150 Years Ago

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jwhouk
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by jwhouk »

(whistles innocently)

---

Dashnois and Hatch came back with Alexander and a pair of burly Pinkertons in tow. Austin was standing guard outside in the gangway – after that little break in, they were taking no further chances.

"There's an empty cabin up on Promenade deck," Alexander explained. "We can get you and your prisoner…" That was when Alexander noticed that Cornelius was unchained.

"WHAT IN…" He promptly drew his gun, only to be stopped by Billens.

"It's all right, Ebbie," he explained quickly. "Bastard saved my life. He's agreed to help us. They want him dead as much as they want us dead."

Ebbie wasn't sure about it, but he decided that his former comrade knew better.

"Time's wasting, gentlemen," Ebbie replied. "They've stopped firing at us for now, but we have greater issues. Damn spy's still at large, and our nurse was shot."

"What?" Watts, Austin and Dashnois all retorted in unison.

"We're taking care of it. Sumbitch made it personal; he took out Alvin Brooks – my best man." He made a grunting sound. "Mister Pinkerton will never let me hear the end of it if we don't catch 'im."

"Allan would probably kill the man himself if heard of it," Billens chimed in as the rest of the men grabbed their gear.

"No doubt." The only thing remaining in the cabin was the chains. "Takin' those with you, Marshall?" Ebbie asked as Billens was about to head out the door.

He thought for a moment. "Leave 'em. I've got an idea for you, since the spy knows where we were… I'll tell you on the way."
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by jwhouk »

---

The group moved up the fore gangway to the stairwell up to the Promenade deck. The room was at a right-angle to the gangway, as the main boiler stack disrupted the linear pattern of cabins on the ship.

"It's tucked away and has a third room, so more that the man would have to run through to get to…" Ebbie stopped suddenly as he noticed the door was unlocked.

"Guns out men," he said. The two Pinkertons, Billens and the five soldiers all readied their firearms – Dashnois doing the best he could with the pepperbox in his left hand.

The one detective pushed open the door – pointing it as he entered.

Nothing. Then, a moment later, "Suh! You need to see this…"

Alexander plodded in, and let out a strange sound.

Billens and the rest of them filed through, with Watts following behind Cornelius.

There, arrayed on the stateroom's bed, was various clothing and costumes – and, in the opened trunk, an array of gadgets and guns – and stage makeup.

"Damnation," Alexander finally said. "So this is where the man was basin' hisself out of."
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by Sgt. Howard »

Something different, continued

Neil noticed the awkward silence.
"No questions?" he stated, "I am surprised,"
Nadette was the first to repond, "... uh... Mr. Antonia... how many died in that charge?"
Neil looked at her and thought for a moment..."... I think... at least two hundred... likely more..."
Bernadine spoke- "... and... you were there... wow..."
Devyn then ventured, "Mr. Antonia...is... is war... always like that?"
Neil looked at them all- they had never heard such things before. They had never contemplated the incredible loss of life that is war. Yes, they were all in one or another of his classes.
"Sometimes... sometimes it is much worse. War is never a pleasant business. Yet to ignore it, to turn your back on it, gives power to those who would conquer others... if you want peace, you should prepare for war... I know that sounds irrational, but the sad truth is that there's always somebody who wants to control somebody else, or several somebody elses... 'War is the use of force to make your neighbor do that which otherwise he would not do,' - von Clausewitz. Showing weakness to a tyrant only entices him to strike... but show strength to the same and they remain civil,"
"Mr. Antonia... did you... know... Carl von Clausewitz?" asked Abby.
"I served under him against Napoleon in 1806 and like him was taken prisoner from 1807 to 1808. I then returned to the United States and served under Andrew Jackson in the Southern Campaigns of the War of 1812,"
"Mr. Antonia... do you... like ... war?" Mallory timidly asked.
"It...was... more along the lines that I am good at it... technology changes, but war doesn't... that is, what makes a good soldier, a good leader, THAT never changes... it was a line of work I could follow in ANY era,"
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by jwhouk »

---

The room looked palatial to Oscar, even as they were searching it to try and discover the spy's name or whereabouts.

