Chapter 26

Carl takes the Narrative:

New characters introduced in the next two chapters:

Eileen O'Keefe

Carl's Wife, Morgan and Donald's Sister, 5'-2" tall, 105 pounds, 34C-22-34, 16 years old, dark auburn hair, blue eyes, a few freckles, very cute

Morgan O'Keefe

Eileen's Brother, M & M's Husband, 5'-10" tall, 145 pounds, 19 years old, auburn hair, blue eyes

Donald O'Keefe

Eileen's Brother, C & D's Husband, 5'-9" tall, 140 pounds, 17 years old, auburn hair, gray eyes

We all returned to Fort Washington after nearly ten days of exploration. Dealla and I were the first to return that afternoon and were surprised to find Lieutenant Graham and Immes, who was now a Corporal, at our Headquarters. Graham explained about the Portals and the need for someone to be in charge when we were all absent. About half of the Rangers were here also, back from their Patrols.

Meagan and Maureen arrived with Dymphna an hour or so after we did. We were surprised to see Dymphna with them, as she is a part of Mark's team. They quickly explained her presence.

Seamus, Gerald and Cessair were the last to arrive, about forty-five minutes after M & M. They all three looked beat. I guess we all did. Dealla and I had only returned to our rooms here on a couple of nights. I don't think that Seamus and his group had been back at all.

Since our arrivals had been well spread out, there was no problem getting cleaned up, and the Rangers had taken care of our horses which were as tired as we were. There was now plenty of hay and grain here for them.

The Officers' Mess had also been set up, and they fixed each group of us something to eat following our cleaning up.

"There is no need to go over where we have been for now. We will need to make our individual reports to Mark tonight after dinner. We'll all be eating at Hickory Hill tonight, so have on your cleanest uniforms," Seamus told us before he, Gerald, and Cessair went for a little snack at the Officers' Mess. It was just something to hold them until dinner.

We all transported to Hickory Hill shortly before dinner. They were surprised to see us, and Sererena told us that dinner would be delayed a bit while more food was prepared. We went to the small parlor and relaxed after changing the air there for some cold winter air. Jeremy Lister found us there, and we went to his office to be paid. We had all missed payday and didn't realize it.

Mark and his team arrived about a-half hour after we had. He and Seamus went into the den to confer until dinner was ready.

We were a bit surprised by the new cooks who served the dinner and by the other new people who had come on board while we were away. Things had been very busy while we were out exploring the Ohio country. The meal itself was delicious as the new cooks were obviously very good. Mark insisted that everyone wait until after the meal before we started the daily operations meeting. Apparently it had gotten out of hand at some point. As it turned out, it was a good thing that we waited.

When the dinner dishes had been cleared away and the Senior NCOs had joined us after dinner at Sergeant O'Flannagain's house, the operations meeting started. Seamus started our report.

"The first day we transferred to the vicinity of the Dayton store. We being Cessair, Gerald, and myself. We met a number of Miami Indians near there and spent several hours in council with them. They were impressed with our Magic and with the healing that Cessair did for some of their people. I impressed on them that we would be enforcing the terms of the Treaty of Fort Greene Ville. They were impressed by that also.

"The following day we traveled to Fort Greene Ville itself. There were a number of settlers there using the buildings of the fort and they had crops growing both inside its walls and outside of it. The stockade was not in good shape with sections missing. We stayed there for the night and I impressed on them that they were close to the treaty line and not to continue any further west. They were also impressed with Cessair's healing abilities.

"We made our way to Fort Recovery at the west end of the Treaty Line the following day and spoke to more Indians there. It is one of the boundary markers of the treaty. The fort itself was small and there was only a caretaker force there. We stayed the night with them and more Indians arrived for a council outside the fort the next morning. Again they were impressed with our Magic and Cessair's healing abilities. Several called her a holy woman because she could heal the sick or injured.

"We traveled east to Fort Loramie that day. It isn't really a fort, just a collection of abandoned buildings with a blockhouse. There were a few settlers in the area, and we spoke to those we could reach easily. We warned them not to travel any further north and cross the treaty line which was marked by Fort Loramie. Before leaving the next morning, some Delaware Indians arrived expressing concerns about the settlers. We spoke with them and again they were impressed with our Magic and Cessair's healing.

"The council meetings had taken on a definite form by now, and we knew what to say and do for each of the different groups that we encountered. The treaty line ran straight from Fort Loramie to Fort Laurens, a distance of one hundred fifty-five miles or so according to my map. It would have taken us an additional six days or more to cover that even if we didn't have many encounters with Indians or settlers. On the previous days, we had covered only some twenty to thirty miles.

"Instead of trying that journey, I chose to transfer to the Stuart's old house near Akron. (See the original Magic Ink story for information on the Stuarts and their house) We located the Cuyahoga River which is the eastern boundary of the Treaty from there and followed it north to where it empties into Lake Erie in what will be downtown Cleveland. There were a few settlers near the lake, and they were aware of the prohibition against crossing the river but weren't happy about it. We spent the night there and more Indians (Ottawas) arrived the next morning for a council meeting. It went the same as the others had. We transferred some of the Indians and a few of the settlers from the council meeting to Akron and then to the bookstore site in Cleveland before returning to the meeting site. They were all impressed.

"We transferred back to the Cuyahoga River in Akron following that and were going to take a break for the remainder of the day. That was our intention anyway. More Indians arrived there, and these were Shawanoes. They were very angry. Their ardor for a fight diminished quickly when we used freeze spells, some Wards and a Power Ring demonstration. They were very frightened by our Magic and soon departed. We stayed there until the next day to ensure that they had really left the area.

