Afternoon naps on a warm spring day are the best. It was warm enough that April day that we had all the tent flaps open and the fresh spring air was envigorating. I thought I had smelled fresh air before, this was on an entirely new level, the air was so clear and clean that you could smell when dinner was cooking from a quarter of a mile away.

I decided we should probably sort out Holder’s and his buddies belongings with the rest of the day. It wasn’t real work and it needed to get done. We had stored it all in the small horse trailer but I had plans on turning that into my new chicken coop; I needed to get those birds out of the rig as soon as the eggs hatched.

Everyone pitched in, even Sonya; Matilda had to physically drag her along but she was there and helping. We unloaded all the gear and laid it out for inspection, it was a sorry lot for the most part but I was sure we’d find some treasures in there.

I let Holder separate his gear first, all he really had was a canvas shoulder bag, his knife, a well worn hatchet and what looked to be a Kentucky Long Rifle. In his bag he had some hard tack, wooden eating utensils, a pair of worn socks, and a spare shirt; he also had everything he needed for his rifle and a whetting stone for his axe. Various treasures were kept in his little pouch: a couple of copper coins, flint and steel, some leather cords, a bit of tinder, a chunk of soap and what looked like a makeshift tooth brush. He also had a water skin and a thread-bare blanket. His one treasure in the entire mess was an old copper compass.

I had him separate it all out into piles by function allowing him to keep his pouch and compass. He kept eye-balling that rifle but I just ignored him, I intended to give it back to him but that would come later. I had Esther grab him a new tooth brush from storage, he looked that thing over for quite a while; I had plenty of spare tooth brushes, I always seem to forget them when I went out camping just like everyone else I know.

We then went through the other packs, getting pretty much the same results. As far as weapons went it was a pitiful haul consisting of a musket and a musket pistol which had both seen much better days; there were three long knives and another hatchet. I could see why they recruited Holder, they needed a rifleman and he had the tools for the job.

The rest of the personal loot of any value consisted of a small pile of coins, a pair of cracked spectacles, a leather skin with a rough map drawn on it in charcoal and a pocket watch of dubious value. These guys weren’t rolling in wealth by any measure.

The supply packs yielded better results, whoever had outfitted had done them pretty well. There was plenty of dry food, a cast iron pan, plenty of rope, and tack for the livestock. The food consisted of mostly dried goods such as beans, rice, and corn; there was a bag of coffee, a small bag of salt, some flour, cheese and some dried meats.

The true value in the entire haul was the horse tack. Four decent saddles with bridles and pommel bags, the pack saddles and most importantly there was draft tack for the mules. Michelle recognized it for what it was and between her and Holder they managed to sort out exactly what it was. It wasn’t heavy duty stuff, we’d not be plowing with it but it would do for a lot of light work when the time came, hopefully it would hold up pulling logs out if we were careful.

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In the end we had enough saddles for every horse in our herd. Michelle took that moment to point out that Lunch had been busy and our herd might be growing soon, I just shook my head.

We started moving the tack over to the tack room, Michelle was in charge of all things horsey using the fellas as a labor force; I busied myself moving the weapons and valuables to the table for further examination. Matilda collected all of the food and cooking items and all we had left was a pile of sad clothing and some empty personal packs which all needed to be cleaned and aired at the very least.

All that was left was mainly debris which we simply threw in our trash pit and forgot about.

Just like that those three men had disappeared from the face of the earth taking all of their memories and all of their dreams with them; life is a cruel thing and not the least bit forgiving.

I turned to Sonya and said, “It’s like they never existed.”

I walked away before she had a chance to fully comprehend what I’d said.

**** ****

Dusk was coming and so was another spring storm, we could see the clouds on the south-eastern horizon; that explained the two days of very warm weather in April. We battened down for a wet night.

Matilda put a cabbage soup on the fire to cook while we worked. We set up the table in the camper for use if necessary but I hoped that the winds wouldn’t be a problem and at least some of us could could use the awning. Amos got all of the wood stoves going on low and Matilda had Holder set up the spare cot in her tent and told him he would be sleeping there. There was a look of doubt and fear in his eyes, after seeing her go to work with that razor I couldn’t blame him.

After supper Amos, Holder and I sat down to examine our new weapons. My opinion was that only the Kentucky rifle was worth keeping but the other two pieces could be cleaned up and used for trading. Both of them agreed, Amos because he didn’t really know and Holder because he wanted to keep his treasured rifle. We put the two muskets away and looked at the knives and hatchets, I told him he could keep his hatchet if he liked so he did; the other we’d clean up and trade. None of the knives were worth keeping so into storage they went also.

All we had left now was the valuables and there wasn’t much to that. All of the coins were put in a single purse and stored in the lock box, Amos professed he’d like to have the watch. That was the end of that.

I asked Holder to tell me about his rifle, he told me it had been handmade for an Uncle who died out logging a couple of years back. He inhereited and had been using that rifle ever since, it really was a fine piece of work. It was true museum item in my mind; in my mind it was still classified as being more than 200 years old. I told him we’d keep it since it mattered to him on a personal level however he still wasn’t trusted enough to be allowed to carry around a rifle.

I pulled the Hall 1819 out of storage and laid it on the table, he pretty much gawked at it. He said he’d seen one before down in New Orleans, the US Troops that had just arrived were carrying them and one of the troopers had even shown him how it operated. That was very good news, I’d probably have him give me some lessons before I left for my first trading trip.

With that the rain started and it was time for bed, we shut down the camp and wandered off to bed; me to sleep a peaceful night in Michelle’s arms and Holder to a night of fear sleeping on a cot in Matilda the Slasher’s tent.

I truly felt sorry for the guy.

It started to rain hard.

I drifted off to sleep.