Sir Odon warned me that I had the fourth watch, and I made Fritz promise to wake me.
I woke with Fritz shaking my arm and the sun in my eyes. I jumped up and asked why he hadn't woken me on time.
'I
I said I was confused.
'Sir Odon's orders. Daybreak now happens four hours after sunset, no matter what the sun feels like doing.'
I must have still looked befuddled, because he continued, 'Look, just stay awake for an hour and then wake everybody else up, including me.'
I got up, Fritz went to sleep, and the first thing I did was walk over to the clock in the mess tent. It said it was half past one.
I had breakfast ready for the others when I woke them at half past two. Sir Odon got up, went over to the clock, and reset it to zero.
Then he said, 'Good morning, Josip. Thank you for getting breakfast ready.'
I asked him to explain what was going on.
'Wait until the others get here. There's no point in going through this twice.'
Once we were all together, he said, 'Last night was clear enough for me to shoot a sighting on the North Star. We are very far north. In fact, we are only about four dozen miles south of the Arctic Circle. Also, we are only a few weeks away from the Summer Solstice. This means that in a few weeks' time, if we go just two days' march north of here, the sun will never set at all. We will be in the Land of the Midnight Sun.
'Furthermore, the nights here and now are so short that we will fall over dead of exhaustion in a few weeks if we try to sleep only when the sun is down. Therefore, until further notice, we will wake up four hours after sunset, since I think that we would have trouble falling asleep when the sun is still up. Sunset is now at eight o'clock, and the first sentry sets the clock.'
'So that's why we were all so tired,' Father John said.
'Of course. If you work eleven hours every day and sleep only one, you will be tired. The fact that we all did that without noticing it proves that people have a very poor sense of time.'
Lezek said, 'Lord Conrad once wrote that it was possible to build a clock so small that it could be worn on your wrist, but I've never heard of anyone who actually made one.'
'We certainly could have used one these past few days,' Sir Odon said. 'Now then, I want to be north of here to see this Midnight Sun business. We've read about it, but we could be the first men in the entire army to see it. But before we can go, there are some things that must be done around here first.'
'Then what should we do?' Father John said.
'I would like to see at least two more scouting patrols made, one to the northwest and one to the northeast, so we can be sure that there aren't any people around here. We need to get a medium-sized garden going, to see what varieties of plants can be grown here, and to get some fresh food on the table. We need to get a radio antenna up so we can report in, and the same pole might as well serve as a flagpole. Can anyone think of anything else?' Sir Odon asked.
'I think we will need a very sturdy door made for the mouth of the cave,' Kiejstut said, 'something strong enough to discourage a bear, since I don't want us to lose our winter's food supply while we're gone.'
'Good idea. Any other thoughts? No? Then how about if Josip and Kiejstut head northeast, and Taurus and Zbigniew go northwest. Fritz, you get started on a garden, Father John and I will take care of the antenna, and that leaves Lezek to worry about the door for the cave. You fellows on patrol, try to bring back some fresh meat, if you can do it without bothering the locals.'
Kiejstut said, 'What locals?'
'Just don't shoot somebody's cow. Well, let's get going.'
Chapter Sixteen
From the Journal of Josip Sobieski
WRITTEN FEBRUARY 3, 1249, CONCERNING MAY 28, 1248
DUE TO some near fatal hangovers and a fouled-up railroad connection, Kiejstut and I had both missed the one-day course they'd given on the folding kayak. Fortunately, the thing went together easily enough. Folded, it looked like a six-yard-long bundle of sticks wrapped in canvas. You simply inserted three vaguely oval-shaped ribs in the right places, gave them a twist, and it popped out and became a lightweight boat that was pointed at both ends, and could hold three men in a pinch.
The double-ended paddles were strange, but easily mastered.
We crossed the icy cold river, beached the kayak, and hid it under some bushes. Then, packs on our backs, weapons loaded, and our hearts light, we headed out looking for adventure. What we found were mostly hills, small bushes, and a vast number of carnivorous insects.
'I am rigorously opposed to this business of being in the middle of the food chain!' Kiejstut complained, swatting at the bugs. 'In my family, we always sat on the
I recommended chastising them for their lack of respect of his exalted station in life.
'Chastise them? I am already slaughtering them by the thousands! What else can I do?'
I suggested attempting to engage in a meaningful conversation with them, but his only reply was to throw a rock at me.
We had no luck in finding any people, but were more successful when it came to fresh meat. Kiejstut and I each managed to shoot a deer.
I was walking far in the lead when Kiejstut waved me to take cover. He had the rifle and lay down behind a bush while two small bucks slowly came within range. I stood behind a tree far to his right, watching and waiting. When they came within nine dozen yards, he fired, and his marksmanship was absolutely perfect. Shot through the heart, the buck fell backward without a sound or further motion.
The second buck sprang up and started running, and it had the bad luck to run straight at me. I was surprised, but I had the presence of mind to draw and cock my pistol. The animal didn't see me until it was only about a dozen yards away. It turned and offered me a perfect side shot. One does not often get the opportunity to brag about having felled a deer with a pistol, so I fired. The buck went down, but when I got to it, it was still alive. I drew my bayonet, held back its head, and cut its throat.
At that point we were more than a dozen miles from our base camp, and there didn't seem to be much sense in going on any farther. We each slung a buck over our shoulders, but they were heavier than they looked. It was soon obvious that if we tried to bring back both whole animals, we couldn't possibly make it to camp by dark.
I asked if he thought we should abandon one of the deer, or if we should leave our armor, weapons, and supplies behind.
'Sir Odon would have a fit if we abandoned any equipment, even temporarily. Remember that they made him sign for all of it. As to leaving our weapons, well, don't even think about it!' Kiejstut said, 'You really should have let the second deer go. As it is, well, to throw one of them away would be wasteful and little children in Mongolia are going to bed hungry.'
I had to agree that he was right, although shooting had seemed a good idea at the time. Anyway, both bucks were bigger than I had at first thought.
So we stopped, and I built a fire as much to destroy some of the mosquitoes as to cook lunch. Kiejstut started with the butchering. We cooked and ate one liver, put all of my trail food into my partner's pouch, and then put the second liver in my pouch. This meant that I would have a messy cleaning job to do once we got back, but then the original sin was mine.
Regretfully, we discarded all of the rest of the tripe, the heads, the feet, and even the skins, to get the loads down to a weight we could live with.
