At my mention, Mick went inside to check the status of breakfast and refresh the coffee. I had a few moments to think and things weren’t quite settled up on this account yet. I had barely lit up a cigarette when Sinclaire showed up in little more than a shift and curled up in my lap. It was a good little snuggle and I enjoyed the feeling of her lithe little body in my lap, she certainly wasn’t a girl by any measure but she was a delightful example of womanhood.

Cook brought out fresh coffee and then breakfast and Mick brought me a mostly cold beer. It seems we still had ice floating around down there. More food came out for Mick and we ate. Well I tried to eat with Sinclaire in my lap and picking at my food while we finished our conversation. I eventually lost my patience and chased Sinclair off to the shower and the tub. Putting together a quick bacon sarny of fried bread and bacon, I got up and led Mick off to show him how the pump system worked.

Now a bacon sarny ain’t a BLT, it’s the poor British equivalent of a BLT but it does in a pinch and that lithe little body squirming on top of me had roused another hunger. I handed Mick half my sarny and when I was sure he understood what was going on, I went down to grab what I needed to enjoy my tub one more time before I left.

**** ****

A woman doesn’t have to be the greatest beauty in the land for a guy to enjoy watching her shower. Once SinfulClaire realized I was intent on watching, she gave me a delicate and elegant show. Her life may have been many things, but she did have excellent womanly talent and skills. That might possibly have been the best beer and cigarette of my life.

Obviously we frolicked in and out of the tub for a spell, but responsibilities called us both and we had to get on with the day. The heat of the summer day was already rising as we exited the tent and reality bore back down upon us; she was on the cusp of a major life restart and I needed to get on with a journey.

I did spend a brief bit of time with Mick describing his overall duties but made sure he fully understood that he reported to Ms. Sinclaire and that I expected him to take care of her and this place. He might be a gimp at this point, but he was no less of a man, and I felt comfortable that things would go well under his watch. Sinclaire agreed we’d need more people over time and that the cooks should all train under Mrs. Byrne. While that last caveat confused her at first, I alleviated her concerns with a bit of cash. Sinclaire was here to stay, unless she went into the bottle or some such. Mick and Cook were thrilled to have a new direction in life and I started packing my travel bag.

**** ****

The restart of our trip was much better. First of all, the herd met me on the road and I didn’t have to go get them started. I began to feel like I could focus on my concerns and not theirs, I’d do my share of riding drag and such and I always had a night watch. Mostly it was supervising the night watch, but it was still a night watch.

The men had come to realize that nothing was easy on the trail and as a matter of fact, being a cowboy was a shitty job. Every major stream and small river was a fording exercise and we did on occasion lose a head or two; the carcass would be recovered and butchered immediately. Well, if they wanted meat to eat.

The men did some fishing and foraging in the evenings. The crawdads were proving extremely popular, as were the fresh mushrooms that could be spotted along the way if you were riding out on skirt. The fellas started to learn how to truly live off the land and they were sharing that knowledge with each other.

We quickly broke out onto the mostly open prairie and our speed picked up. It was easier to keep the herd together out here and we could avoid most of the major fording until we hit the Osage River and Lakes. There was good water and good grass all along here and we kept a good pace. The wolves kept their distance and we only cut Indian sign twice. None of us were skilled enough to know which tribe that raiding band belonged to, but it looked to be young warriors and young ones were dangerous with ambition.

We had to set out riders on point to seek our best way forward and to keep an eye out for hostiles, that was a new reality for most of these men. The tradesmen and the slaves were the worst, they had led sheltered lives and simply didn’t know how to do a lot of things; they sometimes didn’t even know when to be cautious.

Now that turned into a long discussion with Sheriff regarding slavery, emancipation and the time that followed. Thankfully, we didn’t get into the Panic of 1873, often called the long depression. The rise of the Ku Klux Klan and all the damage they did basically began in that period and slowly spread as intolerance spread. The list of things done wrong during that period ran deep enough to start two world wars.

We did have long conversations about freeing slaves who had thus far had everything guided for them; these weren’t captured tribesman, they were domestically bred people with limited exposure and a limited skill set. They simply didn’t have anything, not even a home. Sadly at emancipation, most just turned into serfs or share croppers, which is the same damn thing. Great initiative, poor execution.

All of this simply highlighted what our new citizens didn’t know and what they would need to learn. We were offering them a fair chance though; the ability to stand on their own two feet. Mistakes would be made, but we both agreed that this path was a good one; other paths might need to be blazed alongside it but this one worked for now.

Amos was always there and that lad had some interesting insight.

Even if he was lovesick and mooning over his young love.