How the Stars did Fall Read Online Free PDF

true what that man said?” Faraday asked.
    “It is. Pity you haven’t any funds on your person. It is a tremendous opportunity laid before you.”
    “Aye, a true pity. What town is this?”
    “You are in Menifee.”
    “Ah…”
    “You are familiar with the name?”
    “Saw it on a map once.”
    “And may I inquire as to how it is you were shot in the leg?”
    “You may inquire but I will offer no answers.”
    “Of course. Your business is your own.”
    “I am awful grateful, though, and will pay you as soon as I am able.”
    Now those men began to return to the inn one by one, bearing one hundred dollars each, some in bank notes, others in gold coins. Once they all were there, they presented the notes and the bullion to Tennyson like offerings, their manners rough and provincial. With an apron on, Tennyson took the coins and weighed them like some master mason. Satisfied, he sat down and signed his own parchment, cutting out duplicates and handing one to each investor. Guarantees. And while Tennyson collected that bounty, Faraday had an idea.
    “Perhaps you would take my horse as an investment. I must admit your operation does intrigue me.”
    “The horse you rode in on? It ain’t worth more than twenty dollars. Besides, you got a bill of sale for it? Some folks thought it looked like it didn’t belong to you, originally.”
    “I rode that horse out of my father’s farm. I don’t need to carry any papers for it. It’s my horse.”
    “Well, it ain’t enough. Besides, I got a horse already.”
    The last to receive his promissory note was Corliss. The innkeeper took the paper, folded it twice and stuffed it into one of his pockets.
    “Stay for supper,” he said to Tennyson. “We ought to celebrate. And you should get a good night’s rest before riding out.”
    “I am flattered by the offer, my friend. But the sooner I move on, the sooner we all get paid. Now I will say one thing, and this goes for all of you.” Tennyson raised his voice now and every man in the inn looked to him to hear what he was about to say. “This venture of ours is not in the interest of the money powers of the world. The landed minority. Don’t tell anyone about the accumulator. Keep it to yourself, for men will try to denigrate and destroy this machine if they can. Even government men. They will tell you it is a hoax and that you’re fools but they will do this out of fear, for the power of this machine renders their positions insecure. Now I must leave, but you will hear from me within two weeks. At the very least, I will write to Mr. Corliss.”
    Then he tipped his hat and went around the room shaking each man’s hand and repeating in different words what he had just said as if to reinforce those ideas to each mind individually. And he piled up the money and gold and poured it all into a single bag and took it with him outside, where his horse was stabled. The money he hid inside his horse’s saddlebags, then he went back into the inn, retrieved the gold accumulator and stowed it inside a chest, locking it and picking it up and placing it atop a cart he had attached to his horse. Then Tennyson mounted the horse and spread open his coat, exposing the butt of his revolver, which poked up out of his belt like a warning. All of the men in the inn had come out to see him off, Faraday among them, and they waved at Tennyson as he rode out and Tennyson waved back.
    The horse struggled to carry the man’s girth and the chest, and Faraday watched and thought. What other treasures did this man hide? How had he come upon such alchemy? Such magic? Now Faraday found himself in a crossroads: he stood there with a stolen horse and a gun but no bullets and no more than three dollars to his name. He had spent almost all of his reserves acquiring the things he’d needed to rob Tuttle—the horses, the carts on which to carry the gold, the supplies and lodging during his travels. All of that had left him alone and many hundreds of miles