Hugh rose to go, but she made a little gesture that asked him to stay. “If you don’t mind,” she said, smiling at him.
“Not a bit. He probably knows I’m here, anyhow.”
Dodson bowed to Vicky, more stiffly to McClintock. The man from Virginia City just acknowledged his greeting.
“If you’ve come to see me about my claim, Mr. Dodson, you can speak before Mr. McClintock. He’s my business adviser,” Vicky said.
The big mine owner was ever so slightly taken aback. “My business is rather private,” he said.
“Do you mean that it is a secret?”
“Oh, no. I have an offer to make you. But first I ought to preface it with a statement of fact,” he said formally. “Your title to the claim you’ve been working isn’t good, I’m afraid.”
“Why isn’t it?” she asked sharply.
“A prior interest in it was held by Singlefoot Bill, an old prospector who located on Bald Knob and worked all over it.”
“He did no work on my claim to speak of. When I began my assessment work there wasn’t a hole two feet deep on the location.”