Chapter 223: Henry Leavenworth, Again

Editor: nnpdad

We were carefully pulling up to the dock. Sven took his time and was cautious with his pride and joy. I swear he loved that boat more than he loved his wife, just don’t let her hear you say that. He got her turned around and facing downstream, then we tied up to the end of the dock with our port side paddlewheel carefully protected on the riverward side.

My first mission was to chase down Henry and let him know that I was here. It was as simple as hitching a ride on a wagon up to the fort. Well, I could have slogged up the bluff on the muddy road but it seemed a lot easier just to hitch a ride. Brin was quite happy to trot along after the wagon, taking in all the sights and sounds; he really was a great travel companion. In towns, he always stayed close but once we got out in the country he would expand his range and play scout/hunter while having a good time. The other nice thing about him was that he didn’t go in for rumor-mongering or insist on discussing inane topics. He was a good dog.

All things happened in an orderly manner and no more than thirty minutes had elapsed before I found myself making arrangements with Henry’s clerk. This was still the Army so nothing much had changed since I was last here, not that I expected anything to really change in six months. The troop draw down was still in progress and there were noticeably fewer troops. This was a new clerk and obviously he was not really up to speed yet. I had to ask him to interrupt Leavenworth. I used the excuse that I was here on US Postal business and didn’t have long to tarry.

Whatever Henry had been doing, he took the time to come out and greet me. I think the appetite for gold remained a primary motivation for him. Avarice is one of the seven deadly sins for good reason, even though Aristotle probably had more to do with establishing the virtues and their opposites. In the end it was the same regardless of whether it is a philosopher or a theologian lecturing on it. The general rule is that people make really poor decisions when in the embrace one of the seven deadly sins.

“Zach!” Henry exclaimed, “What a pleasant surprise! So good to see you.”

‘Sure,’ I thought, ‘not enough gold in your bank vault yet, Henry?’ Sarcasm isn’t nearly as much fun when you are thinking it. I was there to do business and make some money of my own so snarky hypocrisy had to stay inside of my head, I was beginning to understand how all those Financial Managers had done it in my past/future life.

“Henry, it’s been too long. I would have come sooner but we had a little trouble with the Kansa that just wouldn’t keep.”

“Ah yes, I heard about that. The story that was told to me was incredible to say the least,” came his reply.

“You know how these things are Henry, probably vastly exaggerated as I’m sure you’ll agree after I explain the battle to you.” I broke from our handshake, “Aside from all that we have some business to attend to, if we can meet at some point. I had hoped to make this a short visit.”