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John handed her from the muddy riverbank onto the flatbottomed wooden boat they'd called a bateau. Then John and Samuel began loading barrels of several sizes from the shore. Samuel, surprisingly agile for his girth, arranged the goods to one side of Mariah. |
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"Gunpowder," Samuel explained when she asked about the barrels' contents. "And lead and flints, some dried corn and beans and a bit of rum. For trading." |
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She brimmed with more questions but was afraid of sounding insane if she asked any of them. She merely watched, feeling the bateau lurch each time the men hoisted a new keg on board. |
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After a while, out of breath, Samuel told her, "Here are your bags." His grin turned his flushed, fleshy face into a round jack o' lantern. He had a lower tooth missing. |
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"My bags?" Mariah looked at the two bulky cloth satchels he'd caught from John and loaded onto the bateau beside her. |
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"Aren't they? Mr. Pierce told us you recently arrived from the east with them." |
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Pierce again. "Yes, of course. They're mine." She hesitated, wondering what he had put in the bags. Was her purse there? Her watch? Her camera? She'd check as soon as she could. "Where did Mr. Pierce tell you he'd meet me?" The elusive Pierce seemed to be directing not a film but her life. Or the dream she was living. In any event, she needed to know what he'd planned. |
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"At a new trading post down the Ohio, Miss Walker," Samuel said. "Harrigan's place. We were heading there anyway to conduct some business." |
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Harrigan's name meant nothing to her. "How long will it take to get there?" she asked. |
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It sounded like an eternity to Mariah, who craved answers. But she vowed to be patient. |
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John and Samuel finally settled themselves on the flat boat, then poled off. There had to be an art to keeping the craft straight, Mariah thought as they glided off down the Ohio, the men using oars as rudders. |
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