LLM Part 1 Chapter 6

6.

“My Lady Simmons I presume?” Lance reached out with his right hand as a gesture of welcome. The lady standing before him was a young one in the yellow chiffon dress with the dainty umbrella. Under the bonnet, her hair was braided in the tresses to the back of the shoulder. The lady in question with her buttoned up dress smiled at the young dashing man. It was after the Sunday mass and the congregated had convened on the lawn to gossip and trade niceties on each other. There were about a hundred of them below the few growing cherry trees that gave them some shades. The kind priest had arranged lemonade to be served from the church funds and hoping to extract more funds back. The children were playing by themselves next to the final resting place of the beloved but the main attractions were the ladies looking for the eligible man. Or the other way but the exchange was well under the purview of governess and spiteful mothers. The elderly men were further out on the field and despite the morning sun, they have stood there like the regimental band looking to play on the command. There were a couple of older ladies which were given the privileged of the benches and served with the lemonade. They were there to snap at the wives who may strayed to ex-admirers or worse exchange signals on later to be indulged in the illicit amorous activities. After all, the crumbs off the main bread are sometimes as tasty.

“Master Bernard, I am ever surprised to see you here. I was told you were abroad.” The lady spoke with the sweet voice. “I am sorry about your brother. He was ....”

“A loner who should not have declined your hand when offered.” Lance gave out his wide smile. He had liked the lady but the family tradition had called for the elder brother takes precedent.

“And your disappearance was well timed.” Lady Simmons reminded him. “I am not the one with deceit in my heart. I have ….”

“Hello my dear. There you are.” A dashing young man approached them. He was taller than Lance and held a lean body that exuberate strength and power. Lance did not know him but the ladies circle had named him as the wonderful man to share one’s love with.

“Mr.Bernard, I am Vance Hawkins. I just moved in some weeks back and found the community friendly.” The handsome man introduced himself. “I was from the east. The state of Louisiana to be exact but I was born in Europe.”

“A most amusing traveler but I prefer to the off the tracks location.” Lance smiled and studying there. He was dressed in dark suit with the matching riding boots but the wide Stetson hat was drawn low over the face. He had on a bandanna to cover his neck and his hands were covered with the gloves.

“I have businesses there and widely covered also covered as a charity ventures. I am the benefactor named as the Association. We have financed homes across the eastern states as far as Washington and now moving towards the Mexican border. Do you know how many missionaries there are in the state of Texas alone?”

Lance smiled at the question posed to him and then shook his head. That response drew some amused expression at him. He had not known much of the new frontier there but he knew more on the darker continent.

“The Association? I am amused. How do one contribute to the Association?” Lance asked back.

“We have our offices in the main towns but you can try the one in Arizona. It’s at the town named Main Crossing.” Mr. Hawkins explained. Lance remembered the place as the town where the railway intersected from the east and to the south. “It’s a huge town with many of our members there. More than a handful I believed.”

The group then found themselves interrupted by a huge man in a brown suit and his gun belt was disapproved by the ladies there for the Sunday services. He also have on the gloves and bandanna around the neck.

“Mr. Hawkins, I have some news for you.” The huge man also wore a Stetson covering his face but the hat could not hide the scar on the left side of the lips. The dashing man excused himself and moved away to speak with the other gentleman.

“I say, Mr. Bernard. Do you do any charity works?” Lady Simmons asked.

“I give the Church here some money but most times I teach the misdirected the way of God.” I smiled and then saw Mr. Hawkins returning back.   

“Work before pleasure, ladies. I need to go.” Mr. Hawkins told the ladies. It was then Lance asked him of his destination.

“Arizona.” The man then stepped away and with the main attraction leaving, the ladies themselves excused to mingle with other more dashing man besides Lance.

Lance then approached Father Dennis and enquired on the young man. He saw the ring on the man’s index finger. It was the same one worn by the dead Mr. Stoner.

“Since you asked, do you know that Mr. Hawkins bought the old mine on the old man’s Daniel land last month?”

Lance recalled the mine on the edge of the family land. Old Man Daniel was a long serving staff of the household. Just before Lance’s father went missing and presumed died. Just months before that Lance’s father had given the old man the land with the mine. The mine used to be a silver mine but it was abandoned many years ago when the silver stopped coming out.

“I knew father had said that none may sell the land.” I spoke out. “It was to be managed by the old man Daniel.”

“Yes, it was true but the old man had died. His son sold it and moved east.” Father Dennis replied. “There was no written deed on the arrangement by your father and his. No one wanted it but then Mr. Hawkins took it up. You do recall of the incident when then the mine collapsed and took six miner lives’”

Father Dennis recounted the incident when six miners decided to trespass the land and went into the mine. There was then an explosion and the six men were trapped inside. Five of them were never found but the sixth survived for a few weeks with delirious fever and chills. The town folks were mortified by it.

“You do recall the survivor was delirious for weeks and often screamed of the devil he claimed was there. Well Mr. Hawkins did not believe in old tales.”

“I wondered why?” Lance muttered out.

“Well, I won’t know but he had the place barricaded with a tall wall and there are guards on patrol there. Since he bought it, the place was out of bound. So was my fishing pool.” Father Dennis loved to fish there where the clear water bred some fine specimens. Lance was past listening and was leaving for his lonely stone hut. He found the urge to check on the mine or one in particular old man’s Daniel farm.