Chapter 194: Memphis

Editor: nnpdad 11

The night in the barracks was actually better than I expected and sure beat the hell out of sleeping under a lean-to, although I did miss the stars at night. Breakfast wasn’t half-bad; at least we had fresh bread and hot coffee ready to go as soon as we woke up. The fire watch - yes it is a shared shift duty to watch for fires at night -- woke us about an hour before first light and we were on our boat and ready to go as soon as it was light enough to safely navigate.

We slid downriver under the rising sun and my only responsibility was to have a rifle near to hand in case there was trouble. Amos got the brazier going and I soon had a hot cup of coffee, while Brin had a bone Amos had packed for him. Mostly we just sat and chatted about life and the challenges we faced. Of course, Amos was pining for his new wife.

I eventually told him to keep his eyes open for trouble, then I pulled out my book and read for a while until it was my turn to play lookout. The book itself was inconsequential, just something I had snagged from the Marine House study. What was hidden inside it though, in a rectangular hole I had cut in the pages, was my cell phone, well just a hand held computer now. I was able to read without displaying the tech and snap the book shut if someone approached me. All in all it was a pretty handy little work around.

My calculations told me it was about three hundred and fifty miles to Memphis by river, and depending on weather conditions, we could make it there in two or three days. The wind did pick up nicely in the afternoon so we started to make good speed and we watched the world go by at a nice steady pace for most of the evening. The days were still fairly long and we stayed on the river as long as we could, finally putting to shore at just about sundown.

Mrs. Byrne had stocked in plenty of good food for everyone and it wasn’t long before the camp was quiet except for the occasional sound of the guard on duty. We passed two nights in this manner and made the town of Memphis before lunch on the third day; we’d made good progress.

The town of Memphis wasn’t very impressive and looked to have a population of about two thousand citizens. It would grow very quickly in the coming years but right now it was early days and still far from being that beautiful city.

Much more importantly, there was a steamboat tied up on the beach just sitting there looking ugly and efficient. It resembled one of our flat bottom boats with a wheel on the side and a smokestack poking out the roof, other that that it was almost exactly the same. It was just sitting there with no activity on deck and riding high in the water lacking a cargo.