to Osmaniye, he should point the way to the advance guard.
Also, I mentioned to him that the Polish often ate pigs, and that if this offended any of his people, they should insist on being fed from cans bearing the Star of David. These contained kosher food prepared for our Jewish troops, who had similar dietary restrictions to those of the Arabs.
Actually, I doubted if any Jews at all were with us on this expedition. I believe that they all had wanted to stay in Jerusalem, their ancient homeland. They were strongly attached to the Holy Land, and I had no doubt but what they were willing to die to the last man defending it.
Since the usual army company had some six Jewish men per gross in it, the food containers contained about twelve cans per gross of kosher food. Many gentiles liked kosher food too, after all.
My general orders for this mission had us spending all of the time, from sunrise to sunset, traveling at the best speed we could make. Since we were very near the equinox, that meant half of the day.
We’d be eating cold canned food the whole trip, unless some people felt like heating their dinner around the camp fire. I just hoped that they had brains enough to open the can before they did that!
Every man here was a warrior. We had no cooks, clerks, or other dead weight with us. And certainly no camp followers. We were out trying to save Europe from another brutal Mongol invasion, and that required a few sacrifices. So what if the food got boring, things became uncomfortable, or our clothes got dirty?
On the other hand, there were a few advantages to the new system. No one had to stand night guard duty. We had a lot of Big People with us, and Big People don’t sleep. They could put out a tremendous amount of energy during the day, but then they had to spend the entire night eating, to recuperate.
Their favorite food was fresh, green grass, but if necessary, they could eat anything with carbon in it. They could chew up whole trees, if need be, although they preferred fruit trees to pines. Well, they didn’t like high sulfur coal, but coke was okay.
They would scatter into the surrounding areas during the night, and they were fully alert. Their senses were superior to those of any ordinary human. Their sense of smell was better than any bloodhound. Their hearing was outstanding. They could see far into the infrared, and the dead of night was as bright as high noon to them. They never got lost, and their sense of direction was flawless, as far as we could tell.
And, they were very good fighters. Riding Silver, I was once attacked by a gang of over a dozen thugs. She killed them all before I could do more than draw my sword!
If there was any threat, they would let the rest of us know about it in no uncertain way!
There were a few casualties during the day. Not many, and none were caused by enemy action. But with fifty thousand men on the move, and twice that number of Big People, accidents happen, and humans sometimes get sick, although Big People and bodyguards don’t.
With humans, our practice was to put the man on top of a cart, or sometimes inside of a radio cart, with a medic attending him, and to take the injured man along. His partner, a Big Person, normally ran along side, anxiously.
Injuries among the Big People were rare, but they too happened. Here, because of their size, we had to leave them behind, in the company of a man, usually her partner, and another Big Person. Big People healed quickly, even faster than I did, after receiving my Uncle Tom’s magic cures. Even with a broken leg, a Big Person could move along, slowly, in the manner of a dog with an injured foot. Her escorts were to stay with her until they could rejoin the rest of the column, or they could make it home, whichever the three of them decided was best.
There were many switches leading to side tracks on the railroad heading north, each manned by a lance of our Christian Army warriors. We were going through the Crusader
Also, I mentioned to him that the Polish often ate pigs, and that if this offended any of his people, they should insist on being fed from cans bearing the Star of David. These contained kosher food prepared for our Jewish troops, who had similar dietary restrictions to those of the Arabs.
Actually, I doubted if any Jews at all were with us on this expedition. I believe that they all had wanted to stay in Jerusalem, their ancient homeland. They were strongly attached to the Holy Land, and I had no doubt but what they were willing to die to the last man defending it.
Since the usual army company had some six Jewish men per gross in it, the food containers contained about twelve cans per gross of kosher food. Many gentiles liked kosher food too, after all.
My general orders for this mission had us spending all of the time, from sunrise to sunset, traveling at the best speed we could make. Since we were very near the equinox, that meant half of the day.
We’d be eating cold canned food the whole trip, unless some people felt like heating their dinner around the camp fire. I just hoped that they had brains enough to open the can before they did that!
Every man here was a warrior. We had no cooks, clerks, or other dead weight with us. And certainly no camp followers. We were out trying to save Europe from another brutal Mongol invasion, and that required a few sacrifices. So what if the food got boring, things became uncomfortable, or our clothes got dirty?
On the other hand, there were a few advantages to the new system. No one had to stand night guard duty. We had a lot of Big People with us, and Big People don’t sleep. They could put out a tremendous amount of energy during the day, but then they had to spend the entire night eating, to recuperate.
Their favorite food was fresh, green grass, but if necessary, they could eat anything with carbon in it. They could chew up whole trees, if need be, although they preferred fruit trees to pines. Well, they didn’t like high sulfur coal, but coke was okay.
They would scatter into the surrounding areas during the night, and they were fully alert. Their senses were superior to those of any ordinary human. Their sense of smell was better than any bloodhound. Their hearing was outstanding. They could see far into the infrared, and the dead of night was as bright as high noon to them. They never got lost, and their sense of direction was flawless, as far as we could tell.
And, they were very good fighters. Riding Silver, I was once attacked by a gang of over a dozen thugs. She killed them all before I could do more than draw my sword!
If there was any threat, they would let the rest of us know about it in no uncertain way!
There were a few casualties during the day. Not many, and none were caused by enemy action. But with fifty thousand men on the move, and twice that number of Big People, accidents happen, and humans sometimes get sick, although Big People and bodyguards don’t.
With humans, our practice was to put the man on top of a cart, or sometimes inside of a radio cart, with a medic attending him, and to take the injured man along. His partner, a Big Person, normally ran along side, anxiously.
Injuries among the Big People were rare, but they too happened. Here, because of their size, we had to leave them behind, in the company of a man, usually her partner, and another Big Person. Big People healed quickly, even faster than I did, after receiving my Uncle Tom’s magic cures. Even with a broken leg, a Big Person could move along, slowly, in the manner of a dog with an injured foot. Her escorts were to stay with her until they could rejoin the rest of the column, or they could make it home, whichever the three of them decided was best.
There were many switches leading to side tracks on the railroad heading north, each manned by a lance of our Christian Army warriors. We were going through the Crusader
Similar Books
