The Historians
Chapter 9
It was Friday and Matt and Kitty sat in Doc's room at the hospital. He had started to wake up more fully earlier that morning and was now asking a lot of questions about what was going on. He kept looking at the needle in his arm, the wires hooked to his chest and the multitude of machines around the bed all of which either had small flashing red lights or sounded a variety of beeps and other noises
"I can't explain them to you Doc," Matt told him. "I do know that somehow all this was necessary to keep you alive."
He had explained to Doc how he had been real sick. "You told Kitty you had brain fever. We thought we were going to lose you, then somehow we found ourselves here. This is Guy's Hospital in London and the year is 2012. This is Thomas Kedworth's time."
It took Doc a while to digest that information. Strangely enough he had heard of Guy's. he had read a paper by Thomas Hodgkin who had described a malignant blood disorder sometime in the early 1800's, he had been a pathologist at this hospital.
"What I am trying to tell you Doc is that you need to be careful what you say. Thomas is the only one who knows the truth, so just try to fit in."
The elderly physician grunted a promise that he would do his best, and Matt was about to make some comment when Jennifer appeared at the door. Doc's face immediately brightened at the sight of the elegant young lady.
"Well Dr. Adam's it is nice to see that you are finally awake," she smiles at him and introduces herself.
"How about you two leave us alone now?" she says to Kitty and Matt, "I need to check on your Uncle here."
"Uncle?" the older man yells.
"Yes. Uncle, and you'd better remember that." Kitty says as she leans over and kisses him on the cheek. "We'll be back later."
They head back to the apartment to get some lunch.
"Kitty I need to go with Thomas tomorrow so he can teach me to drive. I think you should stay here with Doc and make him behave. Jennifer is coming down on Sunday and you could travel with her then. We'll all be back here Monday so he'll only be here by himself for one day."
"All right Matt, that will work, but there is something else isn't there?"
"Yes, I need to go back to Cornwall. There is some stuff I need to check on.
Fact is I would probably attract less attention if you were with me."
"What are you thinking?"
Matt stands up and takes the dishes they have been eating off of and puts them in the sink. The coffee is made and ready to pour. He fills two of the blue mugs and brings them back to the table.
"Allen Cranbourne seems to think someone is running guns through that little town he took me to. Tintagel, it was called. I have an idea how they might be doing it but I need to check it out. I need to spend a few days there. Thomas had said there is a cottage down there all ready for us, he even gave me the key. There is also some kind of a car there, we have the key to that too. I think we should go and try it out."
"But what about Doc – we can't just leave him here alone."
"I thought about that too. I'll talk to Thomas about it and see if he has any ideas."
0oo0oo0oo0
Matt and Thomas boarded the train at King's Cross Station. It was headed for Peterborough, but they would get off at Letchworth, a small country town in Hertfordshire
"Actually the town is not that old," Thomas was telling him, "it was designed as a so called Garden City in the early 1900's. I love those old country thatched roofed cottages, so nice to look at but a lot of upkeep so I found something a little more modern than that. The setting is quiet, which I like, and I have a housekeeper who watches the place while I am not there and keeps food in the refrigerator for when I come home. It is also big enough that if Jennifer and I make a go of things, we could raise a family there. On the fast train it is barely 45 minutes to London so commuting is not a problem."
Matt looked out of the train window as they left London. Once they got clear of the city, green fields – some with horses, sheep or other livestock and some with crops, were visible on both sides.
The train moved smoothly and fast, with none of the soot and smoke he associated with trains. Even the seats were comfortable. He thought he could get used to this life – but Thomas had assured him that he and his friends would be returning to Dodge once his job was finished, "and all of this will fade from your memory, I think," he added.
Matt looked out the window again, he needed to get in touch with Cranbourne, there were a couple of ideas he wanted to work on. Meantime he had to learn to drive.
Barely an hour passed before they arrived at Thomas's cottage. It was small enough to be warm and inviting but backed up on to cultivated fields that gave an impression of space and openness. Unlike the prairie this part of England had gently rolling hills, fertile soil and for somewhere in such northern latitudes, a relatively mild climate.
It was shortly before noon that they arrived at the cottage and now they were sitting in Thomas's car and he was explaining the clutch, the accelerator and the brake. "In your country in this time most cars are automatics – you don't have to bother with changing gears, but that is slow to catch on over here. Also if anyone asks, although here you will drive on the left here, in your country they drive on the right. Now lets get going."
Matt drives up and down the driveway many times before he gets the hang of the clutch and how to let it in and out at the right time. Finally Thomas tells him he is ready to go out on the road.
