Chapter 2

Hector nods, "I can have some men prepare the horses and gather some supplies, we can get you to Kingman. He looks at the ladies, it will not be a comfortable experience, but we will do our best to make it bearable."

He pulls a pocket watch out of his vest, "Give us two hours to get everything together."

"Do you think they take my sister with them too?" Mariette asks holding her side.

"I have an undershirt you can wear miss," Ruby offers, "it maybe more comfortable than your corset."

Donovan looks at Mariette, "You think you're going to be all right to travel ma'am?"

Mariette nods, "Oui. I be alright, we find your professor too Monsieur."

---

The two hours passes quickly, Ruby, Mariette and Helen head back into the house, pretty soon they re-emerge with Mariette in a clean undershirt and Helen's yellow jacket. Ruby is clearly not wearing her undershirt anymore and it looks as if the ladies have shed a number of the petticoats under their skirts.

Hector walks over to the group, "Horse are ready, we have supplies in the packs, It will be cold at night so we brought extra blankets. Is there anything you want to know about before we leave?"

Hector holds his hand up, "No need to thank us Mr. Cranstone, we were just doing what needed to be done. You were in trouble, and we could help."

The trip to Kingman takes slightly longer than three days, you probably could have done it it slightly better than two but travelling with the injured Mariette adds time to the journey as does Hector's desire to remain undetected by locals or the military. The group moves through out the day, the weather is unseasonably warm the first two days and the evenings are bitterly cold. The trail is rough and dusty winding its way through a series of narrow washes and bone dry gullies. The second night you camp next to natural spring where fresh water bubbles out of a crack in the rocks creating a deep pool under a large overhang. The water, while not hot is warmer than you expected and remarkably refreshing.

Late in the afternoon on the third day Hector calls a halt on a low ridge overlooking the town of Kingman, for most of you the town doesn't look like much. A single street of wood and brick structures parallel to the rail line, there's a large building next to the station that looks like it might be a saloon, or maybe a hotel. Nathaniel can clearly make out a bathhouse and a small corner store near the hotel. Napoleon notices that there's a large Livery Stable near the Western end of town and Dr. Long sees what appears to be a compounding dispensary / barber / dentists office near the other end of the street.

"There's a hotel across from the station," Buford remarks, "can probably get lodgings there for a night or two. There's also a boarding house down the end of the street near the stockyards, ought to be empty this time of year."

"You are certain of this Monsieur Buford?" Mariette asks as Hector and Ruby helps her off the horse.

Buford nods, "Yes'm, place only fills up when the ranchers are movin' livestock through town."

"Is it an appropriate place for ladies?" Ruby inquires.

"I reckon it'll be better than the saloon," Buford says nodding towards the hotel / saloon in the middle of town.

"Most importantly," Helen inquires, "do they have baths?"

Buford scoffs, "Yes ma'am, cost you a nickle though."

Hector shakes all your hands, before taking the horses back and getting ready to depart.

"Merci," Mariette says with a bow.

"Thank you," Ruby says with a smile and a slight curtsy.

Helen smiles and shakes his hand vigorously, "You're a gentleman Hector, I will never forget your kindness."

Harris tips his hat and thanks Hector as well.

Buford grins, "You're a stand up kinda feller Hector, many thanks."

The march into town isn't long and as you have practically no possession it's an easy trek, Hector and his tribe have set you up with blankets and bags with some food and water as well as a handful of spare pistol and rifle cartridges. The main street is lit with oil lamps and the sound of piano music comes down the street from the saloon / hotel.

You march up to the front door of the boarding house, a couple locals give you side long glances as you head up the stairs. One even tips his hat at the ladies as he rides past on his horse. A quick tap on the door and a woman in a blue gingham dress cracks open the door and peers out.

"May I help ... " she stops in her tracks and her face lights up as she looks towards the back of the group. "Buford Callahan you great bear of a man, what are you doing back in Kingman at this time of year?"

"Miss Bessie," Buford says with a tip of his hat, "these folk are my friends and we're in need of a roof over our head for a night or two if you can spare the room."

"Why of course, come on in, come on in," Bessie looks the group over, "well, aren't you lot a fright. Ya'll look like you're five days into what should have been a two day ride."

---

Napoleon wanders through the middle of town, such as it is, a handful of wooden buildings, a construction store, a tailor, a livery, a large general store, a brick and mortar sheriff's office and a train station. There's a handful of houses backing onto the main road and he can see chicken coops and small gardens between the houses and the stores. It's chilly out, being late in the year and smoke issues forth from practically every chimney. Napoleon thinks the most likely place to find a revolutionary contact is going to be either in the telegraph office of the train station or perhaps the livery stable and attached stockyards. Typically there would be an exchange of coded phrases, to ensure you're talking to who you think you're talking to and if they fail the challenge you simply move on having said nothing conspicuous.

The livery stable appears to be locked up, but it is down the far end of the street so you can't be certain. The telegraph office in the railway station is occupied by a young woman with long red braids and a freckled face in a Telegraph Clerk uniform, pillbox hat and buttoned up blue jacket. She looks bored and is currently occupying her time in the empty station reading through a news paper. Other than her the station is empty, wooden benches with brass legs, large oil lamps hang from the rafters illuminating the interior of the building.

The dentist is just cleaning up his shop when Thaddeus walks in. He's an older man, balding with grey temples and a large nose. He's wearing a white shirt, rolled up sleeves and is pushing a broom across the wooden floor of his office towards the door. There's a big dentist chair in the middle of the room with a number of foot power operated tools hanging from a long brass arm attached to the chair. Near the front door off to the side is a desk and a pair of large metal filing cabinets. The rear wall of the store has several racks of glass jars containing a variety of powders of various colors, there's also a large locked cabinet in the back. He seems relatively well stocked in the basics, a similar shop in London would have nearly twice as many jars but there's also an awful lot more people in London and it doesn't rain soot and ash here like it does there.

The older man looks up from his broom and leans on it slightly, "Evening, just about to close up for the night stranger, what can I do for you?"

The clerk looks at at Napoleon giving him a very clear once over. He gets the feeling she's giving him a thorough evaluation.

"I have a letter from a Mister Bakunin for a Mister Thoreau, been sitting here a while." She reaches into a rack of papers, "Partial postage still due though, gonna cost you a penny."

Napoleon knows this is the second half of the code and he's supposed to produce a penny from the French Commune, fortunately the bandit's never made it to him and he still has all has money.

The woman behind the counter looks at the coin, then pushes her braids back behind her shoulders, "How may I be of assistance you brother?" She asks handing the coin back to him.

She pulls out a small yellow note pad with a Western Union logo printed at the top, pulls the tops sheet off the pad so as not to leave an impression in the pages beneath and takes a pencil from the drawer.

The girl behind the counter nods writing down what Napoleon says, "Leave it with me, I'll put out some telegrams tonight, see what I get back in the morning. By warship do you mean a Zeppelin or an Aerial Gunboat? Liftwood is pretty hard to get a hold of, especially here. Knowing what we're looking for could help narrow things down."