Chapter 33

A month later the little wagon train was making camp outside Columbus, Ohio. It looked like a much older town and more established. The buildings looked older and more solidly made. Peter looked at Tom and asked to have a chance to examine the buildings. Tom smiled that the carpenter in him couldn't wait to get a look at the competition. He smiled and nodded as he looked at Ben. "Want to try this again, or do you feel that you can't trust yourself?"

Ben looked a little hurt, but knew that he had brought it upon himself. "Tom, I'm sorry about what happened, but you can trust me. I won't let you down again." Tom looked seriously at Ben before he nodded his head. He reached into the wagon and gave him six new Gold squares. "We need provisions. Take Peter with you. Let him look around as much as he wants, but don't draw too much attention. Get whatever news that you can but be back before dark." Ben nodded his head and motioned for Peter to get ready to leave.

John quietly stood at Tom's side. "Do you think that was a good idea?" Tom glanced quickly at John. "Of course it was. Ben and Luke made a mistake, they know that they did and they paid for it. Now they have to see that we can trust them again. And if we can't we need to know that now, before it's a matter of life and death; at least for us. For them, well, if they can't be trusted accidents do happen in the night."

John nodded his head, "I understand." He quietly walked away.

Ben and Peter were back early with the provisions and all the news that they could get. Ben was strictly business, and he showed that he was taking things seriously. Peter on the other hand was very distracted. He seemed to be lost in thought and contributed almost nothing to the news that had been gained. Tom listened closely and nodded often.

When they were starting out they lost the first of the families. A week later two more families headed South to start the long trek to Tennessee. Everybody waved and wished each other good luck and God's speed. Tom smiled and nodded his head and wondered how these people ever managed to survive on their own.

With one other family still following them they continued to head East. Tom found out that they were heading back to Pennsylvania. About a week after crossed the Ohio River they ran into the railroad crews. Tom smiled as he asked where they would be able to make arrangement for riding the train. The others looked at each other in confusion, but never said a word.

The advanced crew said that the Newburg station was up and running. Tom smiled and thanked the man as he motioned to Peter to get the wagon moving again. A week later they said their farewells to the last family, as they headed into town. Newburg was not that large of a town, but with the railroad there it was growing.

It took some time and some money, but Tom finally got what he wanted. The train completed its circuit every three days, and they had two days to wait. Since this was the end of the line, at least for now, this was the turnaround point and railcar drop-off and pick-up. It was relatively easy to rent two cars. They spent most of a day loading the wagon and tying it down. The stock car was a little harder to get ready since they wouldn't treat their horses the way that the railroad was willing to treat the other stock that they shipped.

Once they had everything securely locked up they headed off to look at the town. It was as they were walking through the town that Tom had an inspiration. He suddenly turned into a tailor's shop.

Tom spoke softly and quickly explained what he wanted. The other men looked around the shop with seemingly disinterest, but Tom knew that would change very quickly. After a few of Toms special gold coins changed hands, the shopkeeper whistled and there was suddenly a shop full of young men with tape measures around their necks. The resulting pandemonium brought laughter to Tom lips.

The Taylor quickly saw the problem and called for the saddle maker. It took him only a few minutes, a few measurements and a couple of gold coins before he was gone saying that he would return within the hour. The shopkeepers' entire family; sons, daughters and their spouses as well as any of their children all were cutting cloth and sewing. Tom looked around at the men all standing around in their underwear. He couldn't help but laugh at the sight. Even though the warriors had a different view of nudity, the situation was strange to them.

Tom motioned to the tailor and pointed out the boots that they were wearing and the tailor frowned. He quickly sent a little girl out running from the shop. When she got back she had in tow another craftsman. The cobbler quickly went to work measuring and writing down notes to himself. After getting his share of the gold he was off and happily humming as he left.

Tom smiled at the fun he was having. He waved the tailor over once again and noticed this time that the other warriors winced when they noticed. They had finally figured out that each time he called the tailor over some new indignity was thrust upon them. Even Ben's constant grin had managed to fade over the perceived assault. The Tailor looked them all over closely and nodded his head. Once again the little girl flew from the shop.

This time the tailor motioned all of them to follow him. He led them all to the back of the shop and to an empty room. They were all a little confused as he left to return to his business.

When the rear door burst open there were four pistols cocked and ready to fire in an instant. The two Chinese men immediately dropped their load and started jabbering in Chinese with their hands in the air. Tom couldn't take it anymore and dropped to the floor laughing so hard he was almost crying. The others all looked at him in confusion, including the startled Chinese men. The others quickly figured out that it wasn't an attack and put away the pistols. The Chinese men breathed a sigh of relief and once again picked up their end of the bulky load.

Through the tears of laughter, Tom watched the bath tub the two Chinese men brought through the door and set up. It looked like an extremely long wash tub, higher at one end.

No sooner than the tub was on the floor, two more Chinese men were dumping buckets of hot water into the tub. Tom watched the procession of Chinese men, dressed in black pants and shirts with little round hats, running back and forth carrying water and a larger stack of towels.

When the tub was full the others watched as Tom dropped his clothes and climbed into the tub. It was hot, but it felt so good that he just closed his eyes and sighed. He was surprised when he felt a pair of hands start washing him. He lazily looked up at the two young women that were scrubbing his body and hair. He had to admit that having somebody washing his hair felt pretty good, at least until she put her hand on his head and shoved him under the water. He came up sputtering, and she just grinned at him before she shoved him under again.

