The Next Day.

The Next day

Linc was still tired, even with a nap which he seldom did. He had
trouble getting to sleep. He wondered about the Chinese, The dead
ones and the live ones who are snooping around in Colorado. He
wondered how they found out about the claims. They must still have
Lewis and his Mom under surveillance. He wondered if they would ever
give up.
He tossed and turned, and finally got up, and told Angel, " let's go
to the retreat. I always sleep good there"
At the retreat he wandered around the house. The place really needed
to be cleaned up after everyone had been here. He had told his Mom to
leave things as they were, he would do the laundry and the clean up.
He tore the bedding off the bed he usually slept in and replaced it
with clean bedding. He also took the bedding from Gramps bed, and put
it all in the washer, set up the coffee maker, then he went to bed,
and slept like a log.
He woke up about five the next morning, just as the coffee maker came
on. He went out with Angel and sat in the early morning sunshine.
After a bit, he went in, put on some clothes, got a cup of coffee and
went back out in the sunshine. He did feel a bit guilty because he
didn't bring Gramps with him, but he was fast asleep back at the farm.
He relished this time alone, after all the hustle and bustle of the
Christmas holiday with the family.
He spent the next two days working. He cleaned the house and the
cave. Got all the laundry done. He and Angel went on long walks and
he worked with her with and without a leash. She was a very smart dog
and minded very well. He was proud of her. And she was turning in to
quite a beautiful dog as well. If Jenny could see her now…Wow.
Linc made two lists. One for things to get right away and one of
things he would have to get later in the year. That evening he went
back to the farm, and got into bed. He slept good through the night
this time.
The next morning John told him that he was going over to the big ranch
and help round up some cattle that were hiding out up in the woods.
They had to get them out before the heavy snow fell. Lucas said he
was going over with John to visit with a couple of old timers that
still lived on the ranch,
Later Linc asked Trudy if she needed anything from town because he was
going in to get a few things and to get a haircut. She had a short
list of stuff. He took the list, and Angel and left for town.
As he was driving past the road that led up to the old prospect where
the Chinese died in the cave in, he saw Gus opening the gate to drive
in. He stopped to see what was up. Gus told him to jump in and go
with him up to the place. He and Angel did. On the way, he told Linc
that the team had the bodies out , and the man he had up there
watching them called him a while ago and said they flew two bodies out
that morning and had to come back for the last one. In the meantime
he said a couple of guys on the team were digging a hole in the clay
and rusty quartz area. He said he told them to stop it but the said
they needed some pieces of the type of rocks the fell on the men and
killed them. His man thought that was stupid because there were
rocks all over the place that they tossed off the bodies. He thought
that was crazy so he called Gus and told him what was going on. Gus
said he grabbed a few of his larger sample bags and headed up there
before they took any material out. He told Linc he would appreciate
It if he was there to make sure they didn't dig into the vein, that
he got the gold samples from.
When they got there, they could see the two guys had some of the ore
rocks piled up, waiting for the copter to return for the last body and
bring something to put the rocks and ore in. Gus went up to them and
told them to get the hell out of the area and wait across the wash for
the copter, They did not have any permission to take anything off the
property except the bodies. Linc told Gus that the Chinese had dug
right where he had got the samples he had given him. He and Linc
gathered up the rocks and put everything into the sample bags. Gus
told his man, thanks for calling him and letting him know what was
going on. Gus had called the sheriff just before he left the mine, and
he could hear the sheriff's copter coming now. The copter for the
last body was not far behind.
The sheriff landed, he told the Chinese to take the last body and get
out of his jurisdiction before he had them arrested for claim jumping,
by digging a hole that wasn't to uncover the dead men. The Chinese
were not a bit pleased that they didn't get away with the rocks and
ore. The man that Gus had there told Gus that the Chinese were
already there that morning when he got there. He said they had all
three bodies out and were taking them across the wash . He said they
must have got there almost before the sun came up, and he thought that
