The travelers moved carefully down the side of the hill.  They had to watch for ice spots.  The sky looked gray, like it might rain, or maybe snow, though it did not feel cold enough for snow.  The scene they faced at the bottom of the hill looked wild and Tony imagined some snow might cool things off.  A few buildings were being built along a muddy street, though nothing looked finished.  Mostly, he saw tents and mud and men shouting, running, and some shooting off guns in the air.  It appeared to be a celebration of some sort, and one where people might get hurt if they weren’t careful.

One man on the edge of the madness grabbed a horse and rode up to face the travelers, who had stopped to stare at the madness below.

“Welcome to Deadwood,” the man shouted as he reigned to a halt.  “We don’t get many new people from Indian land in the western hills.  People who go prospecting in that direction tend to end up dead.”  He smiled and pulled a rock from his jacket pocket.  “I don’t suppose you saw any rocks like this in your travels.”  He sounded hopeful.

“We are not prospectors,” Lockhart responded.  “Name’s Lockhart.  We are looking for Marshal Casidy if he came this way.”  The man seemed to know something, but Sukki took that moment to push forward.

“My father.  I’ve been checking all day. It looks like Marshal Casidy finally stopped moving away from us.”

“Yes, you see,” the man said.  “The marshal was here and shot a man right there in the main street.  There.  You see?  He was followed by a strange crew and most of the people had the good sense not to bother him.  They asked a few questions, located the man they were after, and shot him dead in the middle of the day.  High noon, the marshal said.  Gunfights are supposed to happen at high noon, but after that he moved on.”

“I detect some Irish in your words,” Katie said.

“True enough.  Jack O’Riley.”  The man tipped his hat.  “Me and my partner, Wolfgang Schmidt, who goes by Wolf Smith, was working on the Union Pacific until 1869 when they finished the line.  Then me and my boyos did not know what to do with ourselves until we heard they found gold in these hills.  Well, times being hard as they were, we thought we would take a chance.  We came here hardly able to pay for lunch, but they found gold in the waters in the gulch and now me and Wolf got a claim on Whitewood Creek.  Wolf is working the claim right now.”  Jack grinned and rubbed his hands together as the travelers finished the downhill ride to town.

“Find much so far?” Katie asked.

“Well, missy,” the man said.  “Let me say I can afford lunch.”

A group of men on horseback came out from town and met them at the bottom of the hill.  Jack pushed forward and spoke fast.  “No, Frank.  I already asked about western Indian lands, but they ain’t prospectors.  They are friends of Marshal Casidy and I think we would all do well to let them be.”

“McCall,” Frank shouted.  “Keep it in your holster.”

“I can’t,” McCall said, but as he drew his gun, the gun squirted out of his hand and fell in the mud.  Some of the men laughed, but McCall shouted.  He got down, walked around the front of his horse, and felt a shove in his back.  He promptly fell face forward into the mud, which made everyone laugh harder.

Nanette slipped her wand back into the little leather holder she had cut on her saddlebag.  She looked all innocent, but she got it out earlier when Lincoln told her 1875 was when the other earth reached the half-way point.  He said the creative and variable energy, what she called magic energy, should leak sufficiently into our universe for her to be able to do magic things.  Lincoln did not really understand about magic things, but she did.  So, she got out her wand and played, or maybe experimented for the last couple of days.  She was not able to do much yet, but telekinetic magic was easiest for her, and it was something she would be able to do for the rest of her life.  The other earth would stay in range for the next three hundred years.

“McCall,” Frank spoke sternly to the man.  “These people are not responsible for the death of your friend.  Leave them alone.”  He looked at the travelers.  “The trail to the east starts over there.  Casidy went that way.”  He looked at the sky.  “I recommend you leave first thing in the morning.”  Frank turned his horse and rode back into town, his men with him.  McCall got up, wiped himself off a bit, picked up his mud-soaked gun, mounted, and followed.

“Come,” Jack said.  “There is a small camp at the end of the trail where new people stay until they can find a spot in the growing town.  I know the back way.”

“So, who is Frank?” Lockhart asked.

“Frank Bullock,” Jack said.  “He owns a cattle ranch over toward the Cheyenne River.  It is all on Indian land and illegal, but he appears to be getting away with it.  He charges a fee to cross his land.  Anyone coming from Fort Sully or Fort Thompson pays the fee. Then he brings a few head of cattle to Deadwood about every month.  He gets top price for the meat, usually paid in gold.  Then he usually loses most of his money gambling.  He acts like he is in charge when he is around, but he always comes with a bunch of ranch hands, so people don’t argue with him much.  Fortunately, he only stays in town for a few days, and as soon as he leaves people go back to doing whatever they want to do.”

At the back of the line, Tony mentioned to Decker and Nanette.  “I was just thinking about our teeth.  We have been very lucky that we haven’t needed to see a dentist this whole time.”

“I’m sure they have a barbershop-dentist in town,” Decker said with a grin.  “Give you a shave and pull your teeth at the same time.”

“Shut-up,” Lincoln said and put his hands to his ears.  “Now my teeth are going to start hurting.”

Nanette and Decker both laughed.  Tony put his hand to his mouth.

That evening, Elder Stow put his invisible screen around their tents and horses and gave everyone discs so they could slip in and out of the camp without trouble.  Katie, Nanette, and Sukki, visited several families in the camp.  They came with gifts of elf crackers that they turned into hot, steaming loaves of elf bread.  The bread was much appreciated.

Decker, Tony, Lincoln, and Lockhart went into town.  They needed supplies and fully intended to pay premium prices for their food.  Lincoln found the prices quite reasonable, but that was compared to twenty-first century prices.  He was amazed at what all he could get for a hundred-year-old British gold guinea.

When they returned to the camp, Tony said he was disappointed. No one got murdered.  “The reputation of Deadwood was a murder a day.”

“We must have missed it,” Lockhart said.

“We were almost it,” Lincoln said.  “Lucky Nanette had her wand out.”

Decker smiled.  “Yes.  I like that girl.”

Elder Stow kept his screens up all night, but no one bothered them. When they left the next morning, Elder Stow set his scanner alarm to go off if anyone got within three hundred yards.  No one troubled them, though they all half-expected some down-on-their-luck miners might want to see how many more gold guineas these people might have.

Decker made them pause when they got well out of town.  He changed his and Major Harper-Lockhart’s clothing from what they were wearing to marine cammies with their insignia of rank clearly displayed.

“I am not putting my hair up in a bun every day,” Katie objected.

“I need a haircut,” Decker admitted.  “I won’t quibble.”

Tony asked what he could do.  Decker looked at the man and made a command decision.  “You will get a different uniform when you get home, but I would have to guess from pictures I have seen.  For now, you can wear cammies with us.”  He got Katie’s old lieutenant bars and pinned them on.  “Consider this a temporary field promotion and pull your gut in when you stand at attention.”

“Yes sir,” Tony said.

They got out their Patton sabers to wear at their sides.  “Lincoln, are you going to join us?  I was told you were a colonel once.  When we started this journey, I was told if Lockhart had an accident, you were in charge.”

“No thank you,” Lincoln said.  “It was lieutenant colonel, and it was a temporary army brevet position against South American drug runners.  I commanded a company of Panamanians for about ten minutes.”  All the same, he changed his dress to army fatigues, wore his saber, and otherwise covered himself in a trench coat.

Lockhart gladly gave his saber to Tony, and otherwise the civilians made no substantial changes to their dress.  It would all be covered in any case by long coats in what was now early December weather in South Dakota.