Chapter 4
They found a spare tent in the makeshift storage area, which was largely a collection of wooden crates that had held their supplies when they first came to start up the mine. There were several odds and ends there that might be useful.
“You can take anything you like,” Andrew said.
Julie smiled. It was a lovely smile that turned up at the corners of her mouth and rose to meet her eyes, which were outlined by her long black lashes. Her irises were the blue of the ocean on a cold winter’s day.
“Are there plans to make the town more permanent?” Julie asked as she helped herself to some of the smaller crates and things.
Andrew hefted the tent. It was cumbersome more than heavy. “I would like to make it permanent,” he said. “There are factors to consider, though, before we do that.”
“Like what?” Julie asked. “Can we set up on the edge of the camp closest to the mine? I think it would be better if injured men got to me as fast as possible.”
“Of course,” Andrew said, heading to where she was pointing.
She had clearly thought about his men’s welfare already.
He loved that she was so thoughtful. “And to answer your question, we’re still working out if the mine is going to be viable or not.
There’s no point in investing a lot of time and money in a mine that will only produce ore for a year or two. This is a long-term investment.”
She listened, and he could see the words sinking in. Slowly, she nodded. “And how long will it take you to figure that out?”
“We’re almost there,” he explained. “A couple weeks of more work following the seam, and we should have a good idea of how deep and wide this thing goes. I have Ethan, Hunter, and Jeff down there now taking samples and drilling cores. We should know soon. Ethan will have to smelt what we extract from the various sections to see if the quality stays constant. That’s also an important factor.
If the quality dips below a certain point, then it’s not viable.
” He smiled hopefully. “I have a good feeling though. I think this is a good load.”
“I hope it is,” Julie said brightly. “It would be sad to pack all this up and leave. Well, for you, I imagine.”
He chuckled. “I imagine you wouldn’t mind heading back to town.”
Julie pulled a face. “Is it that obvious? I’m a little nervous being this far from town. I’m used to lots of strangers around me. They make me feel safe, it seems. I’d never realized that before.”
“And now you don’t feel safe?”
She shrugged. "Not entirely. I’m not used to feeling so antsy, honestly.”
“It’s a natural reaction to the surroundings,” he reassured her. “I felt something similar when we first came out here. But you’re not alone.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’re in this together. Okay?”
She put her hand on his and looked up at him, her smile as warm as her eyes. “Thank you. I like that.”
A moment later they reached the spot she had chosen under a cedar elm.
“I need the shade for the remedies,” Julie explained. “These tents are lovely, but the white cloth makes them very bright, and the heat out here will make all my oils rancid in the blink of an eye.”
“You know your business best,” Andrew said. He thought for a moment. “If you like, we could cut flaps in the sides to allow air to flow through the tent. Maybe that would help?”
Julie pursed her lips as she thought it over. Yet again, he realized he had been truly blessed to find her. Not only was she beautiful, but she was also smart, confident, and capable.
“Maybe that will work,” she said. “Let’s set up and see.”
For the next hour or so, Andrew helped Julie to set up the tent, get the crates, table, and a couple of chairs arranged inside, and even found a spare cot for her to use for patients.
This was one of the bigger tents they had brought with them, which could sleep four men.
It gave her some space for a waiting area, she explained.
“Is it all right if I leave you to get your medications sorted?” he asked when he’d finished everything he thought he could help with. “I need to get to work. Later we can have lunch and maybe go for a walk together. What do you say?”
Julie stopped what she was doing and turned to him. Her smile was radiant, and she took his hand in hers. “I think that would be wonderful.”
With his heart thrumming in his chest, Andrew went to his tent. His desk was a plank over a frame, and his chair was a crate. He missed actual furniture. Funny how it was always the little things that made him miss civilization.
Some parts of civilization had no trouble finding him though.
Paperwork. It was ridiculous how the financier wanted constant updates, as though it wasn’t a three-hour ride to San Antonio, which was the closest place to send a telegram or letter from.
He was becoming quite pushy, and Andrew was grateful that he was a couple of weeks away from the mine.
At least he had time to think about what he wanted to tell the man whose money was paying for a large portion of this mine.
The rest was what they, the founding twelve, could scrape together.
It made them all beholden to the man back east, Mr. Ian McGregor, one of the most successful merchants on the East Coast. Andrew’s father, who was a successful attorney, moved in those circles, and approaching “Uncle Ian” had seemed the easiest thing in the world at first. And yet, now that he was no longer Uncle Ian but the financier of a large portion of their endeavor, the friendliness seemed to have evaporated.
Suddenly, Andrew was dealing with the tycoon, the man who demanded success and excellence and a return on his investment quickly and without delay. The fact that the mine was taking time to set up seemed to be making Ian a little antsy.
Once again, this latest letter demanded a progress report.
Andrew wished he could write in the report that he had the projections for the mine and that it was all as rosy as he had hinted at.
Maybe he could wait a couple of days before replying.
He wasn’t planning to head back to town anytime soon.
Maybe Ethan could smelt the ore they had extracted so far and then he would have something to write.
There were other things that needed his attention too.
There was Walter’s budget report, which took him several hours to go through.
Despite growing a lot of their own food, this little venture was costing a lot of money to keep running.
The coffers were still reasonably full. No need to panic just yet, but Andrew felt the weight of his responsibility here growing heavier on his shoulders every day.
He finished up, said a prayer for guidance and peace, then decided to head back out to the mine.