a bit strange, because they were usually late and never got there
until after he got there. Angel went into the drift that had been
uncovered when they took the bodies out, and start sniffing around.
Linc thought it was because she smelled where the men had been buried.
She started digging. Linc called to her but she kept at it, so he
went back in to see what fascinated her so much. He could see
something metal, and brushed away the dirt. He called the sheriff
over and told him to take a look at what she had uncovered. The
sheriff said , damned if this isn't a land mine. Whoa doggie! He
called the office and told the Deputies to go to the hotel and arrest
the whole blasted works of those Chinese. Told them to make sure they
got all cell phones, and not to let them make any calls.. He said if
they want to know why they are under arrest, tell them, Attempted
murder. He told the Chinese still waiting for the copter to take them
out, and told them they were under arrest too. He told Linc, he
didn't think the claim of attempted murder would stick, but he knew
'reckless endangerment' would.
Linc told Angel to find any thing else. She wandered around sniffing,
and found three more land mines. The Chinese had planned that any
work on that prospect would blow the equipment and men to smithereens.
How did they think they could get away with that, except maybe if the
Tru Blu Mine didn't plan on doing any mining on the property for a
while, they could claim they had nothing to do with it and it would be
hard to prove it if all the land mines exploded and killed men and
destroyed the mines and mining equipment. Only trouble is, they could
now see that they were of Chinese make. Sheriff was madder that a wet
hen, because he figured this would cause a international incident. He
was cussing a blue streak. Blasted damn Chinese had to come to
Goldfield of all places and create such a blasted mess. He patted
Angel and told her what a good dog she was. Linc told the sheriff,
she was good at finding metal things.
Sheriff called in his bomb squad to get the land mines, and more
deputies to take the Chinese in to the Sheriff's office. .
Gus and Linc loaded up the bags and made to go. The sheriff told Gus
to stop at the office after a bit to sign papers on the Chinese.
Gus told his man to report to the mine office after everyone had
cleared the property, then he and Linc headed back to town.
On the way back out to the main road, Linc told Gus about the claims
in Colorado and how the Chinese were hassling Jane and Lewis. They
seem to be relentless in trying to find out about the ore there and
it's uses.
When they got back to town, they went on over to Annie's Café. Gus
told his wife Annie, what had happened up at the prospect and now
they had to wait til the Sheriff got back to town. They sat and had
some coffee and a piece of pie while they waited. Linc called Trudy
and told her about the incident and not to expect him back for a
while.
After a bit, the dispatcher at the Sheriff's office called Gus and
told him that the Sheriff was back, and for them to come on over.
At the Sheriff's office, they found the Sheriff still cussing the
Chinese. The place was full of people from the local news office, and
a news crew from California. There were a couple of lawyers from
California as well. Place was crowded, but a deputy took them into a
private room and soon the Sheriff came in with some papers for them
to sign. There were affidavits about the claim jumping act, and the
land mines with the Chinese markings that Angel found, and to verify
that they both witnessed the finding and saw all of them after they
were found. After signing them, a deputy let them out a back door so
they could avoid the press people. Gus told Linc to keep in touch,
and left. Linc drove on over to the store to get the things he and
Trudy wanted.
He got everything on both lists and took them out to the truck. He
put the things in the totes he had for them, got Angel and took the
things for the retreat, and went there. He put the stuff away and
went back to the truck.
He called Axel and told him what had happened. Axel told him he would
alert the people in Colorado who were keeping an eye on things there.
He also told Linc to keep him informed of everything with the Chinese
incident. That was going to be a real mess. Linc called Jane and
clued her in on what was going on and repeated the reason for all of
them to take care. He also called his folks and told them before
they heard it on the news.
Linc no more got out of town when Angel indicated she had to go. He
pulled off the road to take her out. She ran off the highway to do
her thing when a car stopped and two men got out and grabbed Link and
threw him into the car, and sped off leaving Angel behind. They
turned around and headed back to town, with Angel running behind.

To be continued.