"You want to know when we're gonna open, Tess?" "Well, we're gonna open when me and johnny fucking say so!" "And you three, hovering around like buzzards outside Al's door, will not hasten the situation." "It was fucking sun up before Al called it quit." "Now, he has earned a sleeping-in." "He locks the door, Dan, when he leaves his office." "Al does not lock the door when he's inside." "That's just the exception that proves the fucking rule." "I suppose." "May I ask, Mr. Wolcott, what purpose draws you to our hills?" " Gold." " Gold?" "I see." " Morning, Mr. Utter." " Morning." "Frequents my buffet religiously." "Yes, I hope to locate and secure an assortment of claims." "An assortment?" "Shrewd hedging" "Which makes me think this is not your first foray." "If it was, I don't suppose I'd admit it to you." "Only confirming my original impression." "Get his luggage." "My staff will install your possessions." "I thank you." "You bought provisions." "During the night... while I was waiting for you to come home." "It's a 24-hour camp." "So I saw." "Certain things I said yesterday, I regret." "I will be grateful if you'd not rely on them." "All right." "Representations I made as to letters I'd written" "I didn't." "I'll be grateful then if you not rely on my-- assurance that I got them." "All right." "I'll hold my deepest gratitude, Mr. Bullock, for what will let us live as we are now." "This oatmeal looks old." "It does, doesn't it?" "Richardson, god damn you!" " The oatmeal is clotted." " Well, it's 45 minutes yet till the three hours." "Stop spouting gibberish and replace the damned oatmeal." "I'll make do with the bacon." "A camp like this, one draws one's menials from a small and brackish pool." "Once the pig is digested, perhaps we could pursue a possibility that's come to mind." "If the spirit still moves in you, sure." "Maybe we could do it now?" "No." "Let's let your mind ripen and mature the possibility first." "The creature I saw outside our place last night, the one you said it was the camp's mayor, now perches like a vulture over that man at breakfast." "Of course." "Certainly." "Farnum." "He owns the hotel." "Have you affection for mayor Farnum?" " None." " Good." "Because the man the mayor expects to digest is going to toy and play with Mr. Farnum from camouflage for as long as he finds it amusing." "And then make him a meal of his own." " Who is the man?" " A trick." "A specialist." "Who asks to be called Mr. W." "E. B. Farnum demanding entry." " Summon al." " He's not summonable." "For the news I bear, he'll be plenty summonable." "Why don't you go on up and summon him yourself, E. B.?" "Happily." "He's behind lock and key." "You're certain he's within?" "Called out to my knock, said, "get the fuck away."" "Fornication demanding discretion or a bribe." "He's fucking alone, and he's gonna stay that way until he chooses to be otherwise." "I think he's fucking poorly." "His voice has got a gravelly timbre." "Want to leave a message?" "In fact, I do. yes." ""Al, if you're not dead and already moldering," "I send news to revive you." "A fish to rival the fabled Leviathan has swum into our waters." "Get well soon and we will land the cocksucker together." "Your friend, E. B. "" "You might add as a postscript, "I also have the news you dispatched me to secure of the newly-arrived cunt." Please." " You just move here?" " Just yesterday." "I watched the sheriff build this house." "Mr. Bullock's my pa's brother, that married my mom when my pa got killed." "So now he's my pa and my uncle." "Big trout lives in that deep part down there." " Damon!" " Coming." "My pa and me are going to grow apples in Oregon." "Will you come back?" "Pa says we ain't never coming back." "Keep your eye on that rainbow." "I call him Jumbo." "Morning, William." "Morning, Mr. Bullock." "You got your gun and badge back." "I did." "I put them in that basket for you to see." "Did you fight that man again?" "No." "We didn't have to fight." "That boy is going to Oregon." "There's a trout that loiters just downstream there." "The boy calls him Jumbo." "Maybe after work" "We can make him pay for his slothful ways." "does the scope of the find, mr. ellsworth, warrant more than the five-stamp mill we operate with now?" "oh, no question, ma'am." "your holdings justify 25 stamps easy." "just a matter of waiting till the legalities get resolved." "and why would the purchase of a larger machine await legal resolution?" "well, ma'am, 'cause without title, you wouldn't own no quartz for your 25-stamp machine to crush." " good morning, mr. bullock. - good morning." " good morning, sophia. - good