Cha'Nara's Gift

Chapter 31

Chapter 31 Ride the High Country

Deak Continues

As Ben and I rode out of town, I asked him, "Did you say good-bye to Pip? Ben chuckled "Yes sir, she's happy!" I snickered to myself; I knew what he had meant. We rode in silence for most of the morning. For a while, the trail was almost nonexistent, the footing became treacherous, up and down, up and down, by the days end we had only covered around six miles. On the third day, we were spotting miners and signs of digging and sluicing. At night, we kept a cold camp; MRE's made up the menu. At least we had the little package heaters so we had a hot meal anyway. I did a lot of work with the binoculars, choosing our path carefully; finally, we found the little draw that according to Sarah's "client" would make our previous "discovery" look small.

Sarah also told me there was a dispute over who was the rightful owner, I really didn't give a s**t, rumor had it that there was a lot of gold, just ripe for the taking. Ben and I changed into Marine "woodlands" MARPAT cammo even applying cammo face paint. Ben was quite amused by all this effort, but I told him we'd blend in better. We found a small area where we hid the horses, we found where the prospectors had started their "dig" there being a moderate flow of water seeping from what I guessed was a small stream that had been blocked by a rock slide sometime in the past, if we could get above it we might be able to pan for flakes.

We found ourselves an area where we could sleep; it even allowed us to build a small fire. We spent a fitful night but around dawn, we started moving over the rocks down into the streambed. Ben was the first to show color, and not just a little, but a lot! I moved downstream of him about fifty feet and started showing color as well, again, lot's of it. We worked for a good hour scraping up everything we could get. I guessed we had around three troy ounces. Around noon, we moved higher up the streambed, the rockslide had collapsed large rocks and boulders creating a partially covered "chute" We found an opening where debris and gravel had accumulated. It was here we hit the mother lode nuggets flakes; large nuggets the configuration of the chute acted like a screen and over the years had collected the gold. While Ben scooped and scraped, I stood guard, I carried my M1A with the ACOG sight. Ben worked like a maniac filling several small pouches, a large leather bag and a metal can. About three hours into our work, I heard someone talking, I crept to a position above Ben and started scanning, four men were making their way over the rocks below us, I dropped a pebble down at Ben, to alert him. When he looked up, I put my finger across my lips indicating silence, and pointing towards the approaching men.

One of the men stopped and suddenly bent down and pointed to a spot next to the stream, "Look at this Mike, someone's been here, look at this footprint." Another man came over and looked, "Everyone spread out!" the men quickly dispersed, taking cover behind rocks and trees. "We know you're here, come out now and nothing will happen," I watched the man through my scope, I saw him point to our left as two men crept off in that direction. We were in deep doo-doo; I started scanning for our "guests" suddenly spotting a man's head poke up about 300 feet from me. Apparently, he thought he was hidden because he didn't drop back down; I centered the crosshair and squeezed the trigger, his head exploding in a pink mist. I heard a shout, and a man expose himself trying to crawl away, I shot him in the side, resulting in a scream and sounds of a body falling. Unfortunately while dealing with the two men I lost track of the other two. I slowly scooted back under some brush; I was still able to keep an eye on Ben who looked desperate, not sure on what to do. I signaled to him to stay put, he had the presence of mind to take cover under an overhanging rock.

Now it was a waiting game, who would make the first move? I knew it sure as hell wouldn't be me.

I hunkered down and began the wait, about twenty minutes later I heard the sound of a boot scraping on rock. I started scanning; suddenly I saw what looked like a shadow coming off a rock. I focused on it and waited, suddenly it moved , I centered forward of where I spotted the shadow, an arm slowly appeared between two rocks I squeezed the trigger, the round slammed into the arm and another scream echoed off the rocks, a man popped up , another round took of his head. I heard another shout, only this time it was Ben, I looked down to see him holding up his hands a heavyset man was holding a rifle on him, I don't know what the guy was thinking, he must have thought I was down from Ben, who kept looking that way. "I've got your friend; I'll kill him if you don't show yourself right now!" Dumb f**k just did not understand modern weapons and the fact they don't show smoke or how snipers worked, his head exploded, pitching the body backwards. Ben quickly pulled his pistol ready for action. "OK down there Ben?" "I'm fine sir, I'm almost done.

I climbed down to where Ben was, "Sorry sir, he just suddenly appeared, got the drop on me," said Ben. "I was afraid something like this would happen when I got busy with the other two," I replied, "Well; let's see what we've got here?" While I was looking over the dead man, Ben pointed to the chute, and said, "There's a lot more gold in there, but we need blasting powder to open it up." "Ben" I said, "We're just "skimming" that's work for someone else, gonna need a sluicing operation to do it right, we're just in and out, that's all I ever planned on, we don't wanna be too greedy!" "No, I guess not," he replied. Our headless man didn't have much, a couple silver dollars, which I gave to Ben along with about eighteen cents in change. He had a decent Army Colt, along with a ratty but serviceable holster. I also found a letter informing a William Harcourt (he must be Harcourt) that the claim was still in dispute with a Yancy Adams and that no mining operations are to take place until the issue is resolved in court with no hearing date given.

"Well Ben, let's sky out of here, this Yancy character could be nearby and I don't want to tangle with him." I helped Ben scrape up another couple of ounces before we climbed out. I recovered a nice Colt Bisley along with a brand new holster (this would bring a pretty penny) A battered Henry rifle, as well as a Greener shotgun coach model, along with two more Army Colts. I kept noticing that all these guys were poor as church mice, these men were no exception. They didn't even have much in the way of food. "Where do you think they picketed their horses?" wondered Ben. I scanned with my binoculars and finally caught sight of movement down below us. I could just barely see a horse's rear end with a flicking tail. "Looks like they parked 'em in a little opening in the rocks down there, let's go see what those nice men left us. "Be careful Deak," cautioned Ben, "They might have left someone in charge of the horses, who has been alerted and is waiting for us." "Damn! You're right Ben, thanks for the warning, here, take the binoculars, start scanning, I'll look through my scope."

