Chapter 11

Author’s note:[ and ] delineate mind-to-mind dialog.

Sarah really took to the two new girls and soon became the mother-figure that they needed. James had no objection, so the Horton family soon at two additions. I could see this growing into a full-fledged project for Sarah if we accumulated any more such girls. Upon reflection, we were bound to do that if we continued to rescue children from the Mexican brothels that specialized in children.

In fact, it was two days later that we invaded another such brothel. This one was five miles south of Eagle Pass, and the only reason that it was that far away was because that was the site of the next ford across the Rio Grande. If one was to cross the Rio Grande, he had to use a recognized ford because of the quicksand pits that infested the river. It was too dangerous to try crossing the Rio Grande at any other place than at an established ford.

We went in using the same tactics that we had used the first time. They had worked so well that we saw no reason to change. The only exception in this case was that we put the staging building on the Horton property close to the main house. We had taken in so much money from that first brothel we raided that James planned to buy the property back of the house and use it for the “orphanage” that he could see coming if Sarah had her way.

Replicator could expand or shrink the building as necessary, so there would always be enough room for the children that Sarah took in. There would never be a problem with having enough food, water, or clothes because Replicator could take care of all of those needs.

We went into the brothel at mid-morning, and we found the cleaning crew hard at work. Most of the male employees were sleeping off the previous night’s work except for a few guards who were wandering around. Their job was mostly to see that none of the child sex-slaves escaped. I shot with the sleep gun any one we spotted whether or not that person was sleeping so that we would not get any nasty surprises.

We were ready at last to go after the children. There was no problem finding them because they were being kept in an interior room with only one door. That door had a very obvious huge padlock holding it closed, and we recognized what we had found as soon as we saw it. We figured that the locked door indicated that there would be no guards inside taking free shots at the slaves, so I didn’t bother to shine the ray on that room before we went in.

Replicator supplied a bolt cutter that made it easy for us to enter, and we found all of the children sleeping on pads on the floor. No money had been wasted on providing beds for the slaves. James closed the door, and Replicator kept watch to warn us if we were about to be interrupted. We didn’t expecting anything, but it never hurt to be cautious in this kind of endeavor.

This time, there were only girls, and they looked like they ranged from 7 to 12 years old. As expected, they were all naked, so the first chore for Replicator was to supply them with the necessary clothes. The children were teleported to the building on the Horton property where Sarah was already waiting for them with a light breakfast. We figured that every one of the children would be undernourished. Again, why waste money on the stock?

We left it up to Sarah to tell the girls that they were rescued while James and I went through the bordello waking up one man at a time and shooting him in the bladder area. We had decided that was the most punishing shot, and it was bound to be fatal in a few days. We treated every one of the brothel’s workers that way, except for the cleaning crew. This time, Replicator simply teleported the gold and silver in the safe to a separate room in the holding building. We would take care of that later.

This time, Sarah and James went together to deliver each girl home. Dammit, the 7-year-old was rejected by her family. Had Sarah not been there to keep him in control, he might well have shot both parents. However, there were several other children, all older, so the parents escaped James’ retribution for their stupidity.

Sarah immediately adopted the little girl who was named Ann, and returned with the fuming James and the rejected Ann. Susan immediately took over the care of Ann, and they quickly became fast friends. It didn’t take long for Ann to recover from being rejected because of the love and attention given by Sarah and Susan.

We spent the next two months repeating our raids up and down the Rio Grande. During that time, we rescued 57 more girls, and Sarah and Susan collected five girls rejected by their families. Of these girls, the youngest was 7 and the oldest was 13.

All of these girls were totally illiterate, and that really bothered me. I discussed with Replicator the problems these girls would have supporting themselves when that time came, so I wanted to give them the equivalent of a high school education. I envisioned the girls becoming school teachers, a skill that was badly needed throughout Texas. The problem was in teaching them what they needed to know.

Well, Replicator again saved the day. He provided a machine that would teach the girls everything they needed to become well educated and do it in only about two hours. Their education in history and science stopped at 1875, and there was no problem with math or English. While we were about it, we threw in Spanish so that they could work with children who were not well versed in English.

Any child over 5 years old could assimilate the data from the teaching machine, so we could educate all of the girls living at what we decided to call Horton Normal School. An institution that taught the teaching profession was called a “Normal School.” Why that name, I don’t know, but it was a description that almost all adults recognized and respected. We worked together and came up with a very impressive diploma that was framed and presented to each girl.

We decided that every girl would live with us until her 17^th birthday. At that point, she would try for a job as a teacher. Naturally, the first town to hire one of the graduates of Horton Normal School was Clear Wells, but that was still a few years away.

Of course, Susan was also educated with the teaching machine, and she received the same kind of diploma given to the other girls. After listening to the girls talk about things that Sarah, Julia, and James knew nothing about, they wanted to receive the same education. That was easy enough to do, and everybody was happy.