How It All Goes Down
- Leadville is a "long gulch [...] littered with wreckage, shacks, and mine tailings" (4.3.1). Sounds lovely, doesn't it?
- There's a big commotion up ahead. Oliver avoids Susan's curious questions and steers them away to a secluded path.
- Finally, Oliver and Susan see the house: it's a tiny log cabin. There's smoke already coming out of the chimney, which Oliver credits to Frank Sargent, a son of a general, who is Oliver's assistant.
- Oliver and Susan enter the house. It's a little disappointing to Susan, as it's just one room. Not exactly a penthouse suite.
- Just then, Frank arrives. He was apparently off hunting flowers for Susan's arrival (what a smooth customer), but he couldn't find any.
- Frank mentions the commotion in town. Oliver tries to kill the conversation, but Susan forces Frank to give her the 411.
- Turns out, two men were just "hanged [...] out in front of the jail" (4.3.49). One of them was Jeff Oates, the dude who had stolen Oliver's land. The other guy had apparently shot up a stagecoach—presumably the one Oliver and Susan had seen hightailing it out of town.