silence, tears streaming involuntarily from their eyes. Daniel himself felt an exhilaration travel up and down his spine and goose bumps on his arms. And this exhilaration brought with it a tremendous clarity and he saw for the first time just how much danger Molly was in. He thought about killing her to protect himself for a brief moment and then felt ashamed at the notion. Instead, he decided he had to go help her escape right then.
Chapter Six
Two nights Tennyson remained in Lakeview, renting a bed in the town’s inn and conversing with the locals, trying to find someone amenable to his offer and with enough influence to persuade others. A single thread he could pull and pull until the whole fabric lay unraveled in front of him. Faraday did not sleep in the town. Tennyson had instructed him to remain outside the city limits, coming in only to buy food and other supplies as needed. The doctor had given him a modest sum and Faraday had used it to buy ammunition for his revolver and a few other essentials.
On the third day, Faraday rode up to the town and into one of the saloons and ordered himself a shot of whiskey. After he had downed the shot he walked out to the opposite side of the town, where graves had been dug up and engraved headstones set down, and there he found Tennyson standing over the dead. Faraday stood next to the doctor and listened without speaking or even looking at the man.
“Tomorrow at eight in the morning, on the wharf.”
The message given, Faraday turned and rode back out to his camp.
Come morning, he traveled out to the wharf, where Tennyson had managed to convince nearly twenty people, men, mostly, but a few women, to listen to what he had to say.
“Let’s all huddle in close now,” Tennyson said to the gathered crowd. “My name is Dr. Henry Tennyson. Some of you are familiar with me and others not yet, but suffice it to say that I am a learned man and a businessman. I am a man of means and I do not travel often. However, not long ago in my residence in the territory of Oregon, I made a discovery. A grand discovery of enormous implications for the future of this country and the people upon it. And after I had tested this discovery I was consumed by a single consideration. With whom will I share this great secret? And the more I thought about it, the more I knew my discovery was no accident. That God himself had gifted me this knowledge from on high and that it was thereby my sworn duty to share it not with the wealthy and powerful, but with simple and hardworking Americans who by some accident of fate never found their fortune in the streams or in the mines and settled upon this land, carving out modest incomes for themselves all the while eating and drinking and being merry. For the good book says those who would be faithful with little will be faithful with plenty. So I searched for a community of such citizens and when I heard that Lakeview was just such a community, I felt obliged to come down and speak to you good folks. I believe that your hardy kind are the very salt of the earth. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that were it not for men and women like yourselves California would still be another dreary Mexican outpost.”
Then Tennyson revealed the machine and held it up for all to see.
“You see, folks, there’s something no one’s ever told you and lots of people have taken great pains to keep from you. Namely, that water, the water we drink and bathe in, is full of gold. More than any vein or inland stream. An endless amount. And I have concocted this device to extract it.”
Some in the crowd guffawed at the notion and others gasped, but all were intrigued and they listened with rapt attention.
“How exactly do you propose to do such a thing?” one of the townspeople asked.
“The exact method is a secret. And I must keep it so; otherwise it will be of no use to us. Now I understand skepticism. If you don’t believe me, then you’re a normal human being. You
Chapter Six
Two nights Tennyson remained in Lakeview, renting a bed in the town’s inn and conversing with the locals, trying to find someone amenable to his offer and with enough influence to persuade others. A single thread he could pull and pull until the whole fabric lay unraveled in front of him. Faraday did not sleep in the town. Tennyson had instructed him to remain outside the city limits, coming in only to buy food and other supplies as needed. The doctor had given him a modest sum and Faraday had used it to buy ammunition for his revolver and a few other essentials.
On the third day, Faraday rode up to the town and into one of the saloons and ordered himself a shot of whiskey. After he had downed the shot he walked out to the opposite side of the town, where graves had been dug up and engraved headstones set down, and there he found Tennyson standing over the dead. Faraday stood next to the doctor and listened without speaking or even looking at the man.
“Tomorrow at eight in the morning, on the wharf.”
The message given, Faraday turned and rode back out to his camp.
Come morning, he traveled out to the wharf, where Tennyson had managed to convince nearly twenty people, men, mostly, but a few women, to listen to what he had to say.
“Let’s all huddle in close now,” Tennyson said to the gathered crowd. “My name is Dr. Henry Tennyson. Some of you are familiar with me and others not yet, but suffice it to say that I am a learned man and a businessman. I am a man of means and I do not travel often. However, not long ago in my residence in the territory of Oregon, I made a discovery. A grand discovery of enormous implications for the future of this country and the people upon it. And after I had tested this discovery I was consumed by a single consideration. With whom will I share this great secret? And the more I thought about it, the more I knew my discovery was no accident. That God himself had gifted me this knowledge from on high and that it was thereby my sworn duty to share it not with the wealthy and powerful, but with simple and hardworking Americans who by some accident of fate never found their fortune in the streams or in the mines and settled upon this land, carving out modest incomes for themselves all the while eating and drinking and being merry. For the good book says those who would be faithful with little will be faithful with plenty. So I searched for a community of such citizens and when I heard that Lakeview was just such a community, I felt obliged to come down and speak to you good folks. I believe that your hardy kind are the very salt of the earth. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that were it not for men and women like yourselves California would still be another dreary Mexican outpost.”
Then Tennyson revealed the machine and held it up for all to see.
“You see, folks, there’s something no one’s ever told you and lots of people have taken great pains to keep from you. Namely, that water, the water we drink and bathe in, is full of gold. More than any vein or inland stream. An endless amount. And I have concocted this device to extract it.”
Some in the crowd guffawed at the notion and others gasped, but all were intrigued and they listened with rapt attention.
“How exactly do you propose to do such a thing?” one of the townspeople asked.
“The exact method is a secret. And I must keep it so; otherwise it will be of no use to us. Now I understand skepticism. If you don’t believe me, then you’re a normal human being. You
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