(Revised)


                                                                                   
The chapter began with the filming of a scene for Trail Ridin' Mama on a remote part of Waterfall Canyon Ranch. Sam Sackett, Gopher Gutz and other members of the cast and crew waited patiently until the light conformed to Gopher'svision for the scene. It was hot and still, and vultures were circling in the distant sky. Sam commented that there must besomething dead out there. Finally Gopher called out, "Action!"

Logan Reinhardt (played by Sam) was riding alone in the twilight wilderness on his way back to Red Bluff from a temporary cowhand job. He noticed several quail suddenly rising startled from their nest, but before he could investigate, someone started shooting at him. He then saw two people on horseback firing at him. Quickly he threw himself to the side of his galloping horse and hung there hidden, grasping the saddle. His attackers apparently thought they shot him off his horse and stopped firing, enabling him to escape. However, he did not come away uninjured; his back was torn cruelly by the sharp catclaw acacia bushes. 

Upon arriving in Red Bluff, Logan went straight to the Wild Card Saloon to find Sheriff Bart Marsden and report the ambush. Logan's conclusion was that the shooters were two members of the Wesley gang that robbed his stagecoach earlier. He believed that one of the shooters was a woman, and recalled that there were two women in the gang. Bart agreed that it could have been the Wesley gang, and said he'd check it out as soon as daylight came. Logan's back was covered in blood from the deep acacia scratches and his shirt was hanging in shreds; everyone in the saloon was staring at him.

Mattie Jensen, the head saloon girl, liked Logan and wanted to help him. She persuaded him to go to her private office so she could put medicine on his wounds. When they were alone in the little office, Mattie told Logan about Clementine Carson losing all her money in the faro
game with Philip Faraday. Logan was pleased to hear of Clementine's misfortune, since the robbery of the stage and Clementine's lawsuit against Sidewinder Stage Lines were the reason he and his friend Rusty Tibbets were fired from their jobs at Sidewinder. Logan felt he had
done all he could to protect Clementine, and he did not appreciate being accused of standing aside and letting her be robbed and assaulted.

Mattie then floated the idea of hiring Clementine as a Wild Card saloon girl, which would save her from having to work as a prostitute for Odette DuPont. To her surprise, Logan reacted with fury. He said that even if Clementine did become a prostitute, he would not have her even
if she offered to do any fancy "French postcard" things that he wanted, and he certainly did not want to see her face in his favorite saloon. He swore that if Mattie hired Clementine, he would not come back to the Wild Card.  Logan was incensed that Mattie would consider hiring Clementine to save her from prostitution, but would not give his own lover Sarah Jane Stanton a saloon girl job to rescue her from it. Mattie apologized, but said there was nothing she could do because of the Wild Card owner's refusal to hire a known soiled dove. Logan was not satisfied with this explanation and stormed out of the saloon.

Clementine spent her last night at the grubby Eight Balls Hotel in despair, unable to sleep because she was so worried about being broke. She had no money left to pay for other lodging and she dreaded the thought of having to stay at Odette's brothel. She hoped desperately that Mattie would offer her a job when they met at the Pearl Hotel Tea Room the next day.

Clementine put on a good face as she left the Eight Balls, maintaining her dignity in front of the sneering desk clerk. But she began to feel nervous when she entered the elegant Pearl Hotel; places like that were far above her station in life. Mattie was waiting for her and soon put her at ease when they were seated at their table in the Tea Room.

The Tea Room was like a fairyland to Clementine, who had always secretly hungered for pretty things and a cultured lifestyle of affluence. At first she could hardly pay attention to Mattie because she was so busy admiring the French scrollwork wallpaper, the ornate light fixtures, the exquisite china tea set, the silver flatware, the embroidered Irish linen tablecloth, the Viennese bentwood furniture, and the vases full of colorful local wildflowers on each table. Her senses were delighted by the rich cream, butter and berry scones. It was all so different from her hard plain life back at the ranch, and the grimy Eight Balls Hotel. Clementine would love to have a Tea Room sort of life.

To Clementine's gratitude and delight, Mattie did offer her a saloon girl job. Mattie explained that at the Wild Card, men were not allowed to "disturb" the girls, and that the girls need only to dance, make the men feel comfortable and urge them to buy more drinks, for which the girls got a salary plus commission on the drinks. Each girl also got a private room upstairs for her residence.

Mattie commented that if Clementine had gone to stay at Odette's brothel, even temporarily, that Odette would have coerced her into prostitution. Clementine already knew that, and she was so relieved to escape that fate that she nearly cried. A new world had opened up for
Clementine now. She would have pleasant work, an income and a decent place to live while she reorganized and saves some money to continue her quest to find her missing husband Quinn. She felt she had a future again, and her heart was light.

Mattie, who had said nothing to Clementine about Logan's angry reaction to the job offer, told Clementine why she wore a gold locket. It contained a picture of her lover, who disappered while on military duty in the Civil War and was presumed dead. The two women began to
feel a bond, since each had lost her man.

Back in real life, Vicki Paleon and Max Montezuma were not needed in the filming of any scenes for the next few days. They decided to use their free time to go hiking and camping to look for fossils and visit the beautiful waterfall after which Waterfall Canyon Ranch was named. The waterfall was located in a rugged area accessible only on foot or horseback. They set out on their hike with Dandelion the burro as their pack animal, and they enjoyed flirting and bantering with each other.