morning." "mrs. garret has gone to see her claim." "has she?" " yes, with mr. ellsworth. - i see." "she asked if i saw you, please to give you this back." " sophia can learn on another watch." " all right." "when opportunity permits, you might inquire of mrs. garret, as few children as are in the camp-- i take your meaning, mr. bullock." "if she decided it was appropriate, other parties would be delighted and grateful." "yes, well, she will have to decide that." "yes." "the camp pugilist." "fond as i am of you, joanie, i wouldn't have brought my girls and my own tired ass out here on just your kind invitation." "the trick sweetened the prospect of mr. w.?" "he offered on one of my girls to bring her out here." "being as mr. w." "is chief lookout for george hearst-- that struck biggest in the comstock and mexico-- i knew he'd just endorse the camp's future." "short side, mr. w. enjoys being cranky with his women." "but sometimes when disappointed his crankiness runs away with him." "what's gonna disappoint him?" "devious sort that i am, i've got the girl he's interested in on ice." "thank you." "mr. wolcott, i'm the custodian-- note i do not say owner-- of wild bill hickok's final earthly communication." "it's damp." "mr. wolcott, not an hour before giving me the letter, bill confided to me, having come upon a quartz deposit promising in bill's own words "wealth beyond counting."" "how much wealth is that?" "i don't know, mr. wolcott." "i don't know how high bill could count." "how much do you want me to pay?" "i'd hardly expect you to pay anything, imagining rather i will pay you your cost to see the letter delivered to its proper recipient." "plus $100... set against whatever profits you may generate... should delivery prove impossible... from the information the letter contains." "so, this set-off against profits i might gain in the event that this letter, proving undeliverable, contains such valuable information, have you an amount in mind?" "$10, 000." "less the $100 you would pay me?" " correct." " 900 net then, me to you." "Yes." "and i would pay you that now before attempting the letter's delivery?" "oh, yes." "once you have the letter, all my connection to it is severed." "i see." "to deliver it or not, or whatever the hell you want to do." "well, you will have my decision shortly." " fine then." " uh, for the luggage." "oh no. i wouldn't hear of it." "it was my great pleasure." "i trust i will, uh, hear from you soon." "i see now what it takes to bring you back into my life." "just passing through, mr. star." "even so, it makes a man glad he has three limbs left to be damaged." "morning." "a man can get me in his life with five bucks." "$2, if he just needs a handshake." "good morning." " morning." " morning." "trixie!" "many thanks." "how bad is that pain?" " it's all right." " i'm in my house, sol." " with martha and the boy?" " chose not to put 'em in the thoroughfare." "or, i see what you're asking." "far as her having a different opinion, possibly, once i showed up-- no, she chose to stay." "well, good." "anyways, could you open up?" "sure. glad to." " any help with your person?" " no, i'm all right." "swearengen said the county commissioners are all from yankton." "when was this?" "just before we hit the mud." "it's wrong the hills get no representation." "even in an eden like this, wrongs sometimes occur." "i meant maybe we should try to do something about it." " i'm with you." " god damn it, al!" "such as they are, my arts cannot be practiced at this remove." "stop being a baby!" "any secrets that you feel need keeping will not be betrayed by me." "doc." "trixie." "rest, uninterrupted." "no visits, no exception." "from his fray with bullock he's poorly, or his trouble with his prick?" "if you can get him to grant you entry, maybe you will confide that to me." "it's trixie-- that's overheard the doc's instruction." "so let me just shout my information from here." "nobody is dead." "bullock's gone to that house he built." "star is on his feet, more or less." "anyways, i'm gonna stay on the ear over to the hardware store." "yeah." "fucking telegraph poles, al, are next thing to landed in the fucking thoroughfare." "next leap of the creature, they'll be here." "all right, al." " where's fucking dolly?" " fucking." " when was she last with him?" " daybreak, just before he give bullock back his iron." "we've seen him after she did." "you brew him my fucking tea." "put it on a tray, take it up to him" " and make him fucking drink it." " all right." "if he don't present himself in a few hours, kick down the door and get the