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June 1890
Dear future wife,
I only have time for a short letter, but it may be my last for a while. I am now on my way to Colorado via train. I look forward to getting there and seeing what the mine is like and how I can help the miners. Or if they even need any help. I hope they still need a doctor. No one there is answering any of my telegrams.
I have to go. The train is about to start up and I want you to actually be able to read these letters.
Sincerely,
Otis
***
The hymn the little girl had sung stuck with Otis the next few days and quickly became his favorite. One verse in particular seemed to fit those last days in Chicago:
With numberless blessings each moment He crowns,
And filled with His fullness divine,
I sing in my rapture, oh, glory to God!
For such a Redeemer as mine.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
That shadows a dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life in the depths of His love,
And covers me there with His hand,
And covers me there with His hand.
The whole hymn grew into a prayer for him as he packed, wrote and sent numerous letters and telegrams, and gathered as many supplies as he dared to buy in Chicago.
Mrs. Tyler was super sweet and helped him more than he expected her to. She made sure he had plenty of food for both himself and Robert to get the whole way there without buying any. Then she preserved it so it wouldn’t go bad.
Once Otis bought the train tickets, he walked to Pacific Garden Mission to find Robert. One of the volunteers there found him.
“You ready to leave?” Robert asked.
“Soon.” Otis handed him the ticket. “We leave tomorrow if that is all right.”
He nodded. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Do you want to meet at the station or here?”
“At the station is fine.”
“Do you need help carrying anything?”
“No.”
Otis hesitated but brought it up anyway. “Are you sure you don’t want an advance?”
“Yes.”
“All right. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
Robert said nothing, so Otis left. As he made his way through the crowded streets, he prayed silently, Father, help him release his bitterness to You. I know what it can do to a man. His prayer ended there as his mind wandered to Pa and all the things he had done out of anger and bitterness. He had torn their family apart. If it hadn’t been for the Brookings family, Otis knew he would have turned out much differently than he had.
***
Otis and Robert left with little fanfare. Dr. and Mrs. Tyler were there to see Otis off, but although they had lived with each other almost a year, they hadn’t seen much of each other. Dr. Tyler had taught him many of the things he now knew, but most of their relationship was strictly teacher to student.
Otis tried to talk to Robert as they traveled through Illinois, but he didn’t talk much, if at all, so Otis read one of his medical journals, slept, and did some walking up and down the train.
They had an overnight stay in Lincoln, Nebraska, while they got the train resupplied. While eating at the hotel, Otis tried to get Robert to talk.
“You don’t say much, do you?”
He shrugged. “Dunno. Not talkative, I guess.”
“But there must be a reason.”
“Why does there have to be a reason?”
Otis chewed his steak before answering. “I’ve known quiet men, but you are the quietest. I can understand you might be shy, but you haven’t even asked about your grandparents, uncle, or aunt. From what Joshua’s said, you used to really like him. If you’ve been away from your family very long, you probably don’t even know he has children.”
“He married a woman with a little girl. I knew he had a child.”
“Did you know he had two more?”
Robert shook his head.
“Andrew and Abigail. Andrew is four and Abigail is a year now. They are adorable—”
“I don’t care,” he hissed.
Otis sat back and studied him. “All right. I won’t push you.”
His scowl deepened. “I left because Pa kept pushing me to do things I didn’t want to do. I hated it and I grew to hate him. When he set me up to marry a girl, I couldn’t take it anymore. If I want to stay away from him, I need to make a clean break from my family. All of them. Including Uncle Joshua.”
Otis let out a long, low sigh. “I can’t promise to never talk about them because they were a big part of my life and still are.”
“Fair enough. But please don’t tell them much, if anything, about me.”
Otis swallowed hard and looked away.
“You already did, didn’t you?”
He nodded. “I’m sorry.”
Robert gripped his hands into fists. “Who and how much?”
“Joshua. All I said was that I had met you, that you appeared to be in a tough spot, and not to tell your parents anything yet. I also said I had offered you a job at the mine or mill.”
His fists unclenched. “Fine. But leave it at that.”
“I’ll try.”
They sat in silence for a while. Every so often, Otis glanced at him. His face remained fairly stoic, but his eyes showed the inner conflict.