"Ain't seen nuthin' like this before," Oscar commented as he gave the spare bedroom the once-over.

"I almost thought they had themselves a bordello on here, when I'd seen it first," Hough commented as he rummaged through the drawers of the desk in the same room. "They're about the only place 'round that could get real wallpaper and a real window in 'em."

"How'd you know?" Oscar retorted.

"Not much difference 'tween a 'House of Ill Repute' and the Congressional Suite at the Hotel Wisconsin," Hough replied as he shut the last drawer. "Dad used ta work for the Capitol Police. You 'member that little incident with the state senator who was caught in that cathouse down State Street?"

"News didn't quite make it down ta Beloit," Oscar said, looking at the fine woven shades on the window.

"Checks out in here," Hough said. "Might want ta strip the bed."

In the other room, the Pinkertons were going over the room with Hatch's assistance. Dashnois stood next to Cornelius, who was seated on the stateroom's sidechair, watching the proceedings.

"Nice place you have here, Mr. Alexander," Cornelius commented drily. "This the suite you have reserved for Old Abe?"

"What's our unit mascot havta do with this suite?" Hatch seemed a bit confused.

"No, Mister Younger," Ebbie said, carefully keeping the prisoner's cover, "This isn't the Presidential Suite. However, I'm somewhat concerned that my men missed this room earlier when we were doing a search of the ship."

"Twas empty when we searched it, suh," the one Pinkerton said apologetically. "He musta moved in shortly after that little sabotage incident."

Billens and Ebbie exchanged looks – more out of frustration.

"Nice trunk he's got here," Hatch commented. He read the inscription inside the lid: "Northwestern Trunk and Travelling Bag Manufactory – hah, Racine, Wisconsin!"

"Sumbitch musta stole it," Dashnois said. "No other way a Reb would have a trunk from a Yankee company."

"You'd be surprised, private," Cornelius said quietly. "After the fall of Vicksburg, a lot of our goods were looted from items Yankee units left behind."

"Dashy's got a point, though," Hatch said. "Northwestern only started makin' these recently. And this one's pretty new."

They had found inside several complete facial and hair kits, spirit gum, and at least two changes of clothing.

To Dashnois' chagrin, they also found an ammo box that had the inscription "FOR PEPPERBOX" – but it only had enough for a few rounds.

"This'd be much better – if'n I knew how to use this damn thing," he commented.

"We had a few officers who carried these in my unit," Cornelius offered.

"Uh – with the Marshall's permission?" Dashnois looked over at Billens, who was looking through the wardrobe on the forward wall.

"As long as you don't let him touch the thing," Billens said, eyeing the Centurion.

"I'd never shoot a fellow soldier in the back, suh," Cornelius replied. "That's Dashnois' job."

Dashnois gave him a light smack on the shoulder for that comment, then pulled up a chair so he could learn about the gun from an expert.
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by lake_wrangler »

lake_wrangler wrote:
jwhouk wrote:
Works for Girl Genius...
I've listened to some of those... they are great! Let's do that! We can even do it over the internet, with someone to assemble everything together, after all the recorded parts are in! Or we can do it over skype, or something, and record the session... :D
Sgt. Howard wrote:OK- I'm sold- Joe and I can script this, and there's MORE than enough talent here to make it happen...
Of course, you'll need to decide whether to make it a serious script, or a campy one... :mrgreen:
(Those Girl Genius ones are hilariously campy... :lol: )
Sgt. Howard wrote:but who do we know that is sufficient enough of an übergeek to put it together? I am quite a Luddite compared to many of you...
You don't need to be an übergeek to do this, but merely have access to the right software, have sufficient time for the task, and the motivation necessary to complete it. (I'm 1.5 out of three on that, I think...)
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by jwhouk »

Sadly, I'm 1.5 outta three as well.

