THE SILVERADO - ADVENTURE OF THE OLD WEST

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

The sun was already up when Ben Gibson arrived with the wagon. Millie had been ready since dawn. The place that had been home for so many empty years was now alien ground and she was anxious to get away.

'I fetched another horse,' Ben said as he dismounted. 'No need to leave your buckboard. You can maybe get a few dollars for it in Pebble Creek.'

She helped him load the stove and her old rocking chair into the wagon. She fetched her small case from under the bunk bed and her two guns; a rifle and a six-shooter.

Ben looked doubtfully at the guns.

'Maybe I should take care of those for you, Millie.'

'I know how to handle a gun, Ben,' she said firmly. 'I've had plenty of practice these last five years. I reckon I'm a sure-shot.'

'Still and all...'

'We best make tracks,' she said shortly. 'Time's awasting.'

Ben hitched the other horse to the backboard and Millie climbed up ready to make move off. As the wagon trundled away from the sod hut; the buckboard coming up in the rear, Millie cast one glance back but only at the place where her faithful Boxie was buried. Her last and only goodbye.

It was coming up to midday when they reached the mining camp. Millie was not surprised to see that the place had grown in size since she was last here. The camp had started to sprawl untidily in all directions with tents of all shapes and sizes springing up like mushrooms overnight.

There were quite a few timber buildings between tents along what passed for the main street; amongst them a land office, an assayer's and recently a telegraph office and Millie wondered how long it would be before Pebble Creek transformed itself into a town.

The place was all bustle with all manner and style of men strutting about among the tents. Millie hoped she would soon get used to the non-stop noise and the crowds.

As Ben had pointed out yesterday, it was one thing to spend an hour or two amid this chaos. It was another thing to live day and night in the hubbub. Her keen eyes spotted one or two women among the throng too, but she would not see what manner of women they might be.

Not that she was concerned. She had chosen Pebble Creek for her home; the place where her new life would begin and thrive, and she was determined to take in her stride whatever the inhabitants of the camp might throw in her path.

Ben pulled up the wagon outside a timbered stable and feed store, and Millie did the same.

'Might off-load the buckboard here,' Ben said. 'I'll speak to the store owner.'

'I also need someplace to leave my belongings until I get settled,' Millie said. 'Find a bed for the night.'

'Ain't no hotel here, Millie,' Ben warned. 'Might be a lodging house, though, but I can't guarantee it would be fitting for a respectable woman.'

'I know there are places to rent in sleeping tents,' Millie said.

'No woman would be safe there.' Ben said forcefully and then paused. 'Millie, are you sure this is the right place for you? There's still time to reach Jasonville before dark.'

'It's no good arguing with me, Ben,' Millie said more harshly than she meant to. 'I'm here to stay.'

With a sigh of resignation, Ben went into the stable, Millie at his heels. It occurred to her that she should be doing these negations herself. When Ben left later she would be on her own and would have to face up to any hardships.