or…?”
“No, no. McCloud’s a native Virginian. Came from an aristocratic Tidewater family.” The steamer was sliding slowly toward Fortune’s levee. “McCloud was educated to be a physician like me, but he—”
“He’s a murderer!” muttered the man in irons from across the aisle. He was then roughly urged to his feet. “Killed a man back in—”
“Move it!” ordered the armed, sandy-haired guard, prodding the prisoner up the narrow aisle.
Kate gasped at the startling accusation. She immediately turned questioning eyes on her companion. “Can that be?”
The steamer’s whistle blasted loudly in the thin mountain air, silencing her.
“We’re here,” Doc Ledet announced as the vessel came to a stop, its hull slapping gently up against the wooden dock. Smiling, he pointed and said, “There’s our sheriff now.”
Curious, Kate looked out the porthole.
A tall, broad-shouldered man in a black hat with the brim pulled low over his eyes stepped up to the lowering gangway. He wore a white, long-sleeved shirt, black leather vest and black trousers. A gun belt with a brace of Colt revolvers rode low on his slim