Denver Read Free

gold.”
    “I got paid yesterday too.”
    “You always surprise me when you talk about that job.”
    “I like building houses. I used to be good with a hammer when I helped Pa. I’m learning with Enrique. I’m almost tempted to stay right here for a time and keep on building.” He grinned, shoving a cheroot to the corner of his mouth, squinting as the smoke curled upward in front of his face. “I can see what I accomplished at the Oro Cantina too. Es muy grande .”
    Silas laughed. “Where did you learn to speak the lingo?”
    “I’m Tigre Castillo, remember? My father had a Spanish heritage. Two hundred years ago the Spanish explored and settled in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.”
    “Come with me,” Silas urged, returning to his argument. “Men are finding gold all over the West. I promised Mary I would strike a vein and come home a millionaire, rich enough to give her a life of ease.”
    “Mary must be the most beautiful woman on this earth. I’ve never seen a man so damned loyal.”
    “She is. She has the biggest green—”
    “I know. The biggest, greenest eyes that make you feel as if you’re tumbling into a lily pond. Red hair like flames dancing in the night, skin like peaches in the spring, a waist so tiny you can circle it with your fingers and have room left over,” Tigre said dryly, stacking coins.
    “That’s right,” Silas said, staring into space, his voice wistful.
    “There’s a stage going through tomorrow, and they’ll take mail to Sacramento. You could write to her.”
    “No, I can’t. I don’t write well.”
    “Well, I can write. Tell me what you want to say, and I’ll write it.”
    Silas ran his slender fingers over the covers. “No. Mary’s accustomed to not hearing from me. She knows I don’t write.”
    “She might lose interest.”
    “Not my Mary.”
    “Aw, hell, Silas, you ought to have some fun in your life. Come down to the Oro Cantina and let me show you the girls. There’s Lolita and her friends Carmen and Cayena, and I’ll tell you, they would make you forget all about Marvelous Mary.”
    “Impossible. Mary is prettier, more fun, more intelligent.”
    Tigre laughed. “I’ll give you that one! When it comes to brains, don’t count on the cantina girls.”
    “Mary is sweeter.”
    For an instant Tigre’s smile vanished while he thought of Melissa Hatfield, whom he had left behind in Albuquerque. He still carried the gold ring she had returned. Sweet . Melissa was sweet, intelligent, and beautiful, and it hurt badly when he thought about her. “Dammit,” he swore, and scooped up the money. “I’m going to the bank.”
    “Tigre, come with me when I go.”
    “Maybe I will,” he answered, thinking he might cause his brother’s family trouble if he went to Texas. He’d already had two bad encounters with bountyhunters, and he didn’t expect them to be the last. He gazed around the small, sparsely furnished room with its crudely made wooden furniture and bare earthen floor. “What’s a grubstake cost?”
    “You’ve got more than enough,” Silas said dryly. “I’ve got it down to where I figure twenty-five dollars is all you’ll need. Rubber hip boots, a couple of woolen blankets; you have your rifle, pistol, and ammo. You have plates and eating utensils. You’ll need a shovel, a miner’s pick, a gold pan, and food. That’ll get you started.”
    “You know what folks around here call us?”
    Silas grinned. “I can’t imagine.”
    “ Gringos pálidos . Pale gringos.”
    Silas laughed. “You’re a damned sight less pale than I am.”
    “Next to most of the locals, we’re both oddities.”
    Silas chuckled. “Sometimes that works to my benefit.”
    “So I’ve noticed. They think that’s why I’m winning at faro, that I’ve got supernatural powers.”
    “Maybe word will get out to the bounty hunters, and they’ll leave you alone.”
    “Most bounty hunters aren’t scared of anything, including the supernatural,” Tigre said,