Into the Bright Unknown (The Gold Seer Trilogy #3)(29)

I pick one of the cots and shove the saddlebags underneath it. The blanket from another cot becomes a wrap for Daddy’s rifle. I slide it underneath, beside the saddlebags. It’s not much in terms of worldly possessions.

But I have friends. And a purpose. And now a ship.

I find all the adults gathered in the galley, seated around a large wooden table that’s nailed to the floor. An oil lamp hangs from the ceiling, casting a warm glow. The seat at the head of the table is empty, so that’s the one I take.

Becky rocks the sleeping baby in her arms. “Where are Olive and Andrew?” I ask.

“They’re amusing themselves in the cabin for now. They’re glad to have a larger space.”

I waste no time. “It should be clear to everyone now that James Henry Hardwick is coming after us. He provided the money for my uncle’s scheme last fall.” I nod to Tom and Jefferson, who experienced worse in that ordeal than I did. “Since then, Hardwick has failed to live up to the terms of the contract we signed with him at Christmas.”

“But we can take that to court and make him enforce it,” Jasper says.

“Is that true, Tom?”

Tom shakes his head. “Right now, California barely has courts worthy of the name. Influence counts for more than the law. The courts do what Hardwick tells them, not the other way around.”

“And there’s the matter of Becky’s house,” I say.

Becky stops stroking the baby’s cheek and looks up.

“And the fact that Frank Dilley and those roughnecks held you and Henry at gunpoint in the Custom House,” I add.

The Major frowns at Becky. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for that.”

Becky absently puts a hand on his arm, even as she bounces the baby on one knee. “It turned out fine,” she says. The Major stares down at the hand covering his arm, color rising in his cheeks.

“And then we come to the matter of Hampton,” I say.

I’m met with nods and murmurs of agreement from around the table.

“There’s one more thing,” Tom says, his face grave.

“Oh?”

“I can’t be the only one who has noticed,” he says, glancing around the table. “But Hardwick seems to have taken a peculiar interest in Lee.”

“It’s true,” Becky says.

“Lee, I don’t like the way he looks at you,” Jefferson adds.

I don’t like it much either. He gives my belly the same wormy feeling I always got around my uncle Hiram.

“What makes you all say that?” Jasper says.

“Well, he keeps showing up everywhere we go,” Jefferson says.

“He’s going to ask for more money for Glory’s charter, remember?” Henry says.

“He called Lee ‘intriguing,’” Becky says. “Which gave me a shiver, I don’t mind saying.

“He knows we’ve all got more gold than we ought, although . . .” She lowers her voice to a whisper. “I don’t think he knows about your particular . . . blessing.”

“In any case, his fascination with Lee is . . . unnatural,” Tom says.

They’re all looking at each other, more than they’re looking at me. Finally, Jefferson clears his throat. “The thing is, Lee, there’s always going to be men like that in the world.”

“And your point is?”

“We can’t make that problem go away forever.”

“When you’re hungry, and you eat, do you expect your hunger to go away forever? When you’re sick, and you go to a doctor”—I point to Jasper—“do you expect to stay well forever? Of course not. Hardwick is the problem in front of us right now. We can’t solve the problem forever, but we can solve him. That’s what we’re going to do.”

“You aren’t planning to shoot Hardwick, are you?” Tom asks. “With your daddy’s rifle?”

“No!”

“Because that would be wrong—”

“Because that would be ineffective.”

“And also wrong,” says Jefferson.

“Yes, but it wouldn’t get the job done,” I clarify. “Jeff, you remember our teacher back in Dahlonega? Mr. Anders?”

Jefferson is leaning forward, fingers steepled. “Yeah.”

“What was that monster he told us about? The one where you cut off its head and it grows two more?”

“The hydra?” he answers, as all three of the college men blurt out, “The hydra!”

“That’s the one,” I say. “Hardwick is the head of the monster, but the body that feeds him is the money and the businesses that are making him rich right now. If he died tomorrow, a bunch of other men would just divvy up his businesses and his money, and they’d all go on doing the same thing. It’s not enough to cut the head off the monster. We have to destroy the body too. We’re not just going to bring down James Henry Hardwick, we’re going to ruin his empire and take every penny he owns. Who’s in?”

Silence. Faintly, a burst of distant laughter filters through the hull; probably from one of the nearby saloons.

Jasper spreads his large, capable hands on the table. “I hear what you’re saying, and I admire your intent. But I came to San Francisco to learn. And there’s so much to learn. Malnourishment, diseases, every kind of wound and injury. But my time is limited. A year from now, when this is a more settled place, those problems won’t be here, not in the same degree. I can get a lifetime of experience in the next year if I want it, and that’s what I want.”