Chapter 162: Home Again

Well the first order of business was to drop the herd off in the pasture. We had men down there who not only welcomed us back (or to Rulo), but took over the herd and integrated it into the current herd. This was done way too casually and someone had obviously planned for this. I’d been gone just over a month and it was very apparent that things had not stood still during my absence, just the bunkhouse down here was a good example.

So it was simply me and the crew who traversed to road up to my homestead and Rulo. Brin and Amos led the way and the rest of us trailed along behind them in a group. For most of them this wasn’t a homecoming this was the first taste of freedom; for today I just let them see, tomorrow was time for big, fancy statements.

Hilariously, as we came out of the woods I noticed that the field of corn, the ‘corn out of time’ was now nearing full height and almost ready for first harvest. The corn was tall, between five and six foot per stalk. This meant we might be having sweet corn for dinner and just the thought had my mouth watering, of course I’d be sick of sweet corn by the end of September but that’s just the way these things worked. The squash had come in nicely also and I could see that some summer squash (baby squash) had already been harvested.

We finally crossed the stream and made our way around my little homestead. The road now passed close by the palisade but didn’t go through it, I didn’t need all that traffic traipsing through my front yard. The men were all staring around with big eyes taking in their new home, each face had a different reaction but most looked pleased. It was still too quiet and not a soul was to be seen, I wondered what they were planning.

Well we found out pretty quick, the temporary village was fully setup with tables and even some decorations. The cooking fires were going full blast and meat was being turned on the spit. One of the spit lads ran over to me full of excitement and reported, “The boats are coming in sir and we’re going to have a feast!!” Well that lad was all over himself with excitement and I had to shoo him back to his duties so we could head down to the Landing ourselves.

I gathered the men around and gave them the word, cheers and happiness was the overwhelming reaction. New home and your family back all at the same time, this was like Christmas morning for a four year old. So off we went to Rulo Landing at a quick canter. Amos was keeping pace with me and Brin, big old grin plastered all over his face and he had diarrhea of the mouth that wouldn’t stop. He prattled on about anything and everything but mostly about his girl.

He did manage to notice that the road was almost finished and that the upper pasture had been fully fenced with rough wood fencing. Downtown Rulo almost blew my mind as main block was almost entirely cleared of standing trees. We had one rough building in the wood shop and as we approached the end there was a large Pawnee type lodge built up on the bluff, we drew up there for a moment.