Truth be told, I think we're only about 60% of the way to the end, if that.
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by Julie »

Sgt. Howard wrote:...and somehow I suspect Miss Julie could do a passable Suzie.
*blushes* Well, I dunno how passable, but I'd be willing to try. :)
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And see that life is beautiful."
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by AmriloJim »

Sgt. Howard wrote:OK- I'm sold- Joe and I can script this, and there's MORE than enough talent here to make it happen... but who do we know that is sufficient enough of an übergeek to put it together? I am quite a Luddite compared to many of you...
I have a lovely freeware program called Audacity... near-studio-quality non-linear audio editing. I use it primarily to clean up mp3s I've acquired... cropping silence fore and aft or splitting albums into individual tracks. I can select full directories of mp3s and instruct Windows Media Player to "play all"... the resulting audio stream is tighter than a lot of professional broadcast DJs' boardwork. Audacity is a multi-track environment which allows panning audio to create stereophonic voice separation and level control of individual voices.

I'll just have to commit to making time for the project. We'll need a method to get audio files to me... either a cloud-based server like Dropbox or I can resurrect an upload website on my server I wrote several years back that won't require submitters to install anything locally.

Then there's the question of music and sound effects. Unless we can locate royalty-free or public domain, we may want to stay with straight dialogue and narration.

Let me know what you think.
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by GlytchMeister »

AmriloJim wrote:We'll need a method to get audio files to me... either a cloud-based server like Dropbox or I can resurrect an upload website on my server I wrote several years back that won't require submitters to install anything locally.
http://www.toobigforemail.com
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by lake_wrangler »

AmriloJim wrote:
Sgt. Howard wrote:OK- I'm sold- Joe and I can script this, and there's MORE than enough talent here to make it happen... but who do we know that is sufficient enough of an übergeek to put it together? I am quite a Luddite compared to many of you...
I have a lovely freeware program called Audacity... near-studio-quality non-linear audio editing. I use it primarily to clean up mp3s I've acquired... cropping silence fore and aft or splitting albums into individual tracks. I can select full directories of mp3s and instruct Windows Media Player to "play all"... the resulting audio stream is tighter than a lot of professional broadcast DJs' boardwork. Audacity is a multi-track environment which allows panning audio to create stereophonic voice separation and level control of individual voices.

I'll just have to commit to making time for the project. We'll need a method to get audio files to me... either a cloud-based server like Dropbox or I can resurrect an upload website on my server I wrote several years back that won't require submitters to install anything locally.

Then there's the question of music and sound effects. Unless we can locate royalty-free or public domain, we may want to stay with straight dialogue and narration.

Let me know what you think.
How do you get the non-linear part working? I have Audacity, too, but can't seem to be able to move clips further down the line... I end up having to add silence to a clip, if I want the recorded section to be further out...

I also have, but have not used yet, Ardour 3 and LMMS, which are said to be even more advanced than Audacity (I've installed Ubuntu Studio, over the summer...)

As far as sound effects go, there are some sites that provide royaltee-free sounds, but some of them are subscription based, while others charge per sound effect. That would be something to be discussed as to whether we want to go that way or not.
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by Sgt. Howard »

AmriloJim wrote:
Sgt. Howard wrote:OK- I'm sold- Joe and I can script this, and there's MORE than enough talent here to make it happen... but who do we know that is sufficient enough of an übergeek to put it together? I am quite a Luddite compared to many of you...
I have a lovely freeware program called Audacity... near-studio-quality non-linear audio editing. I use it primarily to clean up mp3s I've acquired... cropping silence fore and aft or splitting albums into individual tracks. I can select full directories of mp3s and instruct Windows Media Player to "play all"... the resulting audio stream is tighter than a lot of professional broadcast DJs' boardwork. Audacity is a multi-track environment which allows panning audio to create stereophonic voice separation and level control of individual voices.

