As I mentioned yesterday, I will not have another chapter for a few days. Look for the next installment on Monday: Dawn.

Stone

Chapter 22 – Catching up

When they finally got back to their tiny house, Stone and family felt strange not being in the caravan. O’Breyne suggested that he live in the caravan until the next trip south, and Rayla quickly accepted his offer, telling him he was to eat in the house. She liked the idea of having a ready-made babysitter on hand, and the kids loved the old man who had told them stories each night around the campfire.

Fire was another problem. It was late fall, and the house was cold. Stone built a fire, lit it, and then the house slowly filled with smoke. O’Breyne was called on, and he found the flue switch, and once it was opened, the smoke started drawing up the chimney. Rayla opened both doors and two windows to clear the smoke from the house, so the fire was fighting a losing battle against the cold until she decided that the air was clear enough for the children, and closed the house back up.

The next morning Stone and Jason wandered over to their usual bakery, noting that another bakery had opened just down the street. The bakery seemed different: there were several tables and chairs set up and a woman, probably the baker’s wife, working the counter. Thus they were able to get their pastries.

“Do you want a drink as well,” the woman asked.

“Yes, a choc for me and a cocoa for the boy.” As he spoke Stone noticed a pile of densely printed sheets at the end of the counter.

“It is called a newssheet,” the woman said. “A penny to buy, or if you leave it in good condition, you can read it and put it back.”

“I’ll buy one,” Stone said.

“Good idea,” she said, “being as there are stories about you two in it. Although I think the story about the boy must be an exaggeration. Congratulations to you and the Missus.”

“Thank you,” Stone said, carrying the paper and the drinks to a table, where he sat and read the newssheet. It was only a single sheet of paper, printed on both sides in small type, then folded to make four pages. He quickly found the stories about the family. The wedding was shortest, then nearly a full column on their trip south, mostly accurate. Then there was the longer story about Jason and the boar.

“There’s my name,” Jason said. “And here, and here.” The boy could not read, but had learned all his letters from his mother during his caravan-schooling on the trip.

“I thought you didn’t think you needed to learn to read,” Stone chided him. “It’s different when the story is about you. Look at these letters. B-O-A-R. That spells boar, and that is in the story a lot.”

“I see one,” Jason said avidly. “And another. Look, the little word in front is the same in both places … and there, and there. What is it?”

“T-H-E,” Stone read. “The: so the two words say the boar.”

“Read it to me, Daddy,” Jason begged.

“No, I think I will let Rayla read it for you,” Stone said, “I will read the other stories for you though.”

Thus they were in the bakery for nearly an hour before getting pastries for the girls, as well as buns for lunch. They found a meat market open when the left, and also bought meat for the sandwiches.

“Mommy, look. I am in the paper,” Jason squealed when they got to the house, ignoring the pastries that Emily was much more interested in.”

Rayla scanned the story, and then sat down with a child on either side, and slowly read the story about Jason. Emily could recognize the letters, and was shown what her brother’s name looked like. But her name didn’t appear in that story, and was only printed once in each of the other two stories, so she settled back and just listened to Rayla read.

Jason, on the other hand, was intensely interested, and followed Rayla’s finger as she slowly read the story at a pace he could comprehend. He shouted his name, ‘boar’ and ‘the’ whenever it appeared in the story, impressing his mother. Stone just stood back and watched, and then a small idea started to gel in his mind. He said goodbye, and headed to the stable to gather Doug. They walked down River Street to where the new printer was located.

“Do you have more of those papers?” he asked the printer.

“Dozens and dozens,” the man replied, worried that the Captain was offended by something and was about to close down his little newssheet.

“I want to buy 50 more,” Stone said. “I will take them to the school and the classes can use them to learn to read. How much?”

“They are a penny each retail,” the printer said, “But I only charge the stores that carry them a ha’penny. But for the school? I think I can charge three penny a dozen and cover the costs of the paper and ink. The more people in town who can read, the better my business will be.”

“Smart man,” Stone said, “Give me 60, and plan on the same each week.”

Stone and Doug walked back to Main Street and the school, where he presented the sheets to the teacher. The man realized quickly that the idea was a good one. Reading a story, especially one about their local town, would be a great way to learn. And for the afternoon class that Jason was in, it would be especially interesting to learn from a story about a classmate.

A Stone got back on Doug, he noticed Carlson, a guard from the first slave train Stone liberated, now a valued member of the community, who was Stone’s second in command, patrolling the streets on his horse.

“Greetings Captain,” the man said, waving his cap. “Do you find the town much changed since you left?”

“Well, it is bigger, for one thing. And a lot more businesses,” Stone replied.

“Yes. Merchants and artisans have been streaming into town since you left. Some said they met you on the way, and you recommended they come up. We have put mostly industrial plants along the river: the glassblower, the papermaker, the butcher and the tanner.”

“They don’t just dump their waste in the river, do they?” an alarmed Stone asked.

“Yes, I think they are planning to,” Carlson said. “Don’t worry. They are located well below the water intake for the town.”

“But above the intakes for Greenwood and Greenford,” Stone pointed out. “Those towns will not be happy when our filth runs down to their communities.”

Now Carlson looked shocked. “We didn’t consider that. What should we do?”

