Quicksilver Passion (98 page)

No man was invited up to her room and no one, not even Al, knew about the one night Cherokee Evans had spent there. She knew that men whispered that her heart was as hard as her eyes and the metal she was named for, but she didn’t care. No one knew that after she sang and danced and laughed with the customers, she went upstairs, locked her door, and alternately cried for Cherokee and cursed his name.

It was a hot summer day when a trio of Mexicans herded the small flock of sheep down the main street to provide meat for the hungry prospectors.

Silver had just come from the Haw Tabor’s store and she paused now in front of the Nugget to smile at the trio trying vainly to keep the nervous woolies moving while the animals ran every which way, baaing and bleating.

One of the men paused for a long moment, looked her way uncertainly, then collapsed in the street.

Instantly, Silver ran and knelt by his side. Others came running, too. She managed to get his head in her lap and looked around for help.
Al? Al? Drat it all! Where are you? I need you!”

The bartender looked a little ill himself, she thought as he stuck his head out the saloon doors, then pushed his way through the crowd.
Silver, you’ll get dirty.”

I can’t help that. This man is sick. Get some men to help and carry him into the Nugget.”

Around her, she heard a murmur that the herder was just a Mexican and not worth bothering about.

With a rush of anger, she glared at the people and put her hand on the man’s forehead. He was burning with fever.
Al, help me!”

Al grumbled, but he got Hank and Zeke and some of the others to help carry the herder in and lay him on one of the Nugget’s tables. Then she sent someone running for Doc, but he was out at a distant ranch delivering a baby and wouldn’t be back for a day or so.

In the meantine, Silver decided to do the best she could for the pitiful wretch. She moved him into a spare bed and everyone who worked for her took turns helping with him. Even the customers came in to have a curious look at the feverish and unconscious Mexican whose friends had evidently deserted him now that they had sold their sheep.

Word spread about the Mexican and his mysterious ailment. Silver herself sat by his bedside, only leaving to rest when Al himself offered to take over for her. It seemed to her that half the town came by the room to visit and gossip before Doc finally got back and came to the Nugget to diagnose the case.

But by the time Doc got there, Silver already knew. She looked from Al’s horrified face to Doc’s, then back down to the Mexican’s. His face was broken out in big blisters and pustules. Even if he lived, he would be horribly scarred for life.

She had never been so terrified as she was at that moment because, like everyone else, she’d heard how deadly and contagious the disease was.

She took a deep, trembling breath, looking at the man’s disfigured face, then back to Doc.
Is it—is it what I think it is?”

Doc nodded.
My God, Silver, as contagious as this is, you should have left him to die in the street!”

I couldn’t do that, Doc.” She took the man’s hand.
Even if I had known, I couldn’t have ignored his need—not even if I had known he had smallpox!”

It was smallpox all right. Within days, the deadly killer spread like wildfire through Buckskin Joe. Half the town was sick or dying, the other half, including Nellie and many of the saloon girls, fled in panic, spreading the disease still farther.

Silver, Al, and a handful of others toiled without rest to ease the misery of the dying while Doc pleaded vainly for outside help. His messages to Denver fell mostly on deaf ears; doctors and nurses themselves were too afraid to come.

An English doctor named Jenner had come up with a vaccination to protect from smallpox, but there was none in the town, and anyway, it was too late for those already stricken.

No hotel or other saloon would accept the sick, so Silver turned the Nugget into one giant hospital room. That closed down her business, so there was no money coming in. When Doc began to run out of supplies, she sold her jewelry, all but the gold nugget bracelet Cherokee had given her. That she never took off; she even slept in it. Then to buy food and medicine, she spent the rest of her own money while Al complained.

Silver, think of yourself! Remember, you won’t always be pretty. When you’re old, you’ll need the security your gold will bring.”

She merely shrugged and kept working at Zeke’s bedside.
I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do everything I could for these poor devils, Al.”

He took a swig of bitters.
You know what your biggest problem is, Silver? You got a heart soft as butter; maybe that’s what I love the most about you.”

It was the first time he had ever said anything like that to her.
Love” made her think of Cherokee and it hurt to think she had been used. At least she wasn’t expecting his baby. She had mixed feelings about that.
Al, you don’t look so good yourself. How do you feel?”

All right,” he said, but his face told her otherwise.
Look, Silver, get some rest.”

There’s too many sick people for that.” She straightened up and put her hand on her aching back.

During the night, Zeke died and then Old Hank. She hadn’t time to even stop and weep for these special friends. There were too many who needed a cold cloth on a burning forehead, or a spoonful of broth.

By the next day, Al’s face was broken out in the horrible splotches. He was too weak to get up off his bed. Silver ached with weariness as she laid her face against his arm and wept.

Silver,” he whispered,
get out of this town before it’s too late!”

I couldn’t leave you; not after all you’ve done for me. If everyone runs, who’ll care for the sick?”

Get out, I tell you!” He was almost savage with her.
If you get this, most likely you’ll die. The few who survive with be horribly scarred.”