I'll just have to commit to making time for the project. We'll need a method to get audio files to me... either a cloud-based server like Dropbox or I can resurrect an upload website on my server I wrote several years back that won't require submitters to install anything locally.

Then there's the question of music and sound effects. Unless we can locate royalty-free or public domain, we may want to stay with straight dialogue and narration.

Let me know what you think.
I've actually done some foley work in hollywierd- and having actual firearms of the era and living out in the country has many advantages...
If this were a different storyline, I suspect 'Campy' would be absolutely perfect... but there is more than enough humor in it, I think, without going 'Batman' on it.
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by Sgt. Howard »

lake_wrangler wrote:As far as sound effects go, there are some sites that provide royaltee-free sounds, but some of them are subscription based, while others charge per sound effect. That would be something to be discussed as to whether we want to go that way or not.
Name the sound effect that we cannot create
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by lake_wrangler »

Sgt. Howard wrote:Name the sound effect that we cannot create
True enough.
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by lake_wrangler »

Sgt. Howard wrote:I've actually done some foley work in hollywierd- and having actual firearms of the era and living out in the country has many advantages...
Sounds wonderful.
Sgt. Howard wrote:If this were a different storyline, I suspect 'Campy' would be absolutely perfect... but there is more than enough humor in it, I think, without going 'Batman' on it.
Well, of course, this particular storyline is not campy material. But future storylines/scripts might be...
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by Sgt. Howard »

I just created a new topic, "WTF are we doing?" strictly for discussion of the possibility of radio drama production- I'm thinking we can do this, but THIS thread has sufficient distractions without it. Anybody who wants on board, let's discuss it over there please-
Thank you
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by lake_wrangler »

Sgt. Howard wrote:I just created a new topic, "WTF are we doing?" strictly for discussion of the possibility of radio drama production- I'm thinking we can do this, but THIS thread has sufficient distractions without it. Anybody who wants on board, let's discuss it over there please-
Thank you
I noticed the new thread after posting my previous answer here. You will find another post of mine, in the new thread.
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by Sgt. Howard »

"Well, now- what you have there is 'combustable cartridges'," Cornelius started as he pointed out what Dashnois had in the box, "Those paper wrappings are nitrated, so they burn to nothing when the bullet is fired. Let's see here... yes!- there is the ramrod, there's no place to put it on the gun itself. Now, you stuff the cartridge, paper end first, into the muzzle of the bore that's empty- you've fired a round, right? Make sure that the bore you are loading is empty before you proceed,"
Dashnois put the rammer down the bore in question, marked the depth with his thumbnail and withdrew it to compare the plunged depth with the length of the barrel- the end of the rammer came right to the nipple. At that point, he noticed an inked scratch going around the rammer right where his thumbnail sat... just about one inch further towards the opposite end was a similar mark.
"Huh! 'empty' and 'loaded', I guess," he muttered.
"Exactly- go ahead and check the others, just so that you know for sure,"
Dashnois found five loaded bores... "But... that means he packed this thing fully loaded! Didn't you say that's dangerous?"
"Relatively here- as you found out, you cannot cock that hammer. Pulling the trigger raises and drops the hammer, as well as rotates the barrels... but the notch between each barrel actually does a fair job of holding the barrels in one position until you pull the trigger,"
"Then... why don't they do that on a Colt pistol?"
"They sorta do that- there's a pin on the back of the cylinder on any Colt where you are supposed to rest the hammer- there's a notch in the face of the hammer for it, see?... but that pin you have to find cause there's only one and it's a bit on the fragile side. Now the 1858 Remington has a 'nose notch' between each chamber and it works rather well... but remember this- ultimately, the only thing keeping you safe with a gun is YOU, so get to know your weapon. Now... we've identified the empty chamber, go ahead and stuff that cartridge in there and ram it home... now drop a little ball of beeswax and smash it on top of the ball... that prevents the fire from jumping to the next chamber... there! ... pull up slightly on the hammer, place it in the notch, put a cap on that nipple and you're done,"
Dashnois looked over the oddly shaped device- "Ugly little pug, wouldn't you say?"
"I've seen worse... as you can guess, 'aim' is more of a 'point and pray' sort of thing. Just remember your range is less than thirty feet and you'll do fine,"
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by jwhouk »

And now, we tie one other thing in.

