Hard Gold by Avi

myself up and began to walk in the direction where I thought the fort was. At one point I stopped and looked about. Where was Mr. Mawr? Though he was nowhere in sight, I had little doubt he had deliberately set the buffalo running with his pistol. That’s to say, it was no less than attempted murder.
    It made me ill to think it.
    I spied the fort. I was still approaching it when I saw Lizzy, red hair fluttering like some signal of distress, running across the plains in my direction.
    Seeing me, she halted. “Early!” she yelled. “You all right?”
    “Think so,” I called and walked on.
    She kept running toward me. When we reached each other she stood before me, panting, her face anxious, her green eyes welling with tears. “Mr. Mawr … came riding into … camp,” she gasped. “He said you had been trampled by the buffalo. Killed!”
    “Almost was,” I said.
    “What happened?”
    I told her.
    “You really think he did that on purpose?” She glanced toward the fort, as if Mr. Mawr might suddenly appear.
    “Remember our talk at Council Bluffs?” I said. “When we were trying to figure out what he was going to do? If he was going to try and keep me from going, or just follow me to Jesse?”
    She nodded.
    “Yesterday I made the mistake of telling him that Jesse didn’t know I was coming out to him. He must have decided he could kill me and go after Jesse’s gold himself.”
    “Mr. Early,” she said with sudden anger, the tears now running down her cheeks, “you must promise me never to go anywhere with that man alone. Do you understand? Never!”
    Though still shaken within, I was touched by her caring. “I promise,” I said, grateful that she was there.
    Then, to my great surprise, she gave me a hug. “Early,” she said with great fierceness, “since the death of Apollo, you are my best and only friend! I won’t have you dead!”
    I supposed I grinned. “I won’t let it happen,” I said.
    “Do you swear?” she insisted.
    “I swear.”
    “Then we are sweethearts.”
    “We are?” I said, taken aback.
    “Yes!”
    “If you say so,” I managed, not knowing what to say otherwise, but feeling glad.
    Together, we went back to camp.
    “Lizzy,” I said, “I can’t prove what Mr. Mawr was doing. I suppose it’s best not to say anything. And since I’m alive, I guess he’s going to have to follow me.”
    She agreed.
    When we arrived, other folks who had heard Mr. Mawr proclaim my death congratulated me on my miraculous survival.
    Then Mr. Mawr approached, but an angry look from me stopped him at some yards’distance.
    We spoke no words but merely glared at one another. For myself I can say no silence ever spoke a more hateful exchange. But then, I suppose mortal enemies require no spoken words.
    So it was on that day that I gained both an enemy and a sweetheart.
    For one, at least, I was gratified.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

    Going On
    June 15, 1859
    W E LEFT Fort Kearny early, only to have our wagon break down. One of our rear wheels was off kilter. I had forgotten to tar it properly before we set off. As I watched the rest of the wagon train push on, I thought of what Adam would have said, and I expected no less from Mr. Bunderly. All he said, however, was “Mr. Early, it’s been my singular fate to learn that one gains good experience from doleful events. Therefore, good and bad constitute one’s education in equal measure. Let us, therefore, rejoice in the increase of our knowledge and hasten to repair the wheel.”
    In fact, it was Lizzy and I who worked to fix the wagon, which required much unloading and reloading. As for Mr. Bunderly, he took care of his wife, who was doing poorly that day.
    Once done, we hastened on and caught up with the others. As we went, we met a mule-pulled wagon going back toward the states. On its cloth cover was writ large:
    PIKE’S PEAK A FRAUD!
    During the day a new troubling thought came to me. “What if,” I asked Lizzy, “Jesse has already gone back, and