The Sheriff

At the Boston harbor, on the bitter cold morning of March 27, 1855, the two young women hugged again.

But neither laughed.

“I’ll miss you so,” said a teary-eyed Alexandra.

“And I you,” Kate replied, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat.

She turned away and hurried up the gangway of the clipper ship Star of Gold.

Three

May 1, 1855

San Francisco, California

“Conlin. Harry Conlin, California representative for Clement and Clement.” A smiling, expensively dressed man with salt-and-pepper hair stepped forward to meet Kate when she disembarked at the busy harbor early on that May morning. “From J.J.’s description, you must be Miss Kate VanNam, heir to Mrs. Arielle VanNam Colfax’s estate.”

Kate shook his offered hand. “Yes, sir, I am Kate VanNam. Thank you for meeting me, Mr. Conlin.”

“Welcome to San Francisco,” he said with a friendly smile, “port of entry and financial center for the mining camps of the mother lode. Here, let me take that.”

Harry Conlin quickly relieved Kate of her heavy valise. He took her arm and guided her through the swarms of merchants, shippers and passengers packing the Vallejo Street wharf. Dodging handcarts and wagons, coaches and cabs, Conlin and Kate carefully threaded their way through the crowd.

When they reached the berth where the steam packet Lady Luck was moored, Harry Conlin explained, “Miss VanNam, I’ve engaged a stateroom for you on board.”

“No, Mr. Conlin, I won’t be needing a stateroom for such a short journey. I’ll just—”

Interrupting, he said, “Miss VanNam, Fortune is a hundred and fifty miles from San Francisco.”

Kate frowned, disappointed. “That far? I thought surely I’d be there this by afternoon.”

“I’m sorry. I know you must be terribly exhausted. Perhaps you’d prefer to spend the night here in San Francisco and leave tomorrow or the next day?”

“No, I’m quite anxious to reach Fortune.”

“Very well. You’ll spend a couple of nights on the Lady Luck before reaching the river settlement of Golden Quest and transferring to a much smaller steamer for the shorter trip to Fortune.” Kate nodded, trying to smile. Conlin ushered her up the gangway.

Once on board, Harry Conlin said, “Now, tell me about your long journey from Boston. Was it terribly harrowing?”

“Not at all,” Kate replied and meant it. “It was an unforgettable adventure.” Though weaker than when she had set out, Kate had lost none of her enthusiasm. “I can’t imagine why anyone would complain about such an incredible experience.”

“No seasickness, no ocean storms?”

“Well, I was a bit seasick, but only for a day or two. And there were a couple of storms with high winds that pitched the ship around, but I wasn’t all that frightened.” She smiled then and declared, “It took us only eleven days—with an overnight call in Havana—to reach the Caribbean port city of Aspinwall. There all the passengers disembarked and we were transferred to open-air railcars for the forty-eight miles across the isthmus to Panama. There, we embarked on the Sonora and steamed north for fifteen days. And here we are!”

“Here you are indeed,” said Conlin, charmed and amazed that this spirited young woman registered no complaints whatsoever regarding a route most found extremely difficult.

“I’m so glad to be in California,” she said. “And I can hardly wait to reach Fortune.”

“Well, the Lady Luck will be getting under way very shortly,” he stated. “Time for me to disembark. You’ll be okay? You don’t need anything or…”

“You’ve been most kind, Mr. Conlin.” Kate thanked him warmly.

“My pleasure, Miss VanNam,” he said with a smile. “Should you decide you’ve had enough of Fortune, just hop the steamer coming downriver and return to San Francisco. Our firm will work something out with you, take the Fortune property off your hands.”

“I’ll remember that,” Kate said, and bade him goodbye.

In minutes the Lady Luck left the harbor. Soon it was steaming its way up the American River toward the towering Sierra Nevadas to the east.

Within an hour the vessel left the coastal hills behind and rode a rising tide up the long, winding waterway.

Two days later as Kate boarded the much smaller steamer at Golden Quest that would take her the rest of the way to Fortune, she entered the main cabin and looked curiously around. It was empty. There were rows of wooden seats. She chose one by a porthole, lowered her valise and sat down. She hoped against hope that no one would sit beside her. She wanted the opportunity to doze. She hadn’t slept well on the Lady Luck and was tired.

She started in alarm when she spotted coming down the aisle an unshaven, mean-looking man whose wrists were clamped in irons.

Kate tensed, then released her held breath when a skinny, sandy-haired fellow shoved the bearded character down into a seat across the aisle and two rows up. He then sat down beside him.

The man in irons looked back over his shoulder. His gap-toothed, leering grin sent a chill of distaste darting up her spine. Quickly, she turned her head and looked out the porthole.

“Would you mind if I sit beside you, miss?” a friendly voice asked. Kate looked up and saw a white-haired, well-dressed gentleman with a craggy, but kindly face smiling down at her. “Allow me to introduce myself,” the elderly gentleman said, thrusting out his hand. “I’m Dr. Milton Ledet and I’m on my way up to Fortune, just as you are.”

The steamer began to slowly move away from the levee as Kate nodded. “Kate VanNam, Dr. Ledet,” she replied, shaking the offered hand. “Yes, by all means, please join me.”

“Thank you, child.” The elderly physician took the seat beside her. “I so enjoy having a bit of company on long journeys, don’t you?” Not waiting for an answer, he added, “Have I seen you in Fortune before, Miss VanNam? Or is it Mrs. VanNam?”

“Miss. And no, you have not,” she replied. “I’ve never been there.”

The doctor’s white eyebrows lifted. “Then I suppose you live in San Francisco and you’re going up to visit a…?”

“No, sir. I am moving to Fortune from Boston, Massachusetts. I intend to make Fortune my new home.”

“Oh, my dear Miss VanNam,” Doc Ledet exclaimed impulsively, “I’m afraid you’ll find Fortune quite different from the charming old city of Boston.”

“I am well aware of that, Doctor,” she said with conviction. “No doubt there will be a degree of adjustment, but I don’t mind. The truth is I look forward to the challenges ahead.”

Dr. Ledet was instantly curious. Why would this beautiful young woman move to a mountain mining community she had never seen before? Not for a minute did the doctor entertain the possibility that she might be aiming to join the ranks of numerous “ladies of the evening” servicing the lonely miners. There was an innate dignity about her that spoke of good breeding and background. But why was this beautiful, golden-haired girl moving to Fortune, where the males outnumbered the females fifty to one?

Dr. Ledet longed to question her, but was wise enough to wait until she was ready to tell him.

“You probably know my reason for moving to Fortune,” Kate said, as though she’d read his mind.

“Let me guess,” he said, and rubbed his chin. “You have a sweetheart that came out to the goldfields, got settled in, sent for you and now you’re joining him to get married?”

“Heavens, no!” She waved a hand in the air as though it was a preposterous idea. Proudly, she stated, “I have inherited a gold mine.”

“You don’t say,” he replied. “Why, that’s wonderful! Is the mine…?”

“The Cavalry Blue,” Kate interrupted. “You may have heard of it?”