Part 31 (2/2)

Not that I was too jumpy about being disclosed as a Howard. But if I was going to have to live in masquerade, the more carefully I used these cosmetic tricks, the more Dora's nose would be rubbed in the fact that I was different from her-different in the saddest way of all, a husband and a wife who ran on very different time rates.

Minerva, it seemed to me that the only way I could give my pretty new wife a square shake was by taking her far away from both sorts of people, long-lived and short, where I could quit pretending and we could ignore the difference, forget it and be happy. So I decided to take her clear out of reach of other people, decided this before we got back to town the very day I married her.

It seemed the best answer to an otherwise impossible situation, but one not as irreversible as a parachute jump. If she got too lonely, if she grew to hate the sight of my ugly mug, I could bring her out to the settlements again, still young enough to hook another husband. I had this in mind, Minerva, as some of my wives have grown tired of me fairly quickly. I had arranged with Zack Briggs, at the same time I had arranged with John Magee to act as factor for Zack-arranged with Zack to ask John what had happened to ”Bill Smith” and the little schoolmarm? It was possible that I would need a ride off-planet someday.

But why didn't I have Zack put us down on the spot on the map I had picked as being our likely place of settlement?-with everything we would need to start farming and thereby avoid a long, dangerous trek. Not risk death by thirst, or by lopers, or the treacheries of mountains, or whatever.

Minerva, this was a long time ago and I can explain only in terms of technology available there there and and then then. The Andy J Andy J. could not land; she received her overhauls in orbit around Secundus or some other advanced planet. Her cargo boat could land on any big flat field but required a minimum of a radar-corner reflector to home on, then had to have many metric tons of water to lift off again. The captain's gig was the only boat in the Andy J Andy J. capable of landing anywhere a skilled pilot could put her down, then lift off without help. But her cargo capacity was about two postage stamps-whereas I needed mules and plows and a load of other things.

Besides, I needed to learn how to get out out of those mountains by going of those mountains by going into into them. I could not take Dora into there without being reasonably sure that I could fetch her out again. Not fair! It's no sin not to be pioneer-mother material -but it is tragic for both husband and wife to find it out too late. them. I could not take Dora into there without being reasonably sure that I could fetch her out again. Not fair! It's no sin not to be pioneer-mother material -but it is tragic for both husband and wife to find it out too late.

So we did not do it the hard way; we did it the only only way for that time and place. But I have never put the effort into a ma.s.s calculation for a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p at liftoff that I put into deciding what to take, what to do without, for that trek. First, the basic parameter: how many wagons in the train? I wanted three wagons so badly I could taste it. A third wagon would mean luxuries for Dora, more tools for me, more books and such for both of us, and (best!) a precut one-room house to get my pregnant bride out of the weather almost instantly at the other end. way for that time and place. But I have never put the effort into a ma.s.s calculation for a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p at liftoff that I put into deciding what to take, what to do without, for that trek. First, the basic parameter: how many wagons in the train? I wanted three wagons so badly I could taste it. A third wagon would mean luxuries for Dora, more tools for me, more books and such for both of us, and (best!) a precut one-room house to get my pregnant bride out of the weather almost instantly at the other end.

But three wagons meant eighteen mules hauling, plus spare mules-add six by rule-of-thumb-which meant half again as much time spent harnessing and unharnessing, watering the animals, taking care of them otherwise. Add enough wagons and mules and at some point your day's march is zero; one man can't handle the work. Worse, there would be places in the mountains where I would have to unshackle the wagons, move them one at a time to a more open place-go back for each wagon left behind, bring it up-a process that would take twice as long for a three-wagon train as for a two-wagon one, and would happen oftener, even much oftener, with three wagons than with two. At that rate we might have three babies born en route instead of getting there before our first one was born.

I was saved from such folly by the fact only two trekking wagons were available in New Pittsburgh. I think I would have resisted temptation anyhow-but I had with me in the light wagon we drove from Top Dollar the hardware for three, then I spent that extra hardware on other things, bartering it through the wainwright. I could not wait while he built a third wagon; both the season of the year and the season of Dora's womb gave me deadlines I had to meet.

There is much to be said for just one wagon-standard equipment over many centuries and on several planets for one family in overland migration-if they travel in a party. I've led such marches. they travel in a party. I've led such marches.

But one wagon by itself-One accident can be disaster.

Two wagons offer more than twice as much to work with at the other end, plus life insurance on the march. You can lose one wagon, regroup, and keep going.

So I planned for two wagons, Minerva, even though I had Zack debit me with three sets of 'Stoga hardware, then did not sell that third set until the last minute.

Here's how you load a wagon train for survival: First, list everything that you expect to need and everything that you would like to take: Wagons, spare wheels, spare axles Mules, harness, spare hardware and harness leather, saddles Water Food Clothing Blankets Weapons, ammunition, repair kit Medicines, drugs, surgical instruments, bandages Books Plows Harrow Field rake Shovels, hand rakes, hoes, seeders, three- five- & seventine forks Harvester Blacksmith's tools Carpentry tools Iron cookstove Water closet, self-flus.h.i.+ng type Oil lamps Windmill & pump Sawmill run by windpower Leatherworking & harness-repair tools Bed, table, chairs, dishes, pots, pans, eating & cooking gear Binoculars, microscope, water-testing kit Grindstone Wheelbarrow Chum Buckets, sieves, a.s.sorted small hardware Milch cow & bull Chickens Salt for stock & for people Packaged yeast, yeast starter Seed grain, several sorts Grinder for whole-grain flour, meat grinder

Don't stop there; think big big. Never mind the fact that you've already overloaded a much longer wagon train. Search your imagination, check the manifests of the Andy J Andy J., search the s.h.i.+p itself, look over the stock in Rick's General Store, talk with John Magee and look over his house and farm and outbuildings-if you forget it now, it's impossible to go back for it.

