Ring of Fire III(26)

Tom was a bit dubious at the prospect of having Bonnie along on the march, but only a bit. Like every military force of the day that had been in one place for a while, the Danube Regiment had collected camp followers. Women, mostly, who were either married to one of the soldiers or pretended to be. They doubled as cooks and laundresses for the unit; and, in some cases, prostitutes. There were at least two hundred of them along on this march, including several dozen children. If they could keep up—which they surely could, with the incentive of staying out of Duke Maximilian’s clutches—then Bonnie should be able to as well. She was on the plump side, true. But that was due to genetics, not sedentary habits. She was a vigorous sort of person, as you’d expect from someone who’d chosen to become a surveyor.

“What time do you think it is?” asked Willa Fodor. She was squinting to the east, trying to see if she could spot any signs of the dawn arriving. “My watch doesn’t work any more.”

Neither did Tom’s. He hadn’t worn a watch in more than a year, since the battery finally died. By then, four years after the Ring of Fire, silver oxide batteries—the very few that were left—cost a small fortune. It hadn’t seemed worth the expense, especially since the new battery would eventually die also. With a handful of exceptions, the only up-time watches that were still functional were old-fashioned wind-up watches. And there weren’t all that many of those.

Happily, there had already been a primitive watchmaking industry in Europe when the Americans arrived, which quickly began adapting the designs in up-time encyclopedias. The balance spring and balance wheel designed by Huygens in the late seventeenth century in the up-timers’ universe were well within their capabilities. Within two or three years, a fairly large number of pocket watches were available in much of Europe.

They were expensive, of course, and up-timers tended to scorn them. The watches weren’t nearly as accurate as the timepieces Americans were used to.

Böcler dug into his coat pocket and came out with one. He flipped open the lid and tilted the watch so he could see the face by the light of the moon. “It’s almost five o’clock in the morning,” he said.

Seeing everyone staring at him, he smiled slightly. “No, of course I can’t afford such a device on my salary. Duke Ernst gave it to me as a gift, when he left for Saxony.”

He put it back in its pocket. “I have tested it against American electronic timers. It is accurate within ten minutes every day. I have to keep adjusting it, naturally.”

The sun would be rising in a couple of hours, then. They still weren’t more than four miles from Ingolstadt. Tom wanted to get five or six miles away before making camp, if at all possible. But he’d stop sooner if they found a good place to set up defensive fieldworks. It wouldn’t be long before the Bavarian cavalry found them and they had to start fighting.

The men needed some sleep, too, even if only for two or three hours. And something to eat.

Von Eichelberg had been reading his mind, apparently. He’d make a superb staff officer. “There is a very good place to set up camp about a mile farther down the river, Major,” he said. “Thick forest comes almost to the river, creating a bottleneck. With your guns, we could hold off five or six times our number.”

Tom nodded. “Let’s be about it, then.” He turned to Rita. “You’re in charge up there, hon. If it looks like you’re in any danger of running out of fuel, head for Regensburg immediately. I’m hoping you’ll be able to scout for us all the way, but it’s not worth the risk. If you lose power, the winds will probably blow you into Bavaria or Austria.”

It was tempting to send the Pelican to Regensburg right now. They could refuel and, thereafter, could provide the regiment with reconnaissance without having to worry about losing power.

But that presupposed that “refueling” was a simple, cut-and-dried matter, which it certainly wouldn’t be. By the time the relevant authorities could consult with each other, wrangle over everything relevant authorities could invariably find to wrangle about—you could get a headache just thinking about it—the regiment would probably have arrived in Regensburg and made it all a moot point.

Rita gave him a quick hug. A moment later, she was headed back toward the Pelican. The three female auditors and Corporal Baier followed her.

Tom looked at Bonnie and Johann Heinrich. “Do you two have anything you need to get off the airship? If you do, you’d better move quickly.”

The two of them looked at each other, then simultaneously shook their heads.