fucking doc in there." "i'm lila. welcome to the bella union." "i'm francis wolcott, which i would be grateful if you would tell your employer." "this is francis wolcott, cy." "cy tolliver, mr. wolcott." "how do you do, and what will you drink?" "kentucky bourbon if you got it." "pour mr. wolcott a bourbon, jack," " and tell him it's from kentucky." " kentucky bourbon." " straight up?" " please." "shall we have lila drink with us, or would you like to drink with lila alone?" "i would rather we two converse privately." "just talk now, sir?" "i'm not that kind of fella." "maybe you're just waiting for the right offer." "it's late in the game, but i suppose anything is possible." "will you take the air?" "if i'm to lose my virtue, i'd as soon do it outside these walls." "you've approached a group in san francisco that does business with my employer." "that group and employer bullshit really quickens me with fucking trust." "that group you've approached is a fraternal chinese organization." ""tong" is not a clever enough word?" "you offered them a contract to send members to this camp." "that organization has a preexisting arrangement with my employer." "so you work for who, wolcott?" "the railroads, some mining combination that brings those slant-eyes in by the boatload?" "no, sir. i work for one man." "jesus christ. doesn't every one of us?" "george hearst." "i meant no disrespect of any kind to you or mr. hearst by any word i've said from the moment we have met." "i understand that." "i have nothing but respect for mr. hearst." "he's in the comstock of montana, every other place he's ever operated, without jape or jest." "and the overture you made to the group in san francisco showed imagination and foresight and a tolerance for risk that was impressive to mr. hearst." "we want to work with you here." " you do?" " yes, we do." "con stapleton, leon!" "get over here and meet a fucking gentleman." "those two work for me now among the celestials, setting up that miserable cocksucker to get knocked off his high horse." " con, leon." " i don't want to meet them." "go inside." "meet me inside." "yes, sir." "yes, sir, mr. tolliver." "just go on in, fellas." "my only contact is with you." "as far as they're concerned, you and mr. hearst don't even exist." "as far as you're concerned, cy, in the tasks you'll be performing for him, mr. hearst doesn't either." "who?" "wake up. take account you're indoors." "here." "that's water now." "get it the fuck away from me then." "drink it and don't be stupid." "oh, christ, are we arrested?" "i explained all this to you, jane, that i'm the fucking deputy, and i fixed up the overflow cell in case you come back." "shut up then." "and you replied i was boring the shit out of you 'cause doc already told you all about it." "well, evidently, i don't remember fuck-all." "no. 'cause after every other fucking thing we went through last night, you got to make us stop at that new joint across from nuttall's." "would you kindly shut your fucking mouth?" "hey, what the fuck's bill's coat doing here?" "well, he wouldn't have seen it useless or a souvenir." "i figured i'd give it work keeping the bed warm." "uh, where is it headed now i'm the occupant?" "it ain't going anywheres." "thank you, charlie." "it's cool. sit outside." "wide knees." "are we gonna argue?" "we're partners, ain't we, maddie?" "ain't that a lot of planning and thinking to not let your partner in on?" "not sharing it before i even knew the trick was in camp-- don't put me wrong, joanie." "it don't put you right, far as an atmosphere of trust." "joanie, was there any odds when me and my girls got out here that you might have told us you'd changed your mind?" "i guess there was a chance." "or i'd have found you dead or moved along?" "no chance on moved along." "only way to guarantee an outcome, honey, is contracting to be fucked." "everything else is a chance-- including me letting you down." "but if i do, using my head won't be the tip-off." "how will you bring the girl into it?" "at the trick's fierce insistence." "what's our split?" "50-50." "what's the girl's end?" "i wouldn't rule out a wooden box." "timely purchase." "that's our last in stock." "goddamn out-thinking myself-- resupplying in smaller orders." "you've been dealing with a few uncertainties." "if the claims get allowed or they don't, or yankton stacks the commissioners or not, wee either in business or we ain't, and if we are, you reduce costs buying in volume." " your old man?" " on his death bed in fucking vienna." "fellas." " on the mend?" " doing better, thank you." "hope you are too." "we was