“Is there much space between the buildings and the river? Let’s take a look.” The men had been walking their horses down River Street as they spoke. “Yes, there is enough land. Have each business build a lagoon behind their business. They can dump their waste there, and hopefully the filth will settle to the bottom. It will stink, but there are no homes along this street. Eventually the lagoon water from the top will run off into the river, but it will be much cleaner.”

“So we made a mistake grouping the plants along here,” Carlson said.

“No, not a mistake,” Stone relieved the man. “Zoning the industry all into one area is wise, just as long as we consider their waste. Tell me, is there enough water? The town is many times larger than it originally was. The lumber mill is running full tilt and soon the grist mill will be in operation.”

“Yes. We just have to keep the beaver dams cleared out. Hopefully your eagle will let us know when there are more to pull down.”

“Arthur just told Doug that there are three more out there. Those are pesky buggers, aren’t they?”

“Yes, Captain. We took out two dams last week, and it really boosted the water supply at the dam,” Carlson said. “We trapped four beaver, and the milliners were ecstatic to get the pelts. They say the fur is perfect for making hats.”

“There is about 200 acres up there of bogland flooded by the beavers. Once we drain that out, it will be prime land. Let’s put up 20-acre farms in that area. The soil will be perfect for growing vegetables, and will help feed the town next summer. Now tell me how we are doing for money. I brought back 100 gold from Sarn.”

“That is more Euler’s area than mine,” Carlson said. “There he is, headed for his office.”

“Euler,” Stone called out to the man, and they rode up to him. “Can you tell how the town finances are?”

The man frowned. “Cash is flowing through the town nicely now, and the start of the grist mill will put some more men on salaries. But the town resources are dwindling, and we seem to hire more and more people. There are two teachers, and we will soon need a third, the healers, street sweepers, stable workers, soldiers, and last week we started four men working the well, pumping water through the day. We had fights breaking out over the well, and it seemed smart to hire men to pump for the people, rather than station soldiers there full time to quell arguments. It works well. There are two troughs, one for horses, and another that the people just dip their pails in to get water. It is faster than hauling your water up from the well, and there are no arguments over who’s turn is next.”

“That sounds good,” Stone said. “But money? How much is left?”

“We have enough to get us to December,” Euler said. “After that we will have to levy taxes.”

Stone frowned. “I really didn’t want to tax the people until next year. I got 100 gold down in Sarn. Will that help?”

“It will delay our running out until February,” Euler estimated.

“Well, I guess we will have to hope another big slave train comes through, although if that happens there will be a lot of costs getting the new citizens settled in. Let’s be careful with our money till then.”

It was noontime when Carlson had finished reporting on the town, and Stone congratulated him for his good work, and then went home to lunch. Rayla and Jason had spent the entire morning going through the newspaper, and the boy seemed on the verge of learning to read. Stone found Emily playing outside with some friends and scooped her up onto Doug to ride home. Her friends oohed and aahed at seeing her on the big horse as she waved to them.

O’Breyne was busy puttering around the house, and got up. “Take your horse, Captain?” he offered.

“Oh, you don’t want to do that,” Stone said. “Doug can look after himself in most ways. Just make sure there is water in the trough and oats in the feedbag. If you try to tie him up, he will take your arm off.”

“Mommy,” Emily squealed as she ran to hug Rayla, who she had left just an hour before when she got tired of the reading lesson. “Daddy let me ride Doug.”

Emily went to the kitchen and made sandwiches for the family from the goods Stone had bought in the morning. “Arthur says you want beaver hunted,” she said.

“Yes, if you could take the hunters out this afternoon after you take Emily to school. It is a shame we have to kill them, but they will just continue to build new dams if we don’t. But that land is too valuable, and we need the water as well. I will take Jason to school.”

“I found out that there is a place making paint on River Road,” Stone continued. “I think O’Breyne will paint for you, if you pick out the colors. The wood will last longer if it is painted. I suggest the main color be white, which is cheaper, and you can choose the color of the trim: they have red, blue, green, and grey, I think.”

“Ooh, that sounds good,” Rayla said. “O’Breyne has just been idling along. He is making plans for both flower and vegetable beds in the spring, but there is not a lot he can do this time of the year, other than to split firewood. He has cleared the woodlot behind the house so it is safe for Jason and his friends to play in there.”

“Not Emily?”

“No, her friends prefer playing in sand. O’Breyne says tomorrow he will build a sandbox, and get a load of sand from the river for it.”

“Have him get the sand from right in front of the dam,” Stone warned. “It will be cleaner there than further downriver.”

Rayla froze mid-bite of her sandwich. Arthur says there are mounted men approaching from the east. About 20, looking like soldiers. They are a couple of days out. No slaves and only one supply wagon.”

Stone also looked concerned, and then eased up. “With only one wagon they won’t be traders, and they aren’t slavers. I wonder what they are coming for? We will take the soldiers out, maybe 30 of them,” Stone said. “We pay them, we should get some work out of them. I’ll talk to Sgt. Pothman after I take Jason to school.”

“Do I have to go to school?” the boy complained. “I spent the whole day reading with Momma.”

“Yes you do,” Stone said. “You will probably be ahead of the others, and can help them catch up. Plus all the boys will want to know how you killed a boar, won’t they?”

“I guess so,” Jason said.