Free Reclaimed Love: Banished Saga, Book Two by Ramona Flightner Page A

The burly barman had a towel tied to his waist, and he washed glasses in a sink behind the bar when he was not busy serving customers. Gabriel settled in, absently listening to the men around him marvel at the ongoing coal strike in Pennsylvania. They grumbled at the rising price of coal but seemed to support the miners’ efforts.
    “I’d like to think they’d support us if’n we ever had need of a strike,” one man muttered. A hearty round of ayes followed that comment.
    “I wonder what the wee buggers are eatin’,” another said. “They can’t have enough put by to last weeks with no pay.” The men around him continued to murmur.
    “You new around these parts?” A small man with powerful shoulders sat next to Gabriel. “I don’t remember seein’ you at the Mountain Con.”
    “I don’t work there, but I’m bunking with a friend who does. I’m Gabriel.”
    “Nice to meet you. My name’s Red.”
    Gabriel stared at him for a few moments, taking in the man’s pale complexion and raven-black hair.
    “Ah, a man who doesn’t ask too many questions. I like that. No, I’m Red ’cause I have a fiery temperament.”
    Gabriel nodded.
    “Some say I should work in a smelter so my work would match my spirit.”
    “But then you wouldn’t live in Butte.”
    “Exactly. I have no desire to live in Anaconda, although Daly built a beautiful town there.” He said Daly’s name with reverence.
    “If Daly built Anaconda, the smelters there must only be for his mines. Where do the other mines send their ore?” Gabriel asked.
    “The non-Anaconda? They send theirs to a smelter in Great Falls. There’s plenty of water there from the Missouri River, though it’s a fair distance from Butte.”
    Gabriel nodded. “I haven’t had the chance to travel to Anaconda yet, although I know it’s close. Great Falls seems too far away.”
    “Aye, that it is. Now, Anaconda might be a place to visit on a free day. It’s only about twenty-five miles from here. All the ore from Anaconda mines are brought there to the smelter. One of the lads has a brother-in-law who works at the smelter, and he told us about this long process of separating the copper from all the other metals. Sounded like magic when he talked about it, conjuring the copper from the other metals.” He snorted once. “Though he used fancy scientific terms, something to do with gravity. When it’s all over, they have a nice copper pig.”
    Red raised one black eyebrow at Gabriel’s snicker.
    “Copper pigs?” Gabriel repeated.
    “Yeah, bars of copper,” Red said. He took a sip from his pint, his toe tapping to the lively reel.
    “From what you say, it sounds like working in the smelter would be an easier job than working belowground,” Gabriel said as he took a long swallow from his pint.
    “I wouldn’t start thinking like that, Gabriel. Working in a smelter is hard. That machinery is tough. Any small accident and…” Red shook his head. “They’re as tough as any of us.” After a moment’s pause, he added, “You sure you have no interest in mining? You’d make better pay, and you seem strong enough for it.”
    “No, I do well enough right now.”
    Red nodded in agreement and sat for a few minutes, listening as the musicians moved from a reel to a slow waltz.
    “Ah, the music’s lovely tonight. Glad these lads have chosen our pub to play in,” Red said as he rose to move to another table. “’Twas nice meeting you, Gabriel. I hope to see you again.”
    Gabriel nodded, enjoying the rest of his pint and the music.

CHAPTER 6
    WE SAT IN THE PARLOR, the room illuminated in a soft glow from the gaslights. A small fire crackled in the marble-topped fireplace, the new filigreed fire grate preventing wayward sparks from singeing Mrs. Smythe’s recently purchased oriental rugs. The orange in the rug clashed with the rose wallpaper, although I had seen enough wallpaper patterns around to know that it, too, would soon be