Chapter 40 fourth quarter

She walked across the parade ground to the commander's office and knocked on the door.The professor was wearing the uniform of a major in the Second Cavalry Regiment, sitting behind his desk and working hard on official documents. "Sit down. Are the young men all settled?" he asked. "Yes, and we have one more." "who is it?" "A young man on horseback. In his mid-twenties. Just rode over from the prairies. Looks like a late local volunteer. He wants to join us." "I don't necessarily agree with this. Our establishment has a quota limit."

"Oh, but he's brought all his gear. Horse, dirty buckskin suit, and saddle. There's even a rolled up animal pelt hanging from the saddle. He's clearly capable." "Where is he now?" "In the stables. I've told him to report here in half an hour. I think you can see him at least once." "Oh, OK." Craig didn't have a watch, so he judged the time by the setting sun to within five minutes.He knocked on the door and went in after hearing permission.John Ingalls sat behind his desk, buttoning up his uniform.Charlie Bevan stood aside.

"You want to see me, Major?" The professor was immediately attracted by the lifelike attire of the young man in front of him.He was holding a round fox fur hat in his hand.A pair of calm blue eyes set in a cheerful and sincere chestnut face.His chestnut hair, which hadn't been trimmed in weeks, was pulled back into a ponytail with a belt, and a mountain eagle feather stuck beside it.The buckskin suit on his body even had crooked stitches sewn by hand, just like the real ones he had seen before. "Oh, well, young man, this Xia Li told me that you want to join our team and get along for a while?"

"Yes, Major, I would love to." The professor makes a decision.The operating fund of the project has some leeway for occasional "emergency" purposes.He judged that the young man's entry was an emergency.He moved a long form in front of him, took a pen and dipped it in the inkwell. "Okay, let's get into some details. Name?" Craig hesitated.So far, there has been no sign of recognition, but his name may be a reminder.But the major was plump and pale, and looked like he had just come to the frontier.Maybe people in the East haven't mentioned what happened here the previous summer.

"Craig, sir. My name is Ben Craig." He waits.The major didn't respond at all to the name.His chubby hand wrote: Benjamin Craig. "address?" "what?" "Where do you live, boy? Where are you from?" "Outside, sir." "Outside is the grassland, and then the wilderness." "Yes, sir. Born and raised in the mountains, Major." "My God." The professor had heard of people living in tarpaulin shacks in the wilderness, but that was usually in the forests of the Rocky Mountains, in Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho.He carefully wrote "no fixed residence".

"Parents' names?" "They're all dead, sir." "Oh, sorry." "He died fifteen years ago." "So, who raised you?" "Mr. Donaldson, Major." "Oh, then he..." "He died too, caught by a bear." The professor put down his pen.He hadn't heard of anyone being killed by a wild animal, only that some tourists had been very careless with the remnants of the picnic.It's all a matter of how much is known about wildlife.In any case, the handsome young man apparently had no family. "No relatives?"

"what?" "If something happened to you, who should we contact?" "No, sir. No one to contact." "I see. Date of birth?" "52. It should be the end of December." "So you're going to be twenty-five?" "Yes, sir." "Okay. Social Security number?" Craig's eyes widened.The professor sighed. "Alas, you do seem to have slipped through the cracks. All right. Sign here." He turned the form around, pushed it across the desk, and handed over the pen.Craig takes over.He couldn't understand the words "applicant's signature", but he could still understand where there was a blank space.He bent down to sign his own sign.The professor retrieved the form, staring in disbelief.

"Boy boy..." He turned the form so that Charlie could see it.She saw an ink-and-pencil cross in the blank space. "Charlie, as an educator, I thought you had a little extra assignment this summer." She smiled. "Yes, Major, I see." She is thirty-five years old, married once, separated and never had children.She sees this young man from the wilderness as a little brother, innocent and vulnerable, who needs her protection. "Okay," said Professor Ingalls, "Ben, if you haven't settled down yet, do so, and join us for dinner at the trestle table in the cafeteria."

The dinner dishes were good, the scout thought, and plentiful.Meals are served on enamel dishes.He ate his dinner with his hunting knife, a spoon and a piece of bread as cutlery.People sitting around snickered, but he didn't notice. The young people who shared his dormitory were friendly.They seemed to come from towns he had never heard of, and seemed to be heading back east.But the day was tiring enough, and there was no electric light for reading but candles, so they quickly blew out the candles and fell asleep. Ben Craig had never been taught to be curious about his peers before, but he noticed that the young people around him were weird in many ways.They are supposed to be scouts, horse trainers, and trappers, but little seems to be known about these skills.But he thought back to Custer's recruits, who also knew very little about horses, guns, and Indians of the western plains.He guessed that not much had changed in the year he had lived with the Cheyenne and then alone.

They have two weeks to settle and rehearse before the tour team arrives.The arrangement for this period was to keep the castle in order, to attend training in daily affairs, and to attend lectures from Major Ingalls.These activities are mainly carried out in the open air. Unaware of these arrangements, Craig is ready to go hunting again.As he walked across the parade ground toward the open gate, a young horseman named Brad called to him. "What's that thing you've got in there, Ben?" He pointed to a sheepskin sleeve hanging in front of the saddle by Craig's left knee.