Musical instruments, writing materials, diaries, calendars Baby clothes, layettes Spinning wheel, loom, sewing materials-sheep!

Tannin & leather-curing materials and tools Clocks, watches Root vegetables, rooted fruit-tree seedlings, other seed Etc. etc. etc. . .

Now start tr.i.m.m.i.n.g-start swapping-start figuring weights.

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Cut out the bull, the cow, the sheep; subst.i.tute goats with hair long enough to be worth cutting. Hey, you missed shears! shears!

The blacksmith's shop stays but gets trimmed down to an anvil and minimum tools-a bellows you must make. In general anything of wood is scratched, but a small supply of wrought-iron stock, heavy as it is, must be hauled; you'll be making things you didn't know you could.

The harvester becomes a scythe with handle and cradle, three spare blades; the field rake is scratched.

The windmill stays, and so does the sawmill (surprise!)-but only as minimum hardware; you won't tackle either one soon.

Books-Which of those books can you live without, Dora?

Halve the amount of clothing, double up on shoes and add more boots and don't forget children's shoes. Yes, I know how to make moccasins, mukluks, and such; add waxed thread. Yes, we do have to have block-and-tackle and the best gla.s.s-and-plastic lines we can buy, or we won't get through the pa.s.s. Money is nothing; weight and cubage are all that count-our total wealth is what mules can take through that notch.

Minerva, it was lucky for me, lucky for Dora, that I was on my sixth pioneering venture and that I had planned how to load s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps many years before I ever loaded a covered wagon-for the principles are the same; s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps are the covered wagons of the Galaxy. Get it down to the weight the mules can haul, then chop off 10 percent no matter how it hurts; a broken axle-when you can't replace it-might as well be a broken neck.

Then add more water to bring it up to 95 percent; the load of water drops off every day.

Knitting needles! Can Dora knit? If not, teach her. I've spent many a lonely hour in s.p.a.ce knitting sweaters and socks. Yarn? It will be a long time before Dora can tease goat shearings into good yarn-and she can knit for the baby while we travel; keep her happy. Yarn doesn't weigh much. Wooden needles can be made; even curved metal needles can be shaped from sc.r.a.ps. But pick up both sorts from Rick's Store.

Oh, my G.o.d, I almost missed taking an ax! ax!

Ax heads and one handle, brush hook, pick-mattock-Minerva, I added and trimmed and discarded, and weighed every item at New Pittsburgh-and we weren't three kilometers out of there headed for Separation before I knew I had us overloaded. That night we stopped at a homesteader's cabin, and I traded a new thirty-kilo anvil for his fifteen-kilo one, traded even, with the pound of flesh nearest my heart tossed in for good measure. I swapped other heavy items that we would miss later for a smoked ham and a side of bacon and more corn for the mules-the last being emergency rations.

We lightened the loads again at Separation, and I took another water barrel in trade and filled it because I now had room for another and knew that too heavy a load of water was self-correcting.

I think that extra barrel saved our lives.

The patch of green that Lazarus-Woodrow had pointed out up near the notch of Hopeless Pa.s.s proved to be farther away in travel time than he had hoped. On the last day that they struggled toward it neither man nor mule had had anything to drink since dawn the day before. Smith felt lightheaded; the mules were hardly fit to work, they plodded slowly, heads down.

Dora wanted to stop drinking when her husband did. He said to her: ”Listen to me, you stupid little tart, you're pregnant. pregnant. Understand me? Or will it take a fat lip to convince you? I held out four liters when we served the mules; you saw me.” Understand me? Or will it take a fat lip to convince you? I held out four liters when we served the mules; you saw me.”

”I don't need four liters, Woodrow.”

”Shut up. That's for you, and the nanny goat, and the chickens. And the cats-cats don't take much. Dorable, that much water means nothing split among sixteen mules, but it will go a long way among you small fry.”

”Yes, sir. How about Mrs. Porky?”

”Oh, that d.a.m.ned sow! Uh . . I'll give her a half a liter when we stop tonight and I'll serve her myself. She's likely to kick it over and take your thumb off, the mood she's in. And I'll serve you you myself, measure it out, and watch you drink it.” myself, measure it out, and watch you drink it.”

But after a long day and a restless night and then an endless day, they were at last among the first of the trees. It seemed almost cool, and Smith felt that he could smell water -somewhere. He could not see any. ”Buck! Oh, Buck! Circle!”

The boss mule did not answer; he had not talked all day. But he brought the column around, cornered the wagons, and nudged the lead pair into the V to be unharnessed.

Smith called the dogs and told them to hunt for water, then started unharnessing. Silently his wife joined him, serving the off mule of each pair while Smith cleared the nigh mule. He appreciated her silence. Dora was, he thought, telepathic to emotions.

Now if I were water somewhere around here, where would I be? Witch for it? Or search the surface first? He felt fairly sure that no stream led away from this stand of trees, but he could not be certain without hiking all the downhill side. Saddle Beulah? Shucks, Beulah was worse off than he was. He started unlas.h.i.+ng rolled sections of spike fence from the sides of the second wagon. He had not seen a loper for three days, which meant to him that they were three days closer to their next trouble with the beasts. ”Dora, if you feel up to it, you can give me a hand with this.”

She made no comment on the fact that her husband had never before let her help erect the kraal; she simply worried about how drawn and tired he looked and thought about the quarter liter of water she had stolen and hidden-how could she persuade him to drink it?

They were just done when Fritz set up an excited yipping in the distance.

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