They each grabbed an arm and pulled. He knew that they wanted him to stand so he did. He was surprised when they then started washing the other parts that the water had hidden, but he didn't really mind. His own wives did the same thing whenever he let them. When they were finished he stood and watched as one poured a fresh bucket of water over his head, while the other ran her hand in all of the places that the soap wanted to hide. He felt good when they pulled him from the tub and started to dry his body off.

When he was good and dry he took a towel and wrapped it around his waist and motioned for John to take his place. John showed no more concern for dropping his clothes than Tom did, and the young women quickly set to work on him as well. All through the process the little Chinese men brought more buckets of hot water, occasionally dipping a bucket full of water from the tub and carrying it out the door.

As John was getting dried off the little Chinese men carried in a big chair. This time it took four of them, two at the head and two at the foot. They set the large chair down and immediately took off, while two more carried in arm loads of implements. They were followed by a white man. He strode into the room blustering, that earned him three guns in his face and it ended his bluster.

Tom calmly sat in the chair and leaned back. The others watched as he approached the chair. He noticed that two of the men didn't put their guns away. Ben left Robert and Peter to watch the man while he dropped his own clothes and was led to the bath.

Tom thought John looked a little funny with a towel wrapped around his waist and a gun belt buckled over it, but he understood that John felt more naked without his gun than he did his clothes. It was the last thing that he saw before a hot towel was unceremoniously dumped on his face. He had to admit that it took him by surprise, but since there wasn't any gunfire it hadn't surprised the others.

While the towel slowly cooled on his face he felt the barber combing his hair and clipping it as he went. He couldn't remember ever having anything but a sharp knife hacking his hair off, and noticed that it didn't hurt at all and it seemed to be much faster. He might have to pick up some scissors, to be better prepared in the future.

When the barber took off the towel he thought that the air felt unnaturally cold, but realized that it was just the heat on his face, but it still sent shivers down his spine. He watched as shaving soap was quickly brought to a lather and applied to his beard. When the barber picked up the straight razor he noticed that every hand moved toward their gun, and very slowly started to rake the beard from Tom's face.

When Tom slid from the chair, John quickly took his place. He was just as surprised when the hot towel hit his face as well. Tom watched as the barber put the top back on a metal bucket at his feet and put the short stick on the top of the lid. He smiled as he realized how he had gotten the towel so fast, and why he hadn't seen him do it.

Once Peter stepped out of the tub, the Chinese men started dipping buckets of water and throwing them out the door, into the dirt alley. When the tub was almost empty he watched as the same four men carried the tub to the door and dumped it out. While it was still standing up he saw one of the men throw a bucket of water in the tub and wash it out. He nodded at the efficiency of the whole operation. They lowered the tub back down and each of the men put their bucket in the tub and then it was gone as quickly as it had arrived.

While Peter slipped into the barber's chair Tom watched the Chinese women take a few of the towels and drop to their knees and clean up the water that had escaped from the tub. As Tom watched he thought that they appeared to be cleaning the floor more than just getting the water from it. He shook his head at the hard work these people were willing to do for very little money.

Tom watched as an old Chinese man came into the room. He had a long beard on his chin that was turning white. His shirt had silver embroidery around each button and on the sleeves, and on his back was a large dragon that was twisting and snarling. It was embroidered in silver with the scales in green and gold and each of the claws were the same blood red as the eyes. It was very impressive. Tom watched the two young women fall to their knees and bow their head to the floor and stay there. The old man looked around the room and with a motion from his hand the two women were once again on their feet and standing with their heads bowed.

Tom watched as the old man turned his attention to Tom. He wasn't sure how he knew who was in charge, but he obviously did. The old man bowed low and formally. Tom followed his example and bowed low. The old man smiled and nodded his head.

Tom knew that he was here for payment, and he also knew that the old man would never ask for money. It was something that Tom was expected to acknowledge, like a debt. Between honorable men a debt is never mentioned, but both know of its existence. To mention it demeans both. Tom understood the honor of the old man just as he knew the honor of a visiting War Chief. Tom slightly nodded his head and removed a gold piece from the pocket of his pants. He placed it gently into the old man's hand.

The old man smiled. He had not met many white men that he thought worth the time to even look at, but as he studied the young man before him he knew that these men understood what honor was. Here were men worthy of his respect, and he bowed low. Tom followed suit and bowed, holding the position for just as long as the old man had.

When Tom straightened up he never took his eyes from the old man, but snapped his fingers with a little hand motion. He knew that there had not been a motion that had not been observed by the warriors with him. He knew that they would understand instantly, and was not surprised when every warrior stood straight and then bowed low, for just the right amount of time before they straightened up.

The old man was surprised more than he could hope to hide, and his smile split his weathered face. The old man turned to one of the young men with him and handed him the gold coin that Tom had given him. The young man started digging out coins to make change. Tom smiled, he would have gladly paid a gold piece just to feel clean again. For all of them to have a bath and shave he considered it a fair trade.

Tom motioned to the young women, "Split it between them." He took a step back and bowed once more and then turned and motioned for the others to follow as he led the way back into the front of the store. The old man was shocked, and turned to the young man and there followed a hurried conversation in Chinese. There was hand waving and head nodding and even a little foot shuffling, but in the end the old man thought hard and nodded his head. He motioned to the two young women and then said a few words. He then turned and walked away with the group of young men following. The two young women looked at each other and then turned and walked to the front of the store and watched their new master trying on his clothes.