“Howdy, Con. I didn’t recognize you there at first. Do you know this manf” “We’re riding together.” I’d heard tell of Bill Bush. He was partners with Silver Dollar Tabor, one of the most prominent men in town, and occasionally his rival.
“I didn’t know you were in this part of the country, Con.” “Tried my hand at buffalo hunting. When Shell Tucker came along, I threw in with him.” “You’ve got some old friends in town, Con.
Dave May’ has opened a dep at ent store here-I think you knew him. Mayer Guggenheim””has a share in some mining properties, and there’s talk of building a smelter.
‘David May founded the May Co. stores.
“Meyer Guggenheim founded the Guggenheim fortime here.
Bush sipped his drink. “My don’t you fellows join me for dinner at the Tontine? I’d appreciate it.” “Thanks,” I said, ‘b I-was “We’ll come,” Con interrupted. ‘About seven?” Outside, I said, “Con, you know I ain’t fixed to go such a place.
My clothes aren’t fit, and besides, Pa always said a man should have the money to carry his share of the load, and I ain’t got it.” “Don’t worry. I want you to come. As for the clothes, we can buy you an outfit. When you get some money you can pay me back.” “You got it to spare? Con, I wouldn’t want to put you in a bind.” ‘My credit is good.” With Con to advise, I bought a black suit, some shirts, underwear, ties, and what-all. It was more clothes than I’d ever had at one time in my life.
He suggested I also buy some new riding clothes, so I did.
Leaving Mays store, we walked around to the Clarendon Hotel, completed only a short time before. That and the Grand, operated by Thomas Walsh.
were the places-to stay. I’d never been inside such a place before, but when Con Judy walked up to the desk you’d have thought he owned the place.
Nothing was said about money, and if anybody thought we were dressed rough for the hotel they made no comment.
Leadville was used to men in digging clothes who turned into millionaires overnight.
Upstairs in our room, Con motioned toward the bath.
‘allyou first,” he said. “I’ve got to see some people.” Well, that bath was mighty fine. When” I’d finished and I’d shaved, I dolled up in that black suit, and looked to be worth as much as any man in the place.
Con came back, glanced at me, and nodded.
“You’ll do, Shell.
Better stay in the room-I’ll be ready in a jiffy.” I didn’t have any plans for going out. I wasn’t anxious to get shot up in my new suit, but I was wishing I could get the crease out of my store-bought suit before I went –nemas Walsh was the father of Evelyn Walsh McLean, owner of the Hope Diamond.
where folks could see me. That crease was a sure sign my suit had come off the shelf, and wasn’t tailored.
Nobody had creases in their pants if they could help it.
When Con came back into the room he was dressed and ready. He’d left an outfit at the hotel some months earlier.
When we entered the Tontine half an hour later anybody would have taken us for a couple of swells.
Nobody would have guessed I was a poor boy off the cap rock of Texas. But in my waistband I was packing a gun.
I was ready. I was real ready.
The Tontine was the most elegant place I’d ever been in, and as I sat quiet at the table listening to the talk between Bill Bush, who owned the Clarendon, and Con Judy, I began to see that those outlaws I’d thought so important were really a mighty small catch.
Con smoked a long black Cuban cigar and talked about railroads, hotels, and banking until I couldn’t believe he was the same man I’d met in a buffalo camp.
The thing that surprised me was how everybody listened to what he had to say. I mean, you felt he was somebody important. during supper half a dozen men stopped by to speak to him, and to ask his opinion on this or that.
Of course, as pa had told me and as Id learned of my ownself, you never knew who you were meeting around a campfire, in a bunkhouse or a saloon. Men took on the color of the country they were in, assumed its ways of speaking, its dress and manners.
From what was said I gathered that Con was an engineer, that he’d speculated in mines, railroads, and steamboats, and had made half a dozen fortunes.
He was respected. Bill Bush and David May, who everybody said was an up-and-coming man, listened with attention to what Con said.
“You should go into road-building, Con,” Bush said.
“Colorado has the ore, but we need roads to get it out.
The best mines are in the high country, and to many of the mines there are only trails.” Bush left us to talk to some friends, and Con talked to me about some of the men we’d met. He pointed out a man across the room. “He’s got a nice business now, and he’s going to make it big.” Con brushed the ash from his cigar. “When he came into town he was broke. He found out they were refilling champagne bottles, so he began collecting them.
They say he collected over nine thousand, saved his money, and started trading.” Several of the men who stopped by the table had heard that somebody had taken a shot at Con, and he corrected them and told them it was me who had been shot at. Shooting was no unusual thing in at adville, but it didn’t happen every day, either, and nobody likes a dry-gulcher who’ll shoot out of the dark at a man.
When we were alone, Con said, “Shell, you’ll find times when you have to fight. The secret is never to hunt trouble.” “I did not say that. They brought trouble to you. The ‘allyou mean I shouldn’t look for Reese and them?” money is rightfully yours, and you must settle it as you see fit.
“I brought you here tonight for several reasons. First, because you are my friend and I enjoy your company.
Second, because I wanted some of the respectable citizens of the town to know you in case the-re is trouble later. Third, because it is time for you to realize there are other aspects of the world than those you have seen so far.” He paused, drank some coffee, and then went on, “We will always have Reeses and Heseltines, and they will always seem big and brave to growing boys.
They swagger and make loud noises in their own little circle, but they are only the coyotes that yap around the heels of the herd.” ‘Remember this, Shell, the coyotes aren’t going anywhere, but the herd is, and so are the men who drive the herd.” There was sense in what he said, but it rankled a little bit. I didn’t like the feeling that I hadn’t known better, but it was true that in this place a man like Reese would have been pretty small potatoes.
“Guns don’t count in this place.” Con continued. “Here it is intelligence, energy, the ability to begin and complete a job. Those are the things that matter.” He waved a hand around the room. “Some of them will make it big, some will fail, but all are trying. They are making money, but they are building a nation in the process. They will make mistakes .
— — one always does when one moves fast, but they will accomplish a great deal, too. when a man opens a mine, builds a mill or a railroad, he has not only done something for himself but he had opened a way for others to make a living, many of whom he will never know or see; often they will live far from him or what he has done.
“We won’t have a Perfect country until we have perfect People, but we can try.
“That’s all well enough, Con, but I’ve got to get my money back.
Will they help me?” They won’t help you Shell, and well you know it He smiled.
“No. “Everybody rides his own bran , cause that’s your business, but they will be watching to see now you do it, and how you do it will be remembered- And there is something else. If You handle this in a straight-forward manner, You’ll have all their weight behind You when the shooting is over and it can make a difference. . . . ‘If a stranger, a drifting cowhand, comes into town and shoots somebody down he may get pretty rough handling before anybody knows the why of it.
Western men are inclined to be abrupt. So now they know about you.