Free Luke's Gold by Charles G. West Page A

whiskey you’ve ever drunk—and plenty of it. But that Belle, I’d marry her if she’d have me.” He sank back on his elbows as he let his mind relive an evening that he judged to be the best of his life. “Damn,” he uttered reverently, “you shoulda gone with me.”
    Cade could only shake his head. It was astonishing to him that a man staring at the gates of death such a short time before could look back on the adventure as a pleasant experience. That was Luke—his mind only retained the good times. “I expect you’d better eat somethin’,” he said. “I know for a fact there ain’t nothin’ in your stomach but a little bit of coffee. You can rest up a bit, and we’ll get movin’ again when you’re ready.”
    â€œHell, I’m ready now,” Luke insisted. “We coulda set out at first light. I was ready.”
    â€œYeah, I could tell,” Cade commented sarcastically.
    Â 
    â€œYou owe me for two bottles of whiskey on top of that fifty dollars,” Belle stated emphatically. “If you’da told me that man could drink that much whiskey and still damn near wear out the three of us, I’da charged you more.”
    â€œOur deal was for fifty dollars,” Lem Snider replied. “There wasn’t nothin’ said about no extra for whiskey.” He counted out the money, and she quickly took it from his hand. “So, what did you find out?” he pressed.
    â€œTwo bottles of whiskey,” she insisted. “If we hadn’t got him drunk, we wouldn’t have got him talking.”
    â€œAll right, dammit. I’ll pay for one of them bottles, but the other’n’s on you. Now tell me what he’s up to, or I might take my money back and whip your flabby ass for wastin’ my time.”
    â€œWell,” Belle smirked, “he asked me to marry him three or four times. And about the time Lucille said she couldn’t take any more—and that was not too long before daylight—he got to telling me about how he could take care of me in style. All he would say was he was on his way to do some business, and that he’d be a rich man when he came back.”
    â€œI knew it! That son of a bitch!” Lem exclaimed. “He’s got some of that gold shipment hid somewhere. That son of a bitch!” His mind already calculating the possible value of the gold one mule could carry, he pressed for more information. “Where did he say he was goin’?”
    Belle shrugged. “He wouldn’t say exactly where he was heading, just that it wasn’t that far from here. He did say one time that all the gold wasn’t in Virginia City or Bannack, either.”
    â€œI reckon not,” Snider remarked, a sly smile of gratification gracing his dark features. It can be found somewhere between here and Virginia City, somewhere close to the Gallatin River, I’m bettin’. The question of why Luke waited for so many years before coming back to claim the gold dust never entered his mind.
    Belle moved up close to him, and taking his arm in both her hands, affected her most coquettish expression. She pressed her face against his shoulder and purred, “You ain’t gonna forget ol’ Belle if you make a big strike, are you, honey?”
    â€œHuh,” he snorted, “who said anythin’ about makin’ a big score?”
    â€œI know you, Lem Snider,” Belle insisted. “You’d play cards with the devil himself as long as you could deal. Hell, me and the girls would like to get outta this little town. I’m just sayin’ don’t forget them that helped you, that’s all.”
    Snider suddenly broke out a laugh. “Why, Belle, honey, how could I ever forget you?”

Chapter 4
    Two days out from Coulson, near a bend in the river, Luke and Cade sighted a herd of antelope some five or six hundred yards distant. The bluffs along