gonna thin these inquiries yesterday before that trouble with bummer dan." "we've been gonna thin them for several weeks." "is farnum's slop-house okay?" "jane is sleeping a load off in my place." "inquiries from other jurisdictions, we've been somewhat remiss." "whose that fella said "never put off till tomorrow" " what will wait till the day after" ?" " not my old man." "to buy the hickok letter." "wonderful." "uh, i'll have a bill of sale." "well, certainly, sir. of course." "for reasons of legal nicety, we'll say you're purchasing the right to deliver." "you got to let me get to your piss-pot, al." "otherwise, when your mood changes, you're fucking gonna yell at me for not doing it." "i think i should get the doc, al." "you need to let the doc in." "you need to let him see to you." "when i was sick, the doc helped me." "and you ain't fucking yelled since then my foot's dragging." "fuck this, right, doc?" " fuck it. - dan!" "you need to fucking break the door down!" " now?" " isn't that what i just fucking said?" " al!" " if i was you, doc, i would get out of the fucking way!" "ow!" "jesus fucking christ!" " you all right?" " mm, i think i broke my fucking shoulder." "would you open up my case?" "al?" "al, al?" " do we need to get him laudanum?" " please." "all right, al." "all right. it's all right." ""please don't let up on the stackpole case, as i'm sure he's out there."" " no idea." " i never heard of it either." "all the portions you had on your plate, i hesitated to fucking inquire." "i couldn't have helped if you had." "fuck the stackpole case then, and the letter from arapaho county concerning it, which goes in the fucked-case file." "i'd like to buy mr. farnum's hotel." "to do what with, mrs. garret?" "to renovate and make my residence." "i can think of better locations, ma'am, with friendlier views." "none that would offer the further pleasure of putting mr. farnum in the thoroughfare." "i expect a man like farnum finds quarters pretty easy." "i would expect even with his venality satisfied, a man like farnum would feel himself dispossessed and unanchored." "i think he'd be very sad, and i would like to see him in that condition." "i guess most of us got enough luck to be too broke to act on them type ideas." "what type ideas do you refer to?" "the type the lowborn would say we get when we're pissed off." "although... my own aristocratic lineage" "causes me to use the term "sore-disappointed."" "i am pissed off." "well, last turns the wheel has took for you, ma'am, i would say you've come by it honest." "if punching somebody in the nose would help, i'll volunteer one that's well broke in." "safely returned." " is he here too?" " no." "he's my friend, trixie." "among other fucking things." "anyways... i wonder could you teach me to do accounts?" "all right." "i'll pay you." "or you can take it out in cunt." "i won't teach you if you keep that up." "fuck every fucking one of you." "i wish i was a fucking tree." " mr. wolcott." " mr. farnum." "the contents of that letter are a deep disappointment." "not a word of any find or promising location." "you opened it then?" "are you trifling with me?" "it occurs to me, sir, this conversation were best had elsewhere." " but not postponed?" " not postponed, mr. wolcott, no." "we are men, sir." "when we disagree, we come to resolution promptly." " where are we going?" " the gem saloon." " it's just over there." " please take your hand off my shoulder." "some ancient italian maxim fits our situation, whose particulars escape me." "is the gist that i'm shit out of luck?" "did they speak that way then?" "oh, for the love of god!" "please, won't you sit down?" "so you would have me take the experience then as a lesson, dearly purchased?" "i should tell you, mr. wolcott, i have seen men in this very camp, feeling themselves victimized, seek redress in fashions i thought imprudent." " violently, you mean?" " thus, at the lesson, dearly bought as you would have it, is where i would leave this business." "in any case, i was an intermediary in this transaction." "ah, then, having been a pupil, it falls to you now to instruct your principal." "i wonder, mr. wolcott, if some second letter couldn't be drafted to put some sharper point on the lesson, maybe remunerative to both of us." "so your idea would be that we fuck mr. hearst twice?" "i missed the name, sir, but i can aver as a general principle, my days of fucking anyone are long in the past, whomever you represent." "george hearst, of the ophir find in the comstock." "of course, i know george hearst." " oh, you know him personally?" " i do not know him