Sure enough, Ben was right, "Deak! Look down there behind that cone shaped rock, just above where the horses must be." I started checking with the ACOG and soon spotted a brown coat showing slightly through some low pine boughs. I carefully worked my scope over the area picturing in my mind how the man would be sitting taking into account the position of the coat. I centered the crosshair to where I thought his center of mass was and fired, something pitched backwards but because of the low pines, I couldn't tell if I had killed him. "Be real careful Ben, I'm not sure I killed him." Slowly we eased our way down; it was hard going because of all the weight we were carrying. The horses started snorting and stamping their feet as we approached, I heard a moan coming from the rocks above the little "corral" I laid down my pack and sack of gold, and carefully climbed up to where the moaning was coming from. Sure enough, a boy about Ben's age lay on his back, he had his coat open and his trousers partially pulled down, the bullet had apparently hit him in the waist. I could see tears leaking from his eyes, "Sorry son, but s**t happens, what's your name?" "Ted Brown, you killed me," he wheezed. "Sorry 'bout that," I replied, "Th-h-h-eres a letter in my coat pocket, mister, could you see that my folks get it and tell them where I died," he made a feeble attempt to pull something out of his coat, I thought it was a gun and shot him in the heart.

Ted Brown

"Deak! Are you all right?" shouted Ben, "I'm fine Ben stay where you are and keep checking those horses for brands or anything, saddles as well." I had lied, I wasn't all right, I had just shot a boy in cold blood, "No rules of engagement" Well this is the sort of thing that happens when you travel that road. I reached in his pocket expecting to find a derringer or small pistol. Instead, I found a small bag of gold. Boy! Did I ever f**k-up! I found the letter he was talking about, it was addressed to Thomas Brown Salt Lake City Utah Territory, the kid was probably a Mormon. "Ben!" I shouted, "Bring one of those shovels and get up here we've got a little problem." Pretty soon, Ben came huffing up the slope, He saw me just standing there, staring at the dead boy. "What's wrong Deak?" he asked a puzzled look on his face. I slowly pointed at Ted and said, "Ben, I murdered this boy in cold blood, I thought he was reaching in his pocket for a gun, but it was only this letter. I could have probably saved him, but in truth, I was looking for any excuse to kill him, no witnesses' I knew eventually this would happen to me, this boy was innocent Ben, I killed him."

Ben bent down to examine the body, "He lost a lot of blood sir, from you're first shot, there's no way we could have gotten him down from here, maybe in you're time they can do such things but don't blame yourself for this." Slowly I shook my head, "It's not that easy son, I was talking to him," I showed Ben the letter, he opened it and read. "Says here he expects to be home by next month, rich as a king, Bill, that must be that Harcourt fellow that got the drop on me, says that this claim has more gold in it than any he's ever seen in the whole state. Tell…Oh god! This kid was going to be married! "Tell Emma that I will be back soon, and have money to buy that store we were looking at." Ben stopped reading. "What do you want to do Deak?" I turned to Ben "You mean what I should do, or what I want to do, I should turn myself in to the law, but for obvious reasons I can't do that Ben, I guess all there's left to do is do the right thing, help me get this kid down to the horses."

By the time we got down to the horses, it was dark, "What's the nearest town from here Ben?" "I think its Breckenridge sir." "Ski Breckenridge!" I mumbled to myself. "What was that sir?" asked Ben. "Nothing, just a thought out of place and out of time, grab one of those bedrolls of one of the horses and help me wrap this kid up." Together, we wrapped and tied Ted Brown into the bedroll. We built a small fire, rolled out two more bedrolls from the other two horses, and ate a late dinner. "We'll take him to Breckenridge I'm sure there's an undertaker there, we'll get him buried, I'll send his things back to his folks along with the gold, and a letter. Ben, I really feel like crap about all this, I think I can finally see why Emily get's so upset about all this, she was afraid that I was starting to enjoy all this violence too much, comparing it with Afghanistan. Maybe I was, maybe I'm too close to my dark side, this will haunt me Ben, When I was in Afghanistan, I didn't give the people I shot a second thought, shooting this boy is different, I crossed over that "Thin Red Line" James Jones talks about Ben, I've been getting away with things I could never do in 2013. Ben sat there and looked at me, "Deak, don't blame yourself, I speak to you as a friend, this is a violent country, look what happened to my mother and father, do you have Indians attacking you in 2013? Of course, not, I told you we couldn't have saved him; he had lost too much blood. We'll see to it he get's a decent burial and his folks get his gear, that's all you can do, let it go sir."

I didn't sleep well. In the morning, we retrieved our horses packed our gold in four 50. Cal ammo cans and lashed them to our saddles. We lashed Ted to one of the other horses and headed out, around four in the afternoon we entered Breckenridge, a far cry from the resort community it was to become. It looked like all the other shitty mining camps on the front range, muddy streets, every other building a saloon, plenty of w***e houses, I found the undertakers office, "Sir, we've got a miner we want to bury here in your town's cemetery." Atticus Walker, an anemic looking man was Breckenridge's undertaker.

He showed too much concern over how Ted came to his end but a little poke of gold got Ted the best casket Walker had, plus an actual stone marker. Ben and I stayed overnight, sleeping in the stable so we could guard our gold, plus, to make sure Walker followed through on everything we were paying for.