“What about Aunt Ruth? She has a daughter, right?”
Otis smiled. So he was curious about them. “Yes. She and Micah have Jeremiah, Lily, William, and Sarah. They also have quite a few children from the orphanage in Helena.”
Robert didn’t say anything more after that, and they finished their meal and returned to their hotel room.
***
A few days later, the train pulled into Denver. As Otis went to find his trunk, he heard his name. He turned around expecting to see Robert, but Robert was staring at someone else hurrying toward them.
“Flynn!” Otis exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
“Joshua sent me with your horses to make sure they were treated right.”
They shook hands, and Otis beckoned for Robert to come over. Surprisingly, he did.
“Flynn, this is my new friend, Robert. Robert, this is one of Joshua’s ranch hands, Flynn.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Robert,” Flynn said.
Robert ignored the offered hand and nodded. “Do you need me for anything?”
Otis bit back a retort. “No.” Robert left and Otis turned back to Flynn. “Sorry about him. He’s... Well, shall we go get my trunk and see the horses Joshua picked out for me?”
Flynn nodded. Otis brought his trunk to the stagecoach station and arranged for it to be brought to Pueblo where he could pick it up at his convenience.
From there, they went to the livery stable. Otis had ordered three horses and easily picked them out in the corral. “Blaze, Sparky, and Mustang. Did Joshua have Grace and Andrew help pick them out?”
Flynn grinned. “Yep. Andrew insisted, ‘Mustang has to go to Unca Otith. No one else can ride him.’”
Otis laughed. “I miss that boy.”
“He misses you, too.”
Otis opened the corral gate and stepped inside, letting out a long, low whistle. Mustang’s ears perked up and he trotted toward Otis. Andrew had named Mustang for him before he had left, and the two of them had trained him to come to that particular whistle. Otis gave him a carrot he had brought all the way from Chicago.
“Thank you for bringing them. I hope you didn’t wait in town too long for my arrival.”
“Nope. I arrived this morning.”
“Good. Do I owe you anything?”
“Nope. Joshua took care of it all.”
Otis shook his head. “I can’t let him do that.”
“Yes, you can. He said you’d insist on paying and not to give in.”
“If you did give in, what did he threaten you with?”
“Nothing. He said to tell you the money would go to the first drifter or poor person I saw, drunk or not.”
Otis sighed. “Fine. I won’t pay. Do you want to join Robert and me for dinner?”
“I’d love to, but I need to head back.”
“So soon?”
“Since you’re here already, yes.”
“All right. I’ll see you around. I’m hoping to go visit sometime. But that will depend on how things are in Silver Camp.”
“I’ll let them know.”
“Thanks for everything, Flynn.”
“My pleasure.”
***
It took them a little over four days to get to Silver Camp. They rode in as any drifter might. Otis wanted to see what things were like there before letting them know who he was, and Robert went along with it. They had decided Robert would try to get a job at the mine, and Otis would act unsure of what he wanted to do.
They got a few stares from a couple lazy drifters sitting around, but mostly, the small mining town was deserted. A couple of women came out of Sam’s General Store. The women kept their heads down as they hurried past an empty building and then past the two men. Otis dismounted in front of the store and headed inside.
The owner straightened when the bell on his door rang, and a smile spread on his face when he saw them. “You new to town?”
“Yes,” Otis said. “My friend here was wondering who to see about getting work at the mine.”
“He can go to the mine and ask for Seneca. He’s the foreman of the mine. Such as it is.”
“What do you mean by that last statement?”
The owner pursed his lips. “I really shouldn’t say anything, but Seneca has little regard for people or money. From what I’ve seen, the mine spends more than it makes.”
“Doesn’t Seneca have issues paying the men?”
“Nah. The owner pays anything Seneca says he needs.”
“I see.”
“Is it safe to work there?” Robert asked.
Otis started at Robert’s voice. He hadn’t expected Robert to talk and then he went and asked the question Otis had wanted to ask but didn’t think he should.
The man shifted his feet and kept his eyes averted. “Depends on how desperately you need the job.”
“So not really,” Robert replied. “Well, I’ll head down and see what I can find out anyway.”
