Reconstruction ~ Episode Six

[lookingland]

RECONSTRUCTION ~ EPISODE SIX

Olive Branches ~ There's an uneasy peace settling, the kind that precludes a big storm. Can extended hands be trusted?

Excerpt:

"Colonel Hunter, this camp is on a boom heading to be a real town. We lose those mills and you'll kill it."

"I didn't come out here to live in a boom town Mr. Hodge. I know how fast a city can take hold. I know how fast the railroad catches wind of it and starts laying the iron snake. I came here to get away from the so-called civilized world. Faigerston is too damn industrious for my tastes. And I don't have any qualms about curtailing that progress."

"People would say that's a mighty backwards way of thinking, Colonel."

"People can say whatever they like."

Arthur Mental slid the checkers into a box where they rattled noisily. "Go on an let him dry up the whole claim," he said. "He'll think twice when he sees it happen."

James laughed. "For twenty years before anyone settled, there was a village here. I suspect there will be again. This is good farming land, good hunting too. A person could make a fine living still, even without the mills."

"I'm a carpenter, not a farmer," Hodgekiss said.

"So was Jesus Christ," James said. "You want to be martyr too? There's work for you here. Guaranteed through the spring, probably more. Good money. Then you can go wherever you like. Or stay."