Matt finds driving the car to be quite instinctive. After driving a team of 6 horses this is easy. Balancing the clutch and the accelerator is a challenge to start with, but with a little effort he master's it. By the time Sunday morning comes he is ready to drive the car to the station to collect Kitty and Jennifer.
He manages to call Cranbourne and explains that he has an idea how things are being done in Tintagel He tells him that he needs to go back and spend a few days there looking around. In return Cranbourne says that the meteorological office has told him that it will be two more weeks until the tide and the phase of the moon will be right for another delivery. The smugglers obviously don't want all the light from a full moon so everything they are doing would be too easy to see. A little light from a first or last quarter would be good.
Later that afternoon the four of them were sitting in Thomas's living room. Kitty could tell that the other two wanted to be alone.
"Matt why don't you and I go for a walk and see some of the town here?
Thomas, which way should we go?"
Thomas directed them through the back gate of his property to where they would see a footpath sign. "There are public footpaths throughout this country. They cross fields and go through church yards, some even through private property. Most of them date back to trails used by peasant farmers hundreds of years ago and by law they must still be left open. Just walk around the edge of planted fields and close any gates you have to open. It's a nice evening for a walk."
The evening turned out to be cool but pleasant. They walked along a narrow path that took them across two fields and along by a small stream. There was an old wood bench under a big oak tree where they sat there for a while enjoying the view and the solitude.
"It sure is nice here Matt." She reaches for his hand and they move closer. "Now tell me what is all this about in Cornwall.
"I'm not sure really, something about gun runners. I don't think it will take too much to solve the problem. I am not sure why I am involved really, anyone could figure this out." His arm goes around her shoulders and in a short while their lips meet and they are lost in the embrace. A strange noise erupts behind them, Matt jumps up turning to face the sound – again he feels naked without a gun on his hip. When as he looks for the source of the noise it is repeated, "Baa". There on the other side of the stream looking straight at him are two sheep. He laughs at himself for being jumpy. A whole field full of sheep lay beyond.
He took Kitty's hand as they laughed and resumed their walk along the
path ended in a narrow lane. Turning left they continued walking for another half mile or so along the road until they came across a small pub, the Dog and Duck.
"Come on this is where Thomas said they would meet up with us."
It was almost dark outside as they entered through the old oak doorway, which was so low that Matt had to duck his head to pass through. Inside there was a mixed crowd of people drinking and laughing and just enjoying the company of friends. There was a group engrossed in a darts game in one corner, but the other side of the room was taken up by a huge fireplace and hearth. The pile of glowing logs gave warmth and atmosphere to the whole place.
Jennifer and Thomas were already seated at a small table close to the fire, and waved to the newcomers. Matt went over to the bar to buy a round of drinks, he was feeling quite at home here now, and glad to know there would be two more weeks before any chance of a showdown, at least according to whatever office Cranbourne had said told him about the moon and the tides.
Kitty and Jennifer were discussing Doc's progress.
"I took all his IV's out today so if he will take the pills I prescribed he can leave the hospital in a few days."
"Good luck with that," Matt commented, "he can get real ornery at times."
He was about to make some further comment, but remembered that Jennifer did not know about Dodge and where or rather when they came from. Or did she? He wondered if Thomas had shared any stories of his travels with her, and if he had, did she believe him.
The people playing darts had finished their game.
"Here" said Thomas "let's have a turn."
He got a set of darts from the barman and briefly explained how to play.
" We'll start at 301 and work our way back to zero, but you have to finish with a double." After a few throws Matt proved to be good at the game, being able to thrown the dart to hit the bullseye two times out of the first 3 darts he threw. Of course the game got harder as they neared zero, remembering that you had to finish with a double. It looked like Matt and Kitty were going to win, but they got down to 6 and needed a double three. At that point Thomas got a double 5 to erase the 10 they had left.
As tradition dictated the losers bought the next round, and a second game was started. This time Matt and Kitty did better and romped home easily ahead by scoring a double 6 to bring the 12 they had left back to zero.
They returned the darts to the bar and while the ladies left them for a few minutes, Matt had a chance to talk.
"I think I need to take Kitty and go to Cornwall to look into this smuggling problem for a few days. I hate to leave Doc here but I don't know if he will be ready to make the trip or not."
"You can go down on the train, it's not too difficult of a trip. How long do you think you'll be there?"
"Difficult to say. I need to check out this Bar D ranch, and see what cover Bodmin Moor offers. I was thinking that I wouldn't attract too much attention if people thought Kitty and I came there on our honeymoon. It seems to be quite a tourist spot."
"Maybe the best thing would be for him to stay at the apartment. Let me think about it."
The women returned to join them and Matt drove the car back to the cottage.
Tomorrow Thomas had to leave early to go back to London but the rest of them could get a later start.
TBC