Otis moved toward Robert. “I’ll come with you. Thank you for your help, sir. I’m sure we’ll be back for supplies later.”
“You’re welcome.”
Two hours later, Otis reined Mustang in halfway between the mine and town and Robert rode up next to him. “We need to make some changes.”
“Yep.”
Otis chewed his lip. “Of the men you saw there, did any of them strike you as a leader and a man who cared for his fellow miners?”
“Yep.”
Otis waited. When Robert didn’t say anything, he cleared his throat. “Who?”
“Tyrel Colton.”
A slight smile crept onto his face. “That’s who I was thinking, too. Well, we can deliver the good and bad news to them all at closing time. Let’s go back to the general store.”
At the store, Otis waited until the customer left, then asked the store owner, “Can someone else watch the store so you and I can talk in private?”
His face remained blank as he searched Otis’s face. “No, but I often close the store around this time for a couple hours. I call it my siesta time.”
Otis smiled. “Thank you.”
“Do you want me there?” Robert asked.
“I don’t mind either way.”
“I’ll find us a place to stay for the night.”
Otis held up a hand for him to wait. “Who owns the building next door?”
The store owner stroked his beard. “I do. Why?”
“Are you selling?” Otis asked.
“For the right price and to the right person,” he answered.
Otis named a sum that was about fifty dollars lower than he was willing to pay for the building.
He smiled. “You’ve got a deal.” He reached under the counter and tossed a key to Robert. “All the furnishings should already be in there, but let me know if there’s anything else you need.”
Robert nodded and left.
“If it’s fully furnished, I’m going to pay more than I offered,” Otis said.
“If you’re who I think you are, you already did.” He locked the front door, led him through the back to the kitchen, and held out a hand. “Samuel Fuller.”
“Otis Miller.”
“Grandson of Henry Miller?”
Otis’s breath left him, making him unable to speak. “Yes. How—”
“I’ve had the privilege of meeting him, and you look a lot like him.”
“So I’ve been told. What did you mean about me already paying for much of the furnishings?”
“Your grandfather bought the place and furnished it when he came out here to buy the mine. He stayed there for a couple of months before selling it to me for a pittance and leaving the mine in the hands of Seneca.”
“So you have been here since my grandfather bought the mine?”
“Yes.”
“Which means you know everyone here, right?”
“Pretty much, yes.”
Otis sat down on the wooden chair he offered and placed his hands on the table. “Do you mind if I ask you some questions? And will you give me honest answers?”
“I don’t mind, and I’ll do my best.”
“What are your opinions about Seneca?”
Samuel Fuller leaned back and crossed his arms. “He’s a hard worker but has no respect for people’s lives. It’s all about getting the next section done and digging deeper and deeper, regardless of the risk or results.”
“I noticed that. Are there any of the miners you think would be a good replacement for Seneca?”
“Tyrel Colton. He’s been here almost as long as Seneca and myself. He’s a good man and has some ideas on how to be more productive and safer. Seneca just won’t implement them.”
“Why didn’t Tyrel write to my grandfather?”
“He tried. But all mail goes through Seneca, and he didn’t let those letters go through.”
Otis shook his head. “What time do they stop working?”
“Sunset.”
“Thank you.”
Mr. Fuller cleared his throat. “What do you plan to do here? If you’re buying that house, I’d assume you’ll be staying here for a while at least.”
“Yes. I was told you don’t have a doctor here, so I plan to make that house my office and lodging.”
Mr. Fuller’s smile broadened. “That is wonderful. We certainly need a doctor. As soon as word gets out, you’ll be swamped for a while, I’m sure.”
“I guess I came at a good time then.” Otis stood up. “Thank you for all of your help.”
“You’re welcome. I’m happy to help any way I can.”
As they walked to the front, Otis asked, “Is there a church here?”
“Not officially, but Tyrel and I take turns leading a service every Sunday morning in my store.”
“The more I hear about Tyrel, the more I like him. I look forward to talking to him.”
Mr. Fuller unlocked the door for him, and they said goodbye to each other. Otis’s plan for the rest of the afternoon was to see how best to modify the house next door into a doctor’s office. Then he would go to the mine and make everyone’s day except Seneca’s and deal with whatever backlash the foreman brought on.