Temperance.'
'What would that be?'
'I know you didn't get a chance to see Rachel before we marched. So I told my sister to tell her that you wished Rachel well.'
Nathaniel nodded slowly. 'You know you oughten not poke your nose into a man's affairs.'
'I know, but…'
'And you know your sister ain't going to cotton to delivering that message.'
'Yes, but…'
Nathaniel looked at him. 'I appreciate it, Lieutenant Frost. Might be, as we go along, you could scratch down some words for me. You'll be sending things back to Temperance from Hattersburg, most like.'
'I'd be happy to.'
'I would be obliged.' Nathaniel smiled easily. 'And just to ease your mind, I did sit a spell with Rachel, making my good-byes.'
Caleb stared at him, mouth open. 'But Rufus' Foxtails, they were guarding her. How could you sneak in to see her?'
'I reckon that's something for you to be thinking on for the nights the boys in them fox-caps is having sentry duty.' Nathaniel nodded and started working his way back up the line. 'Or be happy about when we come to Fort Cuivre and we need me to take a peek inside.'
By the end of the day the column made camp on the banks of the Benjamin River, several miles east of the Prince's estate. Nathaniel had gone ahead with the Summerland boys to pick out exactly where they would camp. The eldest of them, Thomas, had been in logging camps for a few years, so he laid out where the privies would go, while Nathaniel placed sentries.
Before darkness had fallen, Kamiskwa appeared from the river along with twenty Shedashee braves. Half were Altashee, the other half Lanatashee. They'd brought down the river large war canoes suitable for carrying thirty men each.
Nathaniel looked the Shedashee party over. 'That's a powerful lot of canoes.'
'The Lanatashee made two more than we did, though ours are better.'
'I reckon. None of the other Confederation tribes sent warriors?'
Kamiskwa shook his head. 'They see this as a white-man's war.'
'Probably wise to stay out of it.' Nathaniel sighed. 'Seven Nations?'
'They've heard the Ryngians are dealing with wendigo. Only the Ungarakii are crazy enough to act for them.'
'Better only one tribe than all seven.'
Nathaniel took Kamiskwa around through the camp, introducing him to the various officers. Most of the men had met Shedashee before and, despite the fact that the men of Fairlee had fought a couple wars against the Chokashee and Ishannakii, they mostly accepted the Twilight People. Their dogs sniffed and yelped, as they had been trained, but their owners held them back.
Major Forest greeted Kamiskwa warmly and invited him to dine at the Major's tent along with the unit's captains and lieutenants. Forest's enthusiastic acceptance of the Shedashee silenced most protests, save those from the Foxtails. Rufus, who had been elected as their Corporal, bristled at serving under Caleb and Nathaniel, so nothing would make him happy.
Nothing shy of my dying. Nathaniel laughed. So they is just going to go on being disappointed.
After supper the Shedashee made their own camp on the far side of the river. It gave the dogs a chance to settle down and saved Forest from having to post a guard across the water. Forest set his sentries up in units of six, with a pair of men chosen from various companies. He posted them far enough away from the main camp that discovering a sentry post would not put an enemy on top of his force. Two sentries would be awake at all times at each post. If they heard anything, they would wake others who would alert the main camp.
A runner found Nathaniel and asked him to report to Major Forest. He found Benjamin Beecher with the Major. 'Reporting as ordered, sir.'
'Mr. Beecher has a problem. I cannot seem to make him understand our situation.'
Nathaniel nodded to the minister. 'Reverend.'
'With all due respect, Major Forest, I'm not certain Captain Woods can help. He never attends church and is, well, how can I say this? He is a notorious fornicator.'
Nathaniel eased his shoulders back and his spine slowly popped. 'That sounds like something bad, Mr. Beecher.'
'It is, and you know it.'
'I reckon that if you're gonna damn me for that, there's more than half the men here would be in the same boat.'
Major Forest held up his good hand. 'That is immaterial to the problem at hand. Mr. Beecher, if you will.'
'Yes, Major.' Beecher frowned mightily, his expression mocked by the face of the raccoon staring down from his cap. 'These Twilight People are unbaptized. We cannot have the godless on this expedition.'
'Would you be caring to make sense, Mr. Beecher?'
Beecher clasped his hands behind his back. 'The Tharyngians have rejected our God. They are our enemies. The Shedashee have not embraced our God. It is the same in His eyes.'
'Well now, Mr. Beecher, being as how I am a notorious fornicator and hain't never stepped into a church where you was able to see me, ain't I just as bad as any Ryngian?'
'You, I have been told, were baptized. Your foot has been set on the road to redemption. Those men in our company who have not been baptized will be baptized tomorrow morning, right here, in the river. I should like the Shedashee to join them.'
'Iffen they don't, they's enemies?'
Beecher looked skyward. 'It's God's judgment, not mine.'
Nathaniel could see where Beecher was headed, and it wasn't good. 'Well, I don't reckon you need to be crying your eyes out over all this. The Altashee live in the village of Saint Luke.'
The minister blinked. 'They do?'
'I ain't lying. Their Chief Msitazi declared it so after welcoming missionaries. Your fears is just silly.'
'I didn't know.' Beecher frowned. 'Why didn't you just tell me this?'
'Why did you go and call me a fornicator?' Nathaniel looked at him hard. 'Some folks don't take kindly to be being judged.'
The man glanced down. 'I see. I beg your pardon, Captain Woods.'
'Forgiven and forgotten. But now don't go a-mentioning baptism to the Twilight People. They's strong in their faith, but silent about it. Probably over there in a prayer circle now.'
Beecher turned and looked over across the river. 'God bless them.'
'I reckon he has.' Nathaniel nodded. 'If you'll excuse me, I'm thinking I could use some saving, and I'll be over there getting it. Sir.'
Forest held his hand up. 'Wait, Captain. That's all, Mr. Beecher.'
The preacher withdrew.
Nathaniel raised an eyebrow. 'Major?'
'There might be a problem when Beecher finds out you've lied.'
'From who? The Shedashee?' Nathaniel shook his head. 'I reckon they've had more experience dealing with men of the cloth trying to save them than all the rest of us combined. I don't expect they'll have a problem. And if Beecher does, well, I hear tell the Good Lord done spent forty days and forty nights wandering the wilderness. Mr. Beecher might find hisself doing the same thing, doing everyone some right powerful good.'
Chapter Fifty-Four
May 31, 1764
Government house, Temperance