---

"I'm not comfortable with allowin' the prisoner t'be handlin' firearms," Ebbie said, eyeing Dashnois and Younger.

Billens and Alexander were having a quiet conversation in the entry room to the suite. This small room, with a row of ornate coat hooks, sat at an angle from the main suite. The entry looked straight down the gangway, all the way to the rear of the ship.

"The man saved my life, Detective," Billens replied, without turning his head from looking down the corridor. "You did give all passengers the 'remain in your rooms' order, did you not?" Alexander nodded.

"But I don't understand," Ebbie turned to look at him, seeing that Dashnois was handling the gun about as best as could be expected with his left hand. "You told me y'self that he's been a mortal enemy of yours forever an' a day."

Billens shrugged.

"Last night was the first time he answered a question for me." Billens looked down, then around the corner of the doorway. After the last incident, they decided that they would have a guard posted at the stairwell up from the main deck – that was the other Pinkerton of Ebbie's. He had his 1858 Remington unholstered and at the ready. He nodded back towards the Marshall in an "all okay" signal.

"A question? That's all?" Ebbie shook his head and gave something of a half-grunt, half-whinny. "And for that, you let him teach Basic Ammunition Loadin' to your charges?"

"He knows enough about weaponry to fill a library," Billens said without turning his head from the long gangway. "That was the answer to my question." He looked down briefly. "He fell for a librarian."

"What in the…" Ebbie suddenly realized what Billens meant. "Oh, you can't be serious. That place? They burned the dimmed thing to the ground in the fourth century! 'Sides, that whole silly contraption of your boss would prevent any of us from gettin' there."

There was a moment of silence, as they both listened at the movement in the room, juxtaposed with the silence in the hallway.

"His wife was… is the Librarian." Billens was looking straight ahead when he spoke.

Ebbie didn't quite catch it. "What?"

"The Librarian. I didn't know until he told me, Eb." He couldn't look the Pinkerton in the eye, and instead looked over to the stairwell. "He's been on the other side of me, all these years, since that day. And I never knew why."

"Wait, wait… Isn't the Librarian a…"

"Yes. Sphinx. I don't know how, Ebbie, but I believe him." He peeked back into the sitting room of the luxury suite. Cornelius – that silly "Younger" name was just another in a line of aliases, he knew – was showing the Belgian how to draw with his left hand. "I always thought he was just there to torture me. Something sent from whatever gods there are left on this stupid globe to punish me for my momma's folly – and my bravado."

"Dunno what to say to that, I reckon," Ebbie replied. "My great gran'pa Augustus tol' me about the Library long time ago, 'fore he decided he was gonna go off and play in the Missourah morass 15 years ago."

"Did he tell you about the portals?" Ebbie only nodded. "He ever see one?" That got a shake of the head.

Another long pause. The whistle sounded to indicate the top of the hour.

"I actually entered the Library, once," Billens said quietly.

Ebbie's eyes shot up. "But… how?"

"'Twas before Jin and her infernal machine. Went in with a friend of mine – maybe you know him. Oedipus?"

"Okay, I knew y'all were old, Billens, but…"

"He took me with as security, because he wanted to be able to defeat the Sphinx at Thebes. That lady o' his weren't the Librarian yet. Was some other creature. She gave him a scroll, and when she went to attack him for not knowin' the answer, he held it up…"

Billens looked up for a moment.

"I'd never seen a creature that big recoil in horror so fast," he said, drawing the image back to his memory. "She disappeared in an instant – sound was really strange, like a 'POIT'. And the scroll disappeared too. We headed on to Thebes – and discovered that the portal that had been there was now gone."