personally," "I do not know him personally." "but of course i know of george hearst and his reputation and accomplishments and wealth, and his power and reputation." "and i would say, as well, most importantly, i have nothing to teach that man." "george hearst need learn no lesson from me." "nor would i permit him entrance into a lesson, either inadvertently or by accident, i wouldn't subsequently and immediately cancel him back out of." "or his agent or intermediary." "mr. hearst doesn't renege on contracts." "then what am i to do?" "what am i to do, mr. wolcott, but to admit a terrible and tragic miscalculation and supplicate myself and beg mercy and understanding and forgiveness?" "and to aver, if you would contemplate, any separate or side transaction or understanding." "remove your hand from my forearm." "do not touch me again." "i look poor, but that is a cultivated pose and posture." "i am not poor and i am not stingy when fundamental interests are at stake" "as a complete aside." "there is a service you could do mr. hearst that would set off exactly against the funds he might otherwise believe you fleeced him of." "anything, sir." "this service would enlist you and one or two others, circulating certain rumors about the future of the camp." "in particular, about the validity of the present titles to the claims." "done. consider me enlisted." "consider the validity called into question." "i also wish to know the location of your highest-end brothel." "as it happens, a whorehouse succeeding to that title has just opened." "nothing just happens, mr. farnum." "do you think this hat makes my head look big?" "no, sir." "it makes your head look the perfect size." "thank you." "you're gonna find out something now about yourselves and your fellow man, how you handle adversity-- or rumors of adversity-- or ill fortune, or turns of luck." "and i'm not going to further rumor or be a party to that bullshit." "you want to know where i stand?" "you just look the fuck where i'm standing." "you'll find out all you need to know." "i ain't going anywhere!" "and if anyone else wants to, two weeks fucking severance is waiting for you right fucking now." "you step the fuck up!" "step right the fuck up!" "now, that shows me something." "but any time, day or night, anyone wants to fucking waver or fucking change their minds, you just step right the fuck up and get your severance." "let's open the fuck up and get it while we can, all right?" " open up!" " you heard him!" "let's go!" "what are you gonna do to him?" "pass this instrument through his penis into his bladder." "if he has stones, it will click against the metal instrument." "assuming i can hear the clicks above his screams, i will have identified the cause of his obstruction." "to what fucking end?" "to the end that if i think he will die otherwise of cutting him open above the pubis and taking out the stones." "which will probably kill him anyways." "what shall i say to you, trixie, that i'm sure of a happy outcome for al and every one of us?" "minute for us, mr. tolliver?" "what is it?" "come in and shut the door." "what the fuck is it?" "anything you want to tell us, mr. t.?" "i told you all i want to tell you outside." "well, believe me, uh, you don't have waverers standing in front of you, or doubters or, uh, anyone looking for fucking severance." " just the opposite." " what does that mean?" "you looking for a raise?" "uh, well, what's going on, i suppose is leon's question, mr. tolliver." "the truth is, my questions is answered 90%." "and as for the rest, i'm gonna get good and fucking loaded and let the devil take the hindmost." "if you fucking walk out of here, us two are gonna have words." "and more than words at my first opportunity, because this was 90% his idea to come in here." "somebody better turn over a hole card." "both of us took a real positive impression, sir, of the talk you give us just recently here in your office." "yeah, relative to this talk you just concluded." "and?" "and i guess you'd say a wonderment with us is if we mistook the tone of one talk or the other, and if so, which?" "i dispute that one fucking thing changed between those two talks as to my attitude and resolve." "did the facts of the camp situation change?" "not to my certain knowledge." "but if you're asking in the interim, have i been privy to a rumor far as claims being invalidated, all titles thrown out, the answer is yes." "well, that would account for it." "but the only goddamn fact that i'm aware of is i never knew any man ate a rumor or clothed himself with one or secured himself a piece of