"We followed the Cuyahoga south until it turned east. Then we crossed an area of several lakes to the Tuscarawus River, it too marked the eastern border, and we followed it south to Fort Laurens. The only thing there was a rotted stockade. It is only a marker location where the Treaty line turns southwest. We returned to Fort Washington late today," Seamus finished.

"Whatever happened to General Wayne? Didn't he defeat the Indians and cause them to sign The Treaty of Greene Ville? I would have thought that we would have heard something about him here," Maureen asked.

"He died of complications from the gout a year or so after the Treaty was signed," Cessair told her.

"Carl, you're next," Mark told me. This was what I had dreaded. I hate public speaking as much as Seamus does. I just don't show it as much, as I am somewhat brash.

"Dealla and I left a couple of hours after Seamus and his party. We also transferred to Dayton and spent time in the area talking to the settlers. There were many small settlements in the general area, some without names even.

"We then transferred to the store location in Columbus and checked on the small towns and settlements in that area. We gradually worked our way east from there, again stopping at farms and small settlements. Dealla would heal the people, or their animals, at the various settlements and farms. We talked to all of those whom we met about alerting their neighbors, and hopefully Fort Washington about any strange sightings, trouble, or attacks.

"Lord, there is a lot of empty space out there. We didn't see many Indians, only a few Christian Delawares. We spent a lot of nights in the small settlements, and did quite a number of line-of-sight transfers to cover more distance. We returned to Fort Washington this afternoon from far eastern Ohio, but we never made it to the Ohio River," I finished and sat down quickly to avoid questions.

"M & M, you're next," Mark said when I sat down. Meagan stood to start their report.

"We covered the area along the Ohio River on its north shore. We didn't see any Indians except for some that arrived at Fort Washington one day before we started our daily trip, since we transferred back to the fort to sleep on most nights.

"We met with the Indians, and they were surprised by our Magic, just as Seamus told you. Dymphna was with us at the time, and she healed some of their people who had problems. They were very impressed with her," Meagan told us. Maureen took up the tale of their travels then.

"Basically we worked our way east along the river. There were many settlements along the river, or within a few miles of it. We could also see a number of settlements on the Kentucky side of the river. One large one was identified as the town of Maysville on our map. We stopped for a time at the town of Portsmouth on our side of the river. It is on the Scioto River where it empties into the Ohio. We continued on past there until we came to a huge forested area. We didn't go past there. We had talked to many people in the settlements and the farms set back from the river. Dymphna had healed a lot of people. There were few large towns on our route," she finished.

Mark, Sererena, and Gwyn filled us in on what had gone on while we were absent. There was a lot, and it was late when we broke up. We all slept at Hickory Hill that night and had a good breakfast before returning to our operational sites in the morning; we to Fort Washington, and Mark's team to Mount Sterling.

The next several months were filled with a lot of patrols after we had all transferred to the places the others on our team had been to. Many things became routine during that time. The supply system stabilized and functioned reliably. We received food and other needed items on time and even received more people. We were paid on time, although the amount seemed small to me. We were joined by a number of Indians -- mostly Miamis. They had been impressed with our Magic. Some of them would accompany the Rangers on each patrols. We had also received another Platoon of Rangers. At least one O'Connell went out with each patrol. We would often transfer the entire patrol to the area to be checked as it was much faster than walking or occasionally riding all of the way to an area that needed checking.

I was out on a patrol with a platoon of our Rangers, and a dozen or so friendly Indians on the north side of the Ohio in mid-September. Our patrol was currently about ten miles up the Scioto River from Portsmouth on the Ohio River. We were out checking on the rumor that a British patrol had been seen in the area. The man who brought the report to Fort Washington and the people that we had spoken to near Portsmouth were all convinced that they had seen a British patrol skulking around.

That afternoon, we ran into a group of friendly Christian Delawares who were moving south toward the river. They informed us that the Shawanoes were on the warpath, and were moving toward Chillicothe, one of the Shawanoes' former principal towns, to drive the whites there out of the area and to reclaim it. They had left as they knew that the Long Knives (the American Militia and Army) would retaliate, and they didn't want to be caught in the middle of our fight. The Delawares continued south after talking to us.

"How far from Chillicothe are we," I asked the Lieutenant leading the patrol after the Delawares had departed. He was a former resident of the area.

"We are at least a day's march plus from there, and that presumes that we don't run into any trouble along the way," he told me with a worried look.

"Can we march till late evening and move out early in the morning?" I asked.

"We may need to be in condition to fight when we get there. It will depend on how accurate the Delawares' estimate of the situation was," he explained.

"Still, I believe that we should hurry. What do you think could have stirred up the Shawanoes?"

"Probably the British at Detroit," he answered.

"Let's get a move on. There is no telling what we may find when we reach there," I told him.

"Let me explain things to our allies. They may not be anxious to get into a fight with the Shawanoes," he told me before he left to speak to the Indians traveling with us. He soon returned with a smile on his face.

"It would appear that our Miami allies aren't happy with the Shawanoes either," he told me before we all moved out at a quicker pace than we had used previously.

We approached Chillicothe from the south the following afternoon. We had followed the Scoito until it turned northeast, while we continued north through the forest. We struck the river again a few miles south of Chillicothe, and followed it cautiously toward the town and its fort.

Fort Massie was named after Nathaniel Massie, a surveyor and sometimes militia officer, who had laid out a number of towns in the Ohio country in the last fifteen years. The fort was located on a bend of the Scoito River before it turned south again after flowing east for several miles.

Even before we neared the fort, we could see the smoke from fires in the area, and as we neared it, we could hear the sounds of gunfire. The Lieutenant and I moved forward alone to observe what was going on at the fort. The leader of our allies went with us. I cast an invisibility spell around us, so we wouldn't be seen. All of the Indians had been impressed by our Magic since we had begun working in the Ohio country.