Part II

At the end of the 14^th day, Mike and Tom found themselves approaching Fleisch’s Keep again. Seeing no reason not to, they exchanged books again before settling down to prepare for the next leg of their journey. Both men washed their clothes, repaired and maintained gear, and generally rested up, savoring the last chance to sleep in a bed under a roof for perhaps as much as two more weeks. After a four day layover, they left Fleisch’s keep with their stock rested and their saddlebags stuffed full of additional ammo and food that Oscar and the other residents of the settlement had provided.

The trip could be covered in four days at a moderate to fast pace, but Mike planned to take six days to cover the 130 miles. This would keep the stock relatively fresh, allow the men to supplement their food supplies by hunting and foraging, and most importantly, going slowly meant that the librarians would be more alert to danger. After the first day, Mike figured every step would take him deeper into an unknown and potentially hostile territory, and he wanted to be fresh if and when any threat presented itself.

As the caravan progressed through the countryside, Mike allowed Kelev to roam as he pleased. The big dog was a good hunter, and often caught rabbits and ground squirrels, allowing Mike to conserve the dried meat he had brought along as dog food. Mike also hoped  the dog might serve as an early warning if any bandit patrols happened to be in the area.

In addition to keeping his head on a swivel, Mike took other precautions to stay unnoticed during the trip. On a couple of nights he insisted on a cold camp, when he suspected that other people were in the area or at least had been recently. He formed these guesses based on the amount of game he saw, hints of woodsmoke in the air, and by watching closely the behavior of the horses and mules. Once he was quite sure that they were within a mile of another group when he saw a number of birds suddenly rise out of the woods to his right. Luckily he and Tom had been skirting the southern military crest of a long low ridge at the time, so the high ground provided a natural line of sight barrier between the caravan and any watchers in the woods, and Mike continued on a short way down the sloping hill before pressing on to the west. Mike always tried to keep Tom in the loop by pointing out the signs he was observing and asking Tom’s opinion of them. In this way, Tom’s OTJ training and bushcraft skills continued to progress.

Even on the nights that Mike felt relatively sure he was not in danger of being seen, he chose to make Dakota fire holes and camp in areas that were both relatively far from the beaten path and easy to get away from. Every night after making camp he and Tom would walk the perimeter and talk through immediate action drills, rendezvous points, and likely avenues of approach. This vigilant approach paid off, for midway through the sixth day the men found themselves in sight of what had to be Eagle’s Nest subdivision.