He stopped in to check on Julie first. She was humming to herself as she packed little cardboard boxes of dried herbs away.
“How are things coming?” Andrew asked, poking his head into the tent’s interior.
“Oh, fine,” she said with a little nod, one wayward curl tumbling down her forehead in a way that made Andrew’s fingers itch to smooth it back. “Some of my supplies were ruined when the trunk was tossed about, so I’d really like to start that herb garden I mentioned before.
Andrew nodded. “If they’ll grow, you’re welcome to try.”
“How many horses are here?” she asked.
That was an odd question.
“Five. Why?”
“What happens to their manure?” she asked.
“It’s piled away from the camp,” he said.
“Can I use some of it?” she asked. “It’s fantastic fertilizer. My father swears by it. We get wheelbarrows of the stuff delivered all the time, and I’ve never seen herbs grow as well as his do.”
“Huh.” He shook his head. “Never even thought of that. You learn something every day.”
Julie chuckled. “I find that is the case when you’re in stimulating company.” The look she gave him made him wonder if she was including him in that category. He’d like it if she was.
Andrew gestured outside her tent. “Well, feel free to use whatever you need. Just let me know if you need some help.”
Julie smiled, and Andrew’s heart did that funny tingling thing again as he walked away. He liked her smile very much. In fact, he was starting to like all of her a lot.
Ethan and the others were still down the shaft, drilling ore samples. He talked with Troy for a while as they drew up plans to put in a proper elevator that would be able to take men and equipment into the mine.
“Andrew.” Julie walked up, the sun high overhead by now and casting a golden gleam in her dark hair. “Could I have some of that help you were offering?”
“Lunch!” a voice called from the camp.
Troy went to the hole and pulled on a line. The bell in the shaft rang, and soon the others started coming up one by one.
“Oh. Well then, after lunch?” Julie asked.
Andrew nodded. “Of course. And you still owe me a walk.”
“Could we do that tomorrow? I’m kind of in the middle of getting things sorted out and ready to take on emergencies.”
Couldn’t argue with that logic. “Sure.”
“We knew each other from childhood,” Troy told Julie over a big bite of a sandwich. “We all went to the same school.”
“And we lived three houses apart,” Michael added.
“Which wasn’t far enough,” Jeff joked.
Michael thumped him in the ribs, making them both laugh.
“How did you find the mine?” she asked, over a bite of her own sizable sandwich. She had a solid appetite, which Andrew much preferred to someone who lived on cucumber sandwiches and tea cakes.
“You can tell her, Andrew, since you’re the one who found it,” Jeff said.
Andrew sighed. He’d been mocked about this for two years now. “Jeff and I studied geology, and Michael studied something to do with minerals. We thought it would be a good idea to come out here and test our skills. We weren’t looking for a mine. We were just … kind of looking.”
“And then one day, we were taking samples. One moment, Andrew was beside me,” Michael said. “And the next, he vanished with a scream.”
“I did not scream!” Andrew protested.
“He vanished?” Julie asked, her eyes wide.
“Uh-huh,” Michael said. “He’d fallen down what we’re now using as the entrance to the mine. He fell a good way down before some roots stopped his fall.”
“And then the roots snapped under my weight, and I fell the rest of the way and broke my leg,” Andrew muttered sheepishly.
“And that was how we found the mine. In my defense, the opening was overgrown with weeds. And there’d been some good rain, so there was a lot of mud, which didn’t help with footing. ”
“How is the leg now?” she asked. “Was it set properly?”
“It’s fine; it was a clean break,” Andrew said.
“We rushed him to San Antonio and got him some help,” Jeff said. “He was laid up for six weeks, which he spent in a nice hotel in town while we all roughed it out here. I think he did it on purpose.”
“Sure, I broke a bone on purpose.” He rolled his eyes at the familiar ribbing.
“I’m glad you got it properly seen to,” Julie said. “In the little town where I grew up, we would often get children with broken arms and legs that weren’t set properly. Sometimes there was nothing we could do but rebreak the limb and set it again. Not pleasant for anyone involved.”
He winced, grateful to have avoided that particular experience.
By dinnertime, both he and Julie were tired and dirty—her from already starting to break ground for her garden, him from going back down into the mine to help with ore extraction.
Dinner was rice and stew. The meat in the stew was chicken from a local farmer who lived about thirty minutes from the camp.
“I think I’m going to buy some fowls from him,” Ethan said. “Then we can get fresh eggs every morning.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Warren said as they sat around the campfire. “I’m sure Troy can build a henhouse for them.”
“Hey, stop adding to my list of things to do,” Troy protested.
“You know, I could use a hand setting up my garden. And Andrew’s so busy …” Julie commented, causing Troy’s eyebrows to shoot up until he realized she was teasing.
Andrew enjoyed watching as she joked around with his friends, fitting in among them like she’d been here for months instead of just a day.
It felt like the day had just flown by as he walked her to her tent and bid her good night with a soft kiss. He fell asleep quickly, exhausted after a long day but more at peace than he’d felt in a long while.
A loud crack of thunder woke him. Andrew sat bolt upright. The wind was howling through the tent, making it shake. He sat up and put his feet out of bed, finding the ground wet.
Water covered his ankles. Hastily he pulled his legs up and, striking a match to light the lamp beside the cot, looked around for his boots. He found them and pulled them on. Where had all this water come from? Still bleary from sleep, Andrew opened his tent flap and stepped out into the storm.