pussy." "well, rumors are not facts." "so if any gutless cocksucker tumbles to what is going on and decides he wants to cut and run, sell his fucking holdings, you tell him to come see me." "just say cy tolliver will buy whatever he's fucking selling if he has that little faith in the camp, or rumors of judicial invalidation, or the panic that will ensue from that." "go ahead, boys. go on outside and do your jobs." "that's all we can fucking do right now." "and not waver." "now that's fucking progress." "cocksucker upstairs, across the way, whorehouse where i work-- he is a fucking cocksucker." "locks the fucking door so people can't get to help him." "fucking ashamed to be sick!" "you know he had a design to murder that little one." " no, i didn't." " hell, yes, he had a design." "charlie and me spirited her from camp, forced him to a second victim more suitable to his cocksucker's purpose." "think they're any different if they've had their fucking dicks cut on?" "they ain't no fucking different." "you got to like their friends or they won't teach you numbers or every other fucking regulation they set!" "anyways." "far as it fucking goes, he also brought the cripple from that orphanage." "uh-- what orphanage?" "and don't buy his bullshit about the 9¢ trick." " what cripple?" " jewel-- that he says he's got around against some hooplehead only having 9¢ and wanting a piece of pussy." "that ain't it." "why she's around is... it's his sick fucking way of protecting her." "i'm gonna get whiskey." "there's entries on both side of the fucking ledger is the fucking point, as i already talk like a fucking jew!" "shaping up to be a nice cool evening." "maybe he has a good side to him too that i entirely fucking missed." "it's always fucking possible, drunk as i am fucking continuously." "it's nice to see you." " you returned his timepiece." " yes." "i thought i had told you." "you did, miss isringhausen." "i'm recurring to the topic, hoping you will be more expansive." "he accepted the timepiece, ma'am, and raised another subject you and i ought pursue at some different moment." "must i credit the right of that "ought," miss isringhausen, or may i suspect you enjoy setting terms?" "terms, ma'am?" "playing arbiter of the when and why of things." "pursuing the second subject mr." "bullock raised, mrs. garret, might upset a person now present, junior to you and me." "i cannot imagine how such a pursuit could be any more upsetting than the atmosphere of relentless disapproval that you so consistently generate." "i've no further need of your services, miss isringhausen." "i'll say goodnight then to you and sophia." "my preference is your saying goodbye." "i wonder, ma'am... if having made so many decisions so quickly, your patience may be short just now." "and i'd appeal to you to reconsider your preferences in the morning in any case, you'll want to retire to your room." "i hope you'll recall that i've traveled from chicago to enter your employ and have no emergent prospects." "we'll come to some arrangement." "all right." "i'll say goodnight then." "as is your custom-- without having spared one affectionate look for my child." "my training, ma'am, is that being engaged to see to the child's education," "my soliciting her affections would intrude on the mother's province." "and i would call that a logical distinction, miss isringhausen, having nothing to do with the way people live." "the people downstairs are scared." "are they?" "off your talk." "they think you believe the camp's in jeopardy." "i ain't answerable for misinterpretations." "the truth is, lila, the weather is getting better, and it looks to stay mild a spell." "old cy has outlasted the cocksuckers one more time." "if it was in me to kid myself, i'd take this for proving god loves me." "i believe he loves us." "do you, sweetheart?" "did his hand lead me buying and turning you out?" "that's a lovely thought." "next you're in touch, would you put the good word in?" "i do." "i pray for you every night." "all right, stupid, time to shut your fucking mouth." "shut your fucking mouth now and turn over and close your eyes." "lift your leg." "languid and open for adventure." "in your case, atlantis, present the tits a little more." " can you hold that for half an hour?" " i've been holding this my whole fucking life." " mr. w." " hello." "you jumped the gun on our opening by half an hour, but i believe we can make an exception." "my partner joanie." " how do you do?" " how do you do?" "our caller fancies basil's bourbon, joanie, which is hid beneath the floorboard at the bar." "all right." "won't you sit?" "i