Jim eased her down out of the saddle before she went up to the front step and knocked on the door. It took a while, but finally a gray-haired woman answered. They spoke briefly, then Ellen followed the woman inside.
The Appaloosa stomped his feet, and Jim scratched beneath his nose. While he waited, he admired the house. Though it wasn’t new, the owner had obviously taken care of it. There were red and yellow flowers planted in a neat row along the street edge and more grew in little boxes next to the house. Thin sheets of gray slate covered the roof like armor. The man who’d built it had clearly been a craftsman of considerable skill. Jim envied him.
Ellen reappeared at the door. “You can bring our things in through the back door,” she said.
“What about the horses?”
“There’s a stable in the back,” she answered. “Stay off the flowers, please.”
Jim led the horses around, keeping the pair well clear of the red and yellow flowers. True to Ellen’s word, there was a small stable in the back. Jim unloaded the horses and began carrying their bags inside.
The older woman met him at the back door. “You must be Jim,” she said. She had a strange accent, one Jim could not place. He’d heard a Bavarian fellow talk once; this was similar, but not exactly the same.
“I am,” Jim said.
“I am Milena. Your room is down here on the right.”
Under Ellen’s supervision, Jim carried the bags to the room and set them on the floor. He slid the bags with the gold in them under the edge of the bed and out of sight. That done, he returned to the stables and cared for their horses. There was a sack of ground corn, and he gave each horse a double portion.
When he went back inside, Ellen and Milena were sitting at a table over tea and a plate of small cakes, chatting like old friends.
Ellen pushed a small cup of coffee toward Jim and he eased himself down into a chair. “I apologize for my appearance,” Jim said, and gestured to his filthy clothes.
“Nothing to be sorry for. My husband was a freighter. He often came home covered in dirt from the trail. Dirt is easy to clean.”
“Milena has agreed to rent a room to us for as long as we need it,” Ellen said.
“We appreciate it. I wasn’t sure where we’d find anything in all that mess.”
“It is no trouble,” Milena said. “Since Mikos passed away, it is good to have other people in the house.”
“Mikos was your husband?”
“He was. We were married a long time, since before we left the old country,” Milena said. “I lost him four years ago. A blizzard caught him in one of the high passes.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Jim said.
“We had many good years together. I would often journey with him through the mountains, and our children are grown and strong,” she said.
“They live here?”
“My son owns a pair of fishing boats out in the harbor and my daughter is married to a banker. He’s very successful.”
He tried one of the small cakes and found that he liked it. The coffee was strong and dark.
“Not so strong as your cowboy coffee?” Milena smiled.
“No, but better tasting,” Jim said.
“I have a bath in the room next to yours,” Milena said. She nodded to a large pot of water on the stovetop. “And you’ll have hot water soon enough.”
After Jim and Ellen each bathed and cleaned up, Milena served them a dinner of roast, potatoes, and carrots. Jim couldn’t recall eating a better meal. It struck him that this was an exceptional woman.
They talked for a time afterward. From her travels and from her husband, Milena knew much of the winding Sierra trails. Jim told her about Texas and Kansas and the long journey west. Ellen talked of the places of her childhood, Illinois, and the crowded east.
When they laid down for the evening, Jim read the note he’d gotten from DeMourey.
“You’re going to find this friend of DeMourey’s tomorrow?” Ellen said.
“I’ll start with him, but it seems to me there’ll be plenty of other buyers around. Are you coming with me?”
“I think I’ll stay in this very bed all morning,” Ellen smiled.
“A few days in the saddle and you’re done in?”
“I am.”
“If I’m successful tomorrow, it’ll be three more days back.”
“I’ll worry about that tomorrow,” she said with a yawn.
Jim checked the gold one last time and turned in.
Chapter 17
Jim led the Appaloosa up and down the streets of San Francisco to the office of Carl Johannsen, DeMourey’s partner.
Men in the street eyed him as he approached. Horses were few in this part of town. Here, men rode in carriages or walked to get around. Jim thought they might have guessed what was in the Appaloosa’s full saddlebags. Several watched the bags closely, an eager look in their eyes. Lucky for him, most of these men were unarmed. One flash of his pistol butt sent them on their way.