Vicki and Max found a cave and started exploring it. While Max admired the stalactites and stalagmites, he found a lumpy-looking fossil, but his excitement faded when Vicki told him is was coprolite, i.e., fossilized poop. However, Vicki did make a real find, a Northrotheriops Shastensis fossil... a Shasta ground sloth claw.Tired and contented, they settle down at their campsite for the night.

The next morning, Vicki and Max hiked to the waterfall. Their pleasure in its beauty was shattered by the sound of arguing voices from above the falls, and then gunfire. Frightened, they ran away and decided to call cowboy Willie Bellaire to come and escort them back to the occupied area of the ranch.

Willie took them back, and then returned to the waterfall alone to investigate. In a conversation with ranch owner Frank Delgado, Willie described finding numerous shell casings and a large amount of blood on the ground. They believed that some of the shell casings came from a Kalashnikov rifle. Since this weapon was a favorite of criminal gangs, they suspected foul play. Frank wondered if there was any connection with the mysterious activities at Diamantina Ranch.

The cowboys had all learned that Sam filmed a nude scene with Claudia Hunter in the movie (in their roles as Logan and Sarah), and they teased him mercilessly. He remained good-natured about it, but told Willie privately that in real life he would never tolerate his woman, Beth Hunter, going with other men. Willie could see that Sam was getting angry again about Beth's past affair with Hans Richter, so he quickly changed the subject.

Leggy Barber, the seriously overworked screenwriter for Trail Ridin' Mama, was distressed when Gopher Gutz and C.B. DeFille insisted that she talk Dame Kate into training Tasha Khoury to dance. Since Clementine Carson, Tasha's character, would now be a saloon girl, she would have to dance well in sequences involving the can-can, waltz and other dances of the times. Gopher and C.B. have decided to delegate this task to Leggy, since they were afraid to approach a renowned performer like Kate for a job that is beneath her. Leggy, who was very intimidated by Kate, had no confidence that she could talk Kate into it, but she agreed to try. She nervously awaited Kate's arrival at the ranch house.

To Leggy's amazement, Kate brought up the idea herself and offered to train Tasha. However, there were strings attached: Kate wanted a specific role in the movie for herself, Augusta Hardwicke, the character who would be the chuckwagon cook on the trail ride. Leggy, gasping with relief, agreed to Kate's terms immediately.

Kate made an appointment with Tasha and showed up at the ranch guest house where Tasha was staying, only to find the "star" still sound asleep. She awakened Tasha abruptly with a whistle, causing the startled Tasha to careen across the room and out the window. Underneath the window, there just happened to be a wheelbarrow full of ripe horse manure...

Covered in poop, Tasha stood outside pouting in her one-piece striped pajamas. She was then knocked down by the effusive dog Calamity,who thought all this stinkiness was great fun. Finally getting back inside the house, Tasha was indignant when Kate reproached her for failing to be ready for her appointment and informed her that she had better show up on time at the Wild Card Saloon for her dance lessons. The final insult occured when Edma paid more attention to Calamity than Tasha.

At the saloon, Tasha was still resentful that Kate was not according her the star treatment she thought she deserved, but she tried to hide it and get on with the dance lessons. Dame Kate directed the lessons while pianist Edward von Sauer provided the accompaniment. Tasha's partner for the first part of the practice was Jesse St. James, a skilled dancer who tried to help her. However, she was so clumsy that she knocked him down while trying to master the can-can steps.

Tasha was so frustrated and angry that she was ready to walk away, but then Daniel Marcus, the handsome young man who would be her co-star in the role of cavalry officer Jack Hardin, arrived to practice with her. Tasha had had a crush on Daniel ever since they met; he had no interest in her and in fact rather disliked her, but had put up a polite front because they would have to work together. Tasha was thrilled to practice the waltz with Daniel; she glowed with happiness when his hands touched her.

Unfortunately, infatuation did not improve Tasha's meager dancing skills, and even in a slow stately Chopin waltz she stumbled and stepped on Daniel's foot. Unperturbed, Daniel came up with a diabolical plot. He told Tasha they should try a more lively waltz, and suggested to
Edward that he play Gounod's waltz from the opera Faust. Edward, understanding Daniel's intent, complied with a fierce fast tempo performance. Daniel whirled Tasha along until she became dizzy, and at the end spun her around with such vigor that she lost her balance
and fell into a pile of curtains. Kate, repressing her laughter, expressed concern and sent Tasha home to recover. Then she called Leggy Barber and informed her that Tasha had no dancing talent and that a stand-in would be needed for Clementine's saloon dance scenes.

Beth Hunter, Tasha's stunt double, got the order from Gopher to start rehearsing to do Tasha's dancing. Beth told Sam about this when she met him the next morning; she was supposed to help him train some of the women in horse stunts, and he wanted to know why she wasn't wearing her riding clothes. Sam noticed that Beth looked unhappy, and when he pressed her, she admitted that she was upset not only about the nude scene he filmed with her sister Claudia, but about Sam and Claudia rehearsing in private. Sam reassured her that the scene with Claudia was only work, and that she, Beth, was the one who mattered to him.