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Kesus."
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"Strange I see them nearly everywhere," Andrew continued. "I heard a mother
say something to a child the other day. I think she called them
Tugars."
It was the look in the mother's eyes that had unnerved him. The child had
pointed, obviously asking a question, she had said the word "Tugar,"
and then with obvious fear had quickly turned the child away.
But it was not Kal who reacted. As he said the word, Tugar, Tanya and
Ludmilla both looked at him with a start.
Obviously flustered, Kal fumbled for a response.
"They are nothing," he said quickly. "I believe it is time that I go."
Standing, he turned to Andrew and gave the traditional bow, right hand
extended so that the fingertips swept the ground as he bent over.
Ludmilla and Tanya did likewise.
Rising from the table, Andrew followed them to the door.
Putting his arm around Kal's shoulder, he stepped outside into the starry
night.
"Did I upset you by asking of the Tugars?" Andrew asked.
With frightened eyes, Kal looked up at the colonel.
"Before no one, but especially Ivor or Rasnar, say that word. It is
dangerous."
"But if they are only banished old gods, like our devil back home, why should
you be afraid?"
"This is different," Kal said. "It will not go well if they know that you are
aware of such things."
Andrew could see the fear in Kal's eyes, and nodding an agreement he patted
the man on the shoulder.
"Tomorrow, then, we shall take Ivor for his ride on the boat?"
Kal merely nodded, and taking the hand of his daughter and his wife, started
down the village green to the cabin which Andrew had arranged for them.
Andrew returned to the officers' mess, and he could see that the men were
waiting for him.
"So what the hell is this Tugar business?" Tobias growled from the other end
of the table.
"Damned if I know," Andrew said, settling back into his chair.
"Scared the bejeebers out of the man," O'Donald replied, drawing on his cigar.
"And the girl as well," Kathleen ventured.
"Well, I think we should ask this Ivor and find out," Tobias announced.
"No!"
Startled, the assembly fell quiet. Something about his earlier musings and the
reaction of Kal was connecting half a thought. What it was Andrew wasn't sure.
But he knew it would be dangerous to ask any questions now.
"I'm ordering all of you to forget this conversation. If I hear you or anyone
else in this camp say the word Tugar,' I'll haul you up on charges. There's
something dangerous about asking, Kal told me that, and I believe him."
"Peasant superstition," Tobias growled. "And besides, what damn charges will
you press, colonel, sir? I have a right to freedom of speech."
"You can say what you want, captain, as long as it does not contradict my
orders," Andrew said slowly, "but I am in command of this unit until such time
as we ever find a way home. And I am ordering every man here never to make
reference to these Tugar creatures."
With a snort of disgust, Tobias leaned back in his chair. Andrew waited for a
response, but the captain was silent, eyeing him with contempt.
"Now there is other business to attend to. The encampment is basically
completed, and the ship has been freed. Therefore, starting tomorrow, I'm
granting leave, starting with one company a day, so the men can go into the
city."
"You think that wise, Andrew?" Emil asked.
"Why?"
"That place is a pestilence waiting to happen. I don't like the idea of the
men going in there. Won't surprise me if there's plague or some such thing
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just waiting to happen."
Andrew could well understand the argument. He had wrestled with it as well. He
wished he could just keep the men within the stockade, limiting contact until
such time as they had their bearings and were ready to move on. But they were
men. Morale was slipping badly. In the first weeks, mere survival and the
building of the camp had kept them busy. But Hans had been keeping tabs, and
morale was starting to take a serious shift.
Most were still badly frightened by the experience. Nearly a quarter of the
command were married men, and from their ranks had been coming the loudest
complaints for a desire to return home. He had to let the men out, to see this
new world, to form friendships with the people and to just let off some steam.
He could only hope that Emil could keep things under control if something did
break out.
"I'm sorry, Emil, I've weighed the risk and it's one we'll have to take. The
boys are tough. Just lecture them firmly about the water, and the disease.
No one's to go near their churches, and by heavens I'll have any man drunk up
for a bucking and gagging on the village green."
"Who. goes first, colonel darling?" O'Donald asked expectantly.
"Take half your battery," Andrew said. "We'll have a gun aboard ship fire a
salute when we take Ivor back to the city tomorrow. Then they're free for the
day. Company A can go with us as well. Captain," and he looked back at Tobias,
"you can order your men as you see fit."
Tobias merely nodded a reply.
"And the ladies?"
Andrew turned in his seat to Kathleen.
"Well, ah, you see . . ."
"Colonel Keane," Kathleen said evenly, "I can take care of myself, thank you,
and have no intention of staying prisoner in this camp."
"Mutiny," Emil mumbled, a smile lighting his features.
Flustered, Andrew searched for a reply, finally realizing that Kathleen's
features were creased by the slightest of a bemused smile at the consternation
of the usually self-assured officer before her.
"If you would allow me to be your escort tomorrow I would be honored," Andrew
said quietly.
"I will consider it," Kathleen replied.
"Well, ah," and Andrew nervously cleared his throat, and lapsed into silence,
a habit all his friends knew about when in the presence of a woman, and
secretively they smiled at each other.
Andrew looked over at Emil, who was sitting beside Kathleen. The doctor left
him dangling for long seconds. Finally Hans took pity and, clearing his
throat, leaned over toward Andrew.
"If I might remind the colonel," he said evenly, "there is some business we
must attend to."
"Yes, of course, sergeant," Andrew said with a sigh of relief, turning away
from Kathleen's penetrating gaze. "Thank you for reminding me."
Regaining his composure, he looked down the table to his company and staff
officers, who had sat with smiling patience during the exchange.
"Other business then, gentlemen. Let's start with Mr. Houston's idea."
"My boys want to get started on that sawmill, sir," Tracy Houston, the
diminutive captain of Company D, said, speaking from the other end of the
table. Houston was only nineteen, looking even younger thanks to a shock of
unruly blond hair and a cloud of freckles that covered his face.
But his features were a stark contradiction to a hardened officer who had won
a commission in the field for gallantry during the Wilderness campaign.
"Start them tomorrow right after the ceremony with Ivor. You've got the site?"
"A good one, sir. About a quarter mile east of the encampment. There's a good
head of water coming through a narrow gorge, so the dam won't take much work.
My man Ferguson is a wonder he's already laid out the site and figures he can
have an overshot wheel with a fifteen-foot drop working inside of a month if
the whole company pitches in on it.
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Privates Ivey and Olsen helped build a mill dam back in Vassalboro. The main
problem is that we'll need a forge with some good iron to turn out a blade."
Andrew looked over at O'Donald. Every battery in the army had at least one
blacksmith assigned to it who could handle the shoeing of the horses and
repairs to the equipment.
"Dunlevy's the man," O'Donald stated. "Now if he could build that forge next
to the dam and get some power off it for a bellows, why, you'll have the
finest blade in this bloody country inside a month. We need a good smithy
works here."
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