Page 50 of A Good Prospect

When O’Callan withdrew the pouches of lead balls and caps Tamasin had carefully lined the basket with, Sal flung his arms around her and squeezed her till it hurt. “That’s my niña,” he whispered in her ear.

“You should marry this girl, Don Salvador!” proclaimed Henri.

But when Sal held her back, he looked at her sternly. “That was an enormous risk, Tamasin. I don’t want to think what they might have done if they had—all right, listen. You have to go now.”

“But I don’t want to go. Why should I not keep vigil with you? Ophir rode to Coulterville to get the Home Guard to help. He rode through the brush, not along the main roads.”

“You can’t stay here. Any moment a gunfight could erupt. Listen, we’ll be fine, my duckling. I needyou to leave, so you can do all of us a big favor.” Lowering his voice, he said confidentially, “We have a plan.”

He must not have been quiet enough, for Jules enquired lightly, “We do?” A bloody cloth was wrapped around Jules’ head, but Tamasin didn’t want to ask about it. Best not to know.

Sal hissed, “Yes, we do, you baboso!” Brightening, he stroked Tamasin’s hair and said quietly, “I need you to go to the house and enlist some miners to make a diversion.”

Tamasin frowned. “Who are you trying to divert? If you tell me what your aim is, I could help.”

“Well. I think from my talks with The League, they’re already getting worn down. We’ve heard some grumblings through the wall, a couple men have already left, and that Alistair hombre in particular seems disgusted.”

“Yes, I thought so, too.”

“Now, there’s a clock on our mantel in the parlor. None of the miners have a watch, so take Knut’s. You need to organize the miners to make a diversion at exactly seven o’clock tonight. I was thinking maybe set a fire, over on the Hell Hollow side, where we know no one is. Only build it carefully, and have plenty of water available! I just need something with a lot of smoke, to get all these pendejos to run up there, away from this mill. Get the Italian Parmalli to do it. He’s good at starting fires.”

Tamasin nodded. “All right. Seven o’clock?”

“Seven o’clock. And Tamasin…”

“Yes?”

Sal cocked his head attractively, the corners of his mouth turning up slyly. “It probably would help if a lovely female came screaming down the hill, helplessly as women are likely to do.”

“I understand. ‘Fire, fire’!”

“Exactly. Babies are burning, or something of that nature.”

Someone was banging on the mill door now, shouting “Time for women to leave!”

Sal kissed her gently, and she clung to him with her arms around his neck. She was glad for a mission to accomplish, but leaving Salvador to these heartless rebels was the last thing she wanted to do.

“Tamasin,” Sal whispered against her mouth. “Make sure you get back inside the house when you’re done with your feminine shrieks, and leave the rest to us.” He shook her a bit. “Promise?”

“I promise.”

The prisoners of the Palomares Commercial and Mining Company hid the ammunition and weapons she had brought, and Tamasin took her empty basket. The last thing she saw was Sal standing in the doorway, long arms dangling at his sides, eyes glittering from under a curtain of messy hair.

* * * *

“All right,” said Sal. “So everyone understands the plan?”

“Sí,” said one of the Rivera brothers. “We run.”

Sal sighed. “Everyone other than me and the Frenchmen run.” A fresh idea came into his head. “Rivera. Why don’t you and your compañeros here go now, up to the delivery floor level? That way, in case those babosos outside don’t notice the fire, you can be the first to shout out the fire alarm. Then, when all The League men run toward the fire—which I’m betting they will—you’re free to leave.”

Relieved for a chance at getting out of the mill at last, the four Sonorans scrambled like greased lightning for the inner staircase. It led first to the level where they dropped the stamps, then past the ore bin and rock breaker, arriving up top on the delivery floor where ox carts dumped their loads of ore. League men guarded this entrance too, but it was hoped the fire and the Sonorans could entice them to abandon their post.

Now all they could do was wait. Already Sal had noted that two of the flagging League men had been allowed to leave, and three more lay lifelessly draped over boulders outside the mill. League men were not the heartiest mountain men of the lot, perhaps accustomed to the cool confinement of their jail cells.

“That lass Tamasin,” said O’Callan. “She is not your wife?”

“Not yet,” Sal responded. “I’ve asked her to be, and she’s said yes.” And when I get out of here, he thought, the first thing I will do is fix a wedding date. “I’d like to travel to the Mission San José to be wed properly, since the judge in these parts is in cahoots with The League.” Sal felt a kinship with his fellow prisoners, having been cooped up with them, facing the same dangers, so he spoke honestly. He grinned reassuringly. “But I don’t want to take the time to travel to San José. Once we get out of here I’d like to be wed immediately. My father was a ship’s captain. He could have married us.”