don't know that i will." " where is she?" " carrie's been detained." "detained?" "you don't need me telling you carrie's mind's her own." "we hit cheyenne and she stopped to see a relative." "basil hayden hid beneath the floorboards as advertised." "would you get out of my sight, please?" "how close a relative is she fucking in cheyenne?" " she's coming soon, mr. w." " is her arrival imminent?" "a matter of days." "how many days are in a matter?" "would fucking something else fill the time?" "yeah, how much you cost?" "i ain't for sale, sir." "but i would fuck you for free." "i have to say you ain't my type." "do you stand there, mr. w., saying you're dead solid sure you'll not ever again be surprised till you've completed your earthly course?" "ain't that presumptuous, sir?" "and ain't our quoted fee, to surprise you, fair and just?" "i always pay for pussy." "well, i may let you then, if you go ahead and twist my arm." "you pay extra for that?" "do unhand me." "i, mr. w. -- who i just unhanded-- and mr. basil hayden do not wish to be disturbed." "you want me back where i was?" "she kills that fucking cocksucker, i'm gonna be working for the rest of my life." "richardson, richardson, richardson." "when will come the quiet hours of our declining years?" "i'm talking to you, dimwit." "i wasn't listening." "richardson, won't you sit yourself?" "allow me to take up your labors." "i am confiding that turbulence, upheaval of the most violent sort, churning seas, waves of a scale and force to make the most seasoned seafarer vomit are in prospect for this camp." "and, we, richardson, you, i, and tragically others" "so very many others who journeyed to the hills to stake their claims, and with those claims their hopes for the future" "are but pawns of the savage sea and playthings of the fucking deep." "not for us, apparently, the placid harbor, on which voyages, near complete to bob and rot, bob and rot, be calmed." "for us, to the very end, the dizzying surges of the storm and its crashing descents!" "do you understand me, you repulsive lout?" " no." " the claims, richardson." "they're being overturned." "save those few who dispose of their holdings before word circulates." "destitution looms!" "oh dear." "yes, yes. even you now recognize the situation." "ah well." "take the rest of the night off, richardson." "thank you, sir." "but confide in no one!" "about the claims!" "would we have even more fun naked?" "or i could, and you could stay dressed." "or the opposite." "who am i?" "you're mr. w." "your boss struck bigger than anyone in the comstock and mexico." "so you being here puts a shine to this camp's prospects." "unbutton my shirt." "yes, sir." "do not look at my face." "no, sirree." "shall i tell you who i work for?" "as you wish." "if you do, how shall i occupy myself while you're doing it?" "the same as if i don't." "for me to judge?" "as you wish." "your shirt buttons are your big interest?" "or shall we advance to these buttons here?" "and shall i hazard an approach i rarely find ill-received?" "no." "shall i hazard an approach i myself, i never remember refusing?" "and will you supervise closely?" "mr. w., i am gonna take that as a yes." "no. take it as a no." "nuts!" "what a tiny corner of operation for such an amusing mind." "i'll promise as i sojourn here to bring you stories of the world of men." "i'll just be here in my girl's world diddling myself." "i admire you coming armed." "i'm gonna pass this through your penis up into your bladder, al, and i'm gonna say this to you once" "i'm sorry for how it hurts." "goddamn it, hold him still!" "mother of god!" "help me!" "mother of god!" "fuck you, johnny!" "get in there and fucking help him!" "what am i supposed to do?" "put your hand in his mouth!" "let him bite your fucking hand!" "all right, al. i'm in your bladder." "i can hear the fucking stone." "i'm gonna try now to move the stone to release your water, so you push now if you can, son." "oh god!" " mother, take me!" " push now if you can. get your water flowing." "i'm trying!" "help me. christ!" "i'll fucking kill you, doc!" " you take it out of him!" " shut up!" "all right." "i can see some fucking urine with the blood." "good for you." "is he all right now?" "is he cured now?" "it's fucking something, anyway." "is that something anyway, doc?" "all right, al, i'm gonna take it out of you." "you hold on and it won't hurt so bad." "he put something out of himself, trixie." "now, that's something anyway." "is it out of him?" "well, that instrument is out of him." "and what of the fucking stone?" "i didn't see no fucking stone come out."