Buller and Baur stood innocently smoking while the hurried conference was taking place, 'The Colonel' sucking on a big black stogie and the bearded bespectacled Baur fussing with a briar. Although the hushed voices of Steelgrave and the others were impossible to overhear, the general tenor of the conversation could be guessed at. The two outsiders guessed a deal of some sort was being struck and acted accordingly.
"Well boys, you... I say, you all made up your minds yet?" Buller called across at the ill-assorted gaggle of entrepreneurs.
"It's an awful lot of money! I'd give it up if I was you fellers!" the other chimed in. There was something almost too amateurish in the bearded man's attempt to scare them off raising the bid.
"Shut up, Baur. They're big boys, they can make their own minds up! Ain't that right gents?" chuckled the jovial older man.
@[Flip]
@[JulieS]
"Then it's settled, gentlemen. This is no ruse." Elias offered, "Do what you are comfortable with."
Cole Latham was in shock over Elias Steelgrave's offer to Wentworth and Alders. He knew there was animosity between him and Buller, but he never thought he would help anyone defeat the old man. He appeared to be wrong.
#JulieS
@Bailey
Mason nodded and made his way over to Elias, "All right...you've got yourself a deal. We've set a limit to how much we're willing to buy the stageline for and if the bidding goes higher than that then Buller can have it."
He turned to the auctioneer, "All right, we're ready to start again. What was the last bid?"
@[Bailey]
@[Flip]
"Good. When we reach your limit, just give me a sign." Elias said. "And no, Bueller can't have it!" It would be a cold day in hell beforf he, Elias Steelgrave; would allow that horses ass to get a foothold in Kalispell, True, the cost was getting way out of hand, but it was the principle of the thing. And men with too much money were apt to overpay for anything if the motivation was there.
"All right, we're ready to start again. What was the last bid?"
Aldridge had made the call, and now it would get interesting. Elias would do what he had to, either help Alrdrige and Alders, or go on alone. He really did not want the stageline, but like had nothing to do with it!
"Colonel Buller has bid a round Ten Thousand Dollars, gentlemen" the auctioneer declared.
"Come on boys, give... I say, give it up and accept defeat with grace! HA HA HA! Say 'Uncle'! Or have you still got a little fight in your bellies?!" laughed Buller jovially. The bearded man, Baur, next to him, seemed less amused than interested, watching the members of the new conglomerate, who had formed to battle the Kentucky man, with interest.
"Do you care to raise, gentlemen?!" the man with the gavel asked.
@[JulieS]
A town is only as good as the timbers that form its buildings.
It seemed that Elias Steelgrave was determined that Buller wasn't going to get the stage line, no matter what. The phrase 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' came to Christoph's mind as he straightened the lapels of his jacket and mentally prepared to throw himself back in the bidding.
"Eleven thousand!" he called, topping Buller's previous bid by a full thousand.
If he'd known Buller and Steelgrave were going to be bidding, he might have decided to sit at home and keep his money. But on principle, both of not quitting and of not wanting Buller to have the stage line, he couldn't back out now. He and Aldridge were in this until the end. Or until thirty-five thousand.
"Eleven thousand!" he called, topping Buller's previous bid by a full thousand.
"Eleven?!!" Buller exclaimed. "My, boys, that's, I say, that's quite a leap!"
He had a conflab with the tall man Baur. At one point he could be heard to ask "You reckon you could raise another hundred or two, boy?"
The Colonel was mopping his brow with a big white silk handkerchief as he turned back to the auctioneer.
"I'll bid Eleven Thousand and Five, I say, Five Hundred Dollars!" he declared with a lot less bombast than his earlier bids, the man was clearly on the ropes. Baur leaned disconsolately against the wall with the look of a man who'd just seen his horse come last in the Kentucky Derby and was in the midst of tearing up his betting slips.
@[JulieS]
@[Flip]
Elias wanted to grimace, wanted to react, but he was a high-stakes poker player, and neither was good form. For now, it was up to Aldridge and Alders to make their move, if the pair wanted to continue. If not, this would force Elias's hand and drag him back into the bidding war between the two.
"What do you think, I mean, he's just toying with them. They go up a thousand, he counters with five hundred, nickel-dimeing them. That's what he's doing." Latham stated in hushed tones. "You're not getting back in this, are you?"
"Thinking, Cole, I'm thinking," Elias replied, and that was exactly what he was doing. The first thought was to ambush the Colonel and the other fellow. They wouldn't be able to pay, and the property would go to the last bidders, who might not have the capital to close the deal, but the risk was far too great, as the killings would come back on him, not them.
How high would the pair be willing to go against the Colonel? They could close him out with the right bid.
@Julie
@Bailey
A town is only as good as the timbers that form its buildings.
Interesting. Buller only raised the bid 500 dollars this time. Where before it'd been the Aldridge-Alders pair who'd been trying to slow the bidding, now it seemed Buller and Baur were perhaps reaching their limit. Which was good, if Christoph could believe what he was seeing and hearing.
He watched Buller and Baur carefully, weighing their expressions and words. Buller was theatrical, but this attitude of unease didn't appear put-on. It looked genuine. And Baur seemed a pretty transparent man. If he looked defeated, Christoph assumed he really was.
But still, it could all be an act. Why not find out one way or another? With a sidelong glance at Aldridge, he decided to make a bigger bid. "Fourteen thousand." Quite a substantial leap, but still not above the limit he and Aldridge had set in the beginning.
@ [JulieS]
@ [Javia]
@ [Flip
Elias smiled. Exactly what he wanted them to do. Now it was to Buller and his partner to counter, and he was certain the Colonel was now having second thoughts about this alliance he faced. Thiks would be no pushover!
@JulieS
@javia