"Uh, suh?" The pair were shaken from their reverie by Dashnois. "Mister Younger needs to use the privy?"

Alexander pointed directly across from the entrance, next to the gangway. "Right there, private."

Cornelius got up and walked over to the door. "No hard feelings?" he asked of the pair.

"Dashnois, come on out here an' keep an eye on him," Billens pointed to the closet door.

The private walked his prisoner-cum-tutor out of the main room.

"Oh, by the way, Mister Younger?" Alexander interjected. "That bivy has no window. Just for your information."

"Understood, Detective." Cornelius smiled. "Oh, and Marshall?" Billens raised his eyebrow at the centurion. "I'd reckon that she's prob'ly forgot all about your part in it by now."

Billens smiled briefly as Cornelius closed the door to the privy.

---

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The Queen City Belle is in deeper trouble than they think. The current day in our story happens to be March 3, 1865 - which is also a Sunday, according to the calendar.

What, pray tell does that mean?

They're the only ship on the Ohio at the moment... :o
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by jwhouk »

"Mistah Alexandah! Mistah Alexandah!" One of the crew of the Queen City Belle came charging around the corner, only getting a second glance from the Pinkerton at the hallway.

"Douglass! You know Fairport there is already trigger happy! You tryin' to get you'self killed?"

"Beggin' your pardon, suh," the man seemed a bit out of breath. "But in our haste to avoid the Rebs firin' on us, we neglected to notice one little thing – all the ports east of us to Parkersburg are closed."

Billens was a bit surprised. "All of them? How do you know this?"

Ebbie and Douglass looked at Billens like he had suddenly grown four legs and a tail.

"With all due respect, Marshall suh," Douglass replied, "It is the Sabbath."

"Uhm, I was gonna actually ask about that, suh," Dashnois interjected as he walked Cornelius back across the hall. "I was a bit surprised we were gonna push off this mornin'. I'd planned t'ask if'n I could find a church in town that was holdin' mass."

Cornelius held in a laugh – poorly – as he returned to his spot in the sitting room.

"Y'all will have to pardon me – I'm a marshall, not a river man. What's it matter that the ports are all closed?"

"Well, suh – we do have enough coal to get t' Parkersburg – but that's just barely." Douglass gave his boss a second look. "And we've been runnin' a bit hot since the little brou-ha-ha back in port."

"An' that's not the only thing, Billens," Ebbie added. "In case you didn't take geography in your elementary days, the Ohio takes a nasty li'l u-turn 'tween Pomeroy and Parkersburg."

"It's all right past Pomeroy – helps there's a Union depot there – but after Letart Falls…" Douglass looked at Ebbie again. "We're gonna have to reduce power on the engines to squeeze through."

"And that leaves us slowed to a near standstill 'bout an hour or two out of Parkersburg."

Billens suddenly realized what they were saying.

"Sittin' ducks on a pond."

He thought for a moment.

"We need to find that damned spy sooner than yesterday."
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: 150 Years Ago

Post by Sgt. Howard »

'That Damned Spy' was currently soaked to the bone and shivering like a frightened dog. The past hour of travel had seen some remarkable efforts on the part of the paddles, and as they were of the English racing variety and their linkage was inboard, the wheelwall he had been standing against had seen a constant cascade of water. There was a catwalk on the outboard wall, but getting to that while the paddles were in motion seemed near suicidal. There was consolation in the fact that the ammunition for the Henry was warrented as 'Weather Resistant'- doubtless the numerous muzzel-loading single shots dispersed around his body were useless at this time- he had to get out of here and find warm, dry shelter... but where?
His mind hit upon a plan- edging back to the access door, he implemented it.
Rule 17 of the Bombay Golf Course- "You shall play the ball where the monkey drops it,"
I speak fluent Limrick-
the Old Sgt.
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