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messengers who usually were able to help out. Personally, I had other things to do.
After another can of mystery stew, labeled dinner , I was working under a kerosene lamp, figuring out our order of march. Outside, some of my bodyguards were singing and some of the others were taking turns dancing, being cheered on my warriors. I continued working. Rank also has its responsibilities.
Ahmed walked in, having been permitted to do this by the three bodyguards on duty.
“My lord, forgive me for disobeying you by coming to you tonight, but there are matters that must be discussed immediately!”
“Very well,” I said, laying down my felt tip pen. “Sit down and tell me about it.”
I didn’t offer him a drink of brandy. Ahmed struck me as a person who took his religion seriously. I did offer him a cigar, which he declined.
He sat awkwardly on a three-legged camp stool. Sitting on a stool just wasn’t an Arabian thing to do.
“My lord, I must tell you that I believe your proposed route to Mongolia is ill-advised. The usual route would have taken us east out of Jerusalem. We then would have gone north along the Jordan River.”
I said, “But that would have been impossible for us. For one thing, we have not yet conquered the land along that route. It is heavily populated, and we would have had to fight our way the whole trip north. Then again, many of the men and supplies we needed were located along this railroad we’ve just built along the Mediterranean coast. It would have taken us days longer to wait for them to all get to Jerusalem. And there is the fact of the railroad itself, which again saved us a lot of time.”
“But, your grace, by going through the mountains of Lesser Armenia, we will lose much time. This is a rarely traveled route. Neither I nor any of my men have ever taken it. Well, the father of one of my men went through here once, and he described the route to his son, but that is not the same thing as actually having traveled through it one’s self.”
“I see. Well then, there’s nothing for it but to hire some more guides,” I said. “Don’t look so frightened. You are not being dismissed. But as soon as we get to Antioch tomorrow, I want you to take a lance of your better men, and another lance of your instructors, and, if you can find one, someone who has been in the town before. I’ll write you a note to take to one of the radio operators, instructing them to send out a message to everyone with us, requesting a guide to the city. Ride into town, and try to find us someone who knows the route that we must take. Offer to pay him well. But be quick about it. It should only take us a few hours to get our order of march squared away, near Osmaniye, and I don’t want to lose any time. Also, have the man who has heard of this route lead a party of our advanced guards and engineers up the trail immediately.”
“Very well, your grace. It shall be done as you say.”
Ahmed got gratefully off of the unfamiliar stool, bowed, and left my tent.
I got back to my paperwork.
It was very late at night before I had the radio operators send out the marching orders to the entire column. I began to think that maybe I should have brought some staff people along.
Thinking about it, the radio operators were a literate bunch. The next time that I have to do something like this, I will draft two of them to help me. I wished I’d thought of that earlier.
I was getting ready to turn in when Terry and Shauna came in.
Terry said, “Your grace, was there anything else that you wanted?”
“Well, yes, thinking about it. Some sex would be very nice.” Rank has other privileges, too.
“We were hoping that you would say that,” Shauna said.
My bodyguards’ body temperature was higher than that of an ordinary human. It gave the expression bed warmer a whole new meaning. This might be very useful, going through a Russian winter without an overcoat!
A Prince Among Men
Francine’s Diary
It has been
After another can of mystery stew, labeled dinner , I was working under a kerosene lamp, figuring out our order of march. Outside, some of my bodyguards were singing and some of the others were taking turns dancing, being cheered on my warriors. I continued working. Rank also has its responsibilities.
Ahmed walked in, having been permitted to do this by the three bodyguards on duty.
“My lord, forgive me for disobeying you by coming to you tonight, but there are matters that must be discussed immediately!”
“Very well,” I said, laying down my felt tip pen. “Sit down and tell me about it.”
I didn’t offer him a drink of brandy. Ahmed struck me as a person who took his religion seriously. I did offer him a cigar, which he declined.
He sat awkwardly on a three-legged camp stool. Sitting on a stool just wasn’t an Arabian thing to do.
“My lord, I must tell you that I believe your proposed route to Mongolia is ill-advised. The usual route would have taken us east out of Jerusalem. We then would have gone north along the Jordan River.”
I said, “But that would have been impossible for us. For one thing, we have not yet conquered the land along that route. It is heavily populated, and we would have had to fight our way the whole trip north. Then again, many of the men and supplies we needed were located along this railroad we’ve just built along the Mediterranean coast. It would have taken us days longer to wait for them to all get to Jerusalem. And there is the fact of the railroad itself, which again saved us a lot of time.”
“But, your grace, by going through the mountains of Lesser Armenia, we will lose much time. This is a rarely traveled route. Neither I nor any of my men have ever taken it. Well, the father of one of my men went through here once, and he described the route to his son, but that is not the same thing as actually having traveled through it one’s self.”
“I see. Well then, there’s nothing for it but to hire some more guides,” I said. “Don’t look so frightened. You are not being dismissed. But as soon as we get to Antioch tomorrow, I want you to take a lance of your better men, and another lance of your instructors, and, if you can find one, someone who has been in the town before. I’ll write you a note to take to one of the radio operators, instructing them to send out a message to everyone with us, requesting a guide to the city. Ride into town, and try to find us someone who knows the route that we must take. Offer to pay him well. But be quick about it. It should only take us a few hours to get our order of march squared away, near Osmaniye, and I don’t want to lose any time. Also, have the man who has heard of this route lead a party of our advanced guards and engineers up the trail immediately.”
“Very well, your grace. It shall be done as you say.”
Ahmed got gratefully off of the unfamiliar stool, bowed, and left my tent.
I got back to my paperwork.
It was very late at night before I had the radio operators send out the marching orders to the entire column. I began to think that maybe I should have brought some staff people along.
Thinking about it, the radio operators were a literate bunch. The next time that I have to do something like this, I will draft two of them to help me. I wished I’d thought of that earlier.
I was getting ready to turn in when Terry and Shauna came in.
Terry said, “Your grace, was there anything else that you wanted?”
“Well, yes, thinking about it. Some sex would be very nice.” Rank has other privileges, too.
“We were hoping that you would say that,” Shauna said.
My bodyguards’ body temperature was higher than that of an ordinary human. It gave the expression bed warmer a whole new meaning. This might be very useful, going through a Russian winter without an overcoat!
A Prince Among Men
Francine’s Diary
It has been
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