Untitled Chapter

Wanted by private contract. Dead: $1000. Alive: $500. Jack folded the paper and put it in his coat. The storekeeper showed half his face from behind the counter. "Sir," he said, voice shaking, "what are you buying?" "The furnace." "Furnace ain't mine." "Whose?" "Harlan Price. Black shed out back. He melts gold. Cheats the scale too." Jack nodded. "Then he won't cheat today." Harlan Price was a thin old man who looked like an iron hook. Smoke had turned his hair gray. His eyes brightened when he saw the ore sacks, then dimmed when he saw the bodies outside. "Ore?" Harlan asked. "Gold ore." "Don't know the grade. Needs burning, washing, weighing. Rule is thirty percent fee." Jack slapped the bounty notice on the table. "Rule changed."