On the Trail to Moonlight Gulch Read Online Free

you? Surely you must have one, or maybe two or three stashed around Chicago somewhere?”
    “Not me.” Tory shook his head.
    “But I find that hard to believe.”
    Torsten flushed. Had that been a cryptic response? He sensed something. Something emerging between the two of them. What had Joseph van Werckhoven alluded to when he expressed disbelief that Tory courted no women? What did he mask behind that grin?
    Joseph held that same mischievous smile for another block. Sounds of traffic and people and the smells of smoke and food receded into the background as they walked. For a moment, the only reality for Tory consisted of him and his new friend. The city faded to a mere backdrop to their private world, a distant array of colors, smells, noises.
    Had Tory really understood Joseph? Many times Tory had come across men who spoke in puzzling tongues. About the only men who made their intentions clear were the ones who ventured to the South Side cabaret. Joseph, too refined, would never behave so brutishly. Yet Tory wouldn’t have minded a soft touch from him, a simple gesture of friendship.
    Joseph might as well have read Tory’s mind. A tingling burn raced down Tory’s arm when Joseph placed his hand on his shoulder. He could feel the transference of heat even through his wool frock.
    “Oh, look,” Joseph said, pointing across an intersection to a street sign on a building. “Van Buren Street. That’s where the family’s drugstore will go. I believe that’s it there, inside the lobby of that new building. Father said it would be a tall one.”
    “What do you say.” Tory followed Joseph’s gaze upward along the twelve-story building, his eyes squinting into the sun. The exterior of the building appeared on the verge of completion. Except for on the lobby level, workers had yet to install the windows.
    “Come,” Joseph said. “Let’s get a peek inside.”
    They crossed the street, dodging carriages and pedestrians. The lobby was an empty shell. A few workmen were installing what looked like a reception counter. Joseph pointed out the two elevators, although after inspecting them they concluded no one had wired them yet. Next, Joseph escorted Tory through wide doors where the drugstore would be. Interior work for the store would begin Monday morning, Joseph said. He’d oversee the effort, which was what had lured him to Chicago. In the back, away from the windows, where the light grew dimmer, Joseph again placed his hand on Tory’s shoulder.
    “What do you say, Torsten? Do you like the store? Keep in mind it’s still under construction. Use your imagination.”
    Tory swallowed hard, trying to ignore the quiver Joseph’s touch gave him. “Such a big place.” He steadied his voice. “I think you have a fine location. I’m sure everything’ll look wonderful once it’s done.”
    “It’s much larger than I imagined,” Joseph said in a hushed voice, as if he were thinking of nothing but success and magnificence. “This might be our largest store yet. Father made a grand find. No reason why this one shouldn’t be the best one yet. Yes, I can indeed imagine myself staying in Chicago for an extended period, perhaps indefinitely. Won’t that be grand, Torsten?”
    A ruckus outside startled the two men, and their mutual smiles faded in a flash. Tory and Joseph hurried to the front. Outside, a hansom cab had collided with a vegetable cart. The cart owner, standing among his scattered melons and tomatoes, spit curses in Italian while the cab driver hurled back insults of his own. Tory understood enough Swedish to flush over the cabby’s words.
    Leaving behind one of the ugly sides to a fast-growing city, Tory led Joseph back onto the street, farther along Van Buren, toward the Chicago River, where he had read in the Chicago Tribune about a carnival on Taylor Street. He guided Joseph through a maze of people and vendor carts until they came to a large red-and-white big top.
    The after work crowd from