Tin Swift(67)

The main of the room was set with tables and chairs and, surprisingly, a shelf with a few books and map tubes piled on it.

He didn’t know if there were sleeping rooms, but there was plenty of floor space to put out a bedroll.

“Just a little farther and we’ll have that dry bed,” he told Mae.

“Cedar,” Mae said. “Mr. Hunt?” She squeezed his hand.

Cedar looked down at her.

Mae’s eyes were bright. Clear. Her cheeks were flushed as if she’d just woken too quickly from a deep dream.

“I’m fine. Truly. It’s much…quieter here.” She looked around, taking in her surroundings, then took in a good deep breath.

“Maybe it’s the stone,” she said. “I’m feeling much more myself. Let me help. Where’s Rose?”

“In the buggy,” Cedar said, a little stunned by her complete turnaround. “Are you sure?”

Mae smiled, an aching hint of happiness before sadness, or perhaps fear, took it away again. “I think we should embrace our luck as it comes, Mr. Hunt. And right now I am…feeling much better. Are there medical supplies at our disposal?”

“We’ll have to ask the captain about that.”

“Ask the captain about what?” Hink asked as he strode into the room, his hat in one hand so he could shake the rain off it.

Molly and Seldom had found a litter from someplace and gotten Rose upon it. They were carrying her across the room, Wil walking at her side, his ears up, nose working the scents in the room. He stared at Cedar, and then followed Rose as Molly and Seldom took her through a doorway on the far side of the room.

“Where are they taking her?” Cedar asked.

The captain put his hat under his arm and opened his satchel. He dug out his flask, took a swig from it, then walked it over to Cedar. “Beds back that way. Enough bunks for us all.” He handed Cedar the flask, and Cedar took a long swallow.

It was good bourbon.

“Do we have medical supplies, Captain?” Mae asked.

Hink’s eyebrows shot up and he looked from Cedar to Mae, then took another pull on the flask.

“We will,” he said. “As soon as I pry them out of Old Jack’s greedy fingers. What exactly do you think you’ll need, Mrs. Lindson?”

Mae glanced off the way Rose had been taken. “I’ll need to see her first. But something to take the pain. It’d be best if it didn’t knock her completely out. Am I to assume we have only a modicum of safety here, and that we will be leaving as soon as possible?”

“That’s about the gist of it,” Hink said. “I’m pleased to see you’re feeling better, Mrs. Lindson.”

“Thank you, Captain,” she said. “Let me check on Miss Small. Then perhaps I could accompany you to speak with Mr. Jack about medicine?”

Hink shot Cedar a quick look and Cedar nodded. “Of course,” the captain said. “Rather not pay for something we’d throw away.”

“Very well. I’ll be back in a moment.”

Mae headed across the room, steady on her feet, and as near as Cedar could tell, clearheaded.

“Isn’t that something?” Hink said. “Or maybe it’s not. She come and go like that a lot?”

The captain pulled out a chair and folded down into it with a grateful grunt.

“She’s usually very clear,” Cedar said. “Days have been hard lately.”

“Ain’t they always?” Hink took one last drink from the flask, then tucked it back into his coat.

“Molly didn’t recognize the ship,” Cedar said.

“Seldom’s putting his eyes on it. We’ll know soon.”

“Bad kind of hole to die in,” Cedar noted.

“Haven’t yet met a hole I wanted to die in,” Hink agreed. “Ansell’s putting fuel on board before he beds down. Coal. And he has the barrels out to catch the rain. If we need to crack the sky, we’ll have power.”

“Will the ship hold together for flight?”

“Not far. And this is the last friendly, well, relatively so, resupply station that has what we’d need for repairs. If you want to get those women to Kansas, we’ll need the day, maybe two.”

“I don’t know that Rose has that long.”

Hink looked up at Cedar. The captain’s eyes were sober, tired. None of them had snatched more than a handful of sleep. And the captain looked like he’d been riding too hard for too long well before they’d fallen in together.

Cedar lowered his voice. “There is some chance the Holder would heal her, set her to rights.”

“I’ll get her medicines,” Captain Hink said, “which you’ll pay me for. We’ll patch the Swift. If you have some clue as to where the…device…,” he said, avoiding using the word “Holder,” “is, then I’ll take you to it. But there just isn’t any more I can do at this point, Mr. Hunt. Picking up you and yours has put me behind, shot holes in my ship, and made a general mess of the life and dealings of both myself and my crew.”