"Rifles," Craig said. "Can I have a look? I'm learning about guns." Craig took the Sharps rifle from its slide and handed it to the horse.Brad took it ecstatically. "Wow, that's beautiful. A real antique. What model?" ".52 Caliber Sharps." "It's unbelievable. I didn't even know there were such replicas." Brad aimed the rifle at a large clock in a frame above the gate.This bell usually rings when the enemy is discovered or reported, thus notifying the people working outside to return quickly.He then pulled the trigger. He was about to say "bang" when the Sharps rifle sounded for him, and he was knocked to the ground by the recoil.If that heavy bullet hit the clock, it would surely shatter it.The bullet missed and flew into the air whistling.But still the bell jingled, and all activity in the castle ceased.The professor stumbled out of the office. "What's the matter?" he called, and saw Brad sitting on the ground, clutching a heavy rifle. "Brad, what the hell are you doing?" Brad stood up and explained.Ingalls looks at Craig regretfully. "Ben, I think I forgot to tell you that there are no firearms on this base. I have to lock this gun into the armory." "No guns, Major?" "No guns. At least not real guns." "And what about the Sioux?" "Sioux? As far as I know, they're on the Dakota reservations." "But Major, they may come back." The professor thought he was joking.He smiled tolerantly. "Sure, they might come back. But I don't think it will be this summer. This guy has to be in the armory until they come." The fourth day is Sunday, and all employees attend morning service in the chapel.Since there was no chaplain, Major Ingalls presided.Halfway through the ceremony, he went to the podium to read the scriptures.A large "Bible" was opened on the page with the book notes. "The scripture we are going to talk about today is the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, starting with the sixth verse. This passage is about when the peace of God will come to the land of our peoples." "'The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the young lion shall dwell with the calf and the fattened cattle; and the little child shall lead them. "'The bull shall eat with the bear, the calf shall lie down with its young, and the lion...'" He turned the pages at this point, but the two pages stuck together, and he stopped because the context was incoherent.Just when he was at a loss, a young voice sounded from the middle of the third row in front of him. "'The lion shall eat grass like the ox. The suckling shall play in the asp's den, and the weaned child shall lay his hand on the viper's lair. All these will harm no one in all my holy mountain, harm nothing, for the knowledge of the LORD will fill the earth, as the waters cover the sea.'” There was silence in the chapel, and everyone stared dumbfounded at the figure in a dirty deerskin suit with an eagle feather stuck on the back of his head.John Ingalls found the next passage. "Yes, very accurate. This concludes the first lesson." "I really don't understand that young man," he said to Charlie in his office after lunch. "He can't read or write, but he can recite passages from the Bible that he learned as a child. Do you think this guy is weird? " "Don't worry, I think I've guessed it," she said. "He was indeed the son of a couple living alone in the moors. He was indeed adopted, unofficially and probably illegally, when his parents died. Yes. He was brought up as a son by an old lonely man, so he really had no formal education. But he was knowledgeable about three things: the Bible his mother had taught him, life in the moor, And about the history of the Old West." "Where did he learn it?" "From the old man, probably. After all, if a person died at the advanced age of eighty, say, only three years ago, then he should have been born at the end of the last century. At that time, the living conditions around here were very difficult." . . . he must have told the boy whatever stories he could recall, or stories he'd heard from survivors about frontier settlement." "Then why is this young man able to act like this? Could he be a dangerous man?" "No," said Charlie, "not at all. He's just fascinated. He thinks he can hunt and trap wild animals as he likes before." "cosplay?" "Yeah, but aren't we all role-playing?" The professor laughed loudly and patted his thigh with his hand. "Of course, we're just role-playing. He's just acting really well." She stood up. "Because he's convinced. He's the best actor. You leave him to me, and I'll watch him so he doesn't hurt anyone. By the way, two girls are already winking at him." .” In the barracks, Ben Craig was still wondering.When his companions undressed for bed, all that was left was a pair of shorts, and he slept in his usual pair of ankle-length white underpants.A week later, it became a problem, and several young people went to complain to Charlie. After she was assigned to move the logs, she went to Craig.He was brandishing a long axe, splitting pine into small pieces for the kitchen fire. "Ben, can I ask you something?" "Of course, ma'am." "Call me Charlie." "Yes, Charlie, ma'am." "Ben, have you ever taken a shower before?" "bath?" "Here, just take off your clothes and scrub your body, wash your whole body, not just your hands and face?" "Of course, ma'am. Wash often." "Well, that's right, Ben. When was the last time you took a shower?" He thought about it.Old Donaldson had taught him to bathe regularly, but the stream was full of melted snow and there was no need to make it a habit. "What's the matter, the last time was last month." "That's all I wanted to ask. Can you take another shower? Right now?" After a while she found him leading Rothbard out of the stable and putting on the full harness. "Where are you going, Ben?" "Go to the shower, Charlie, ma'am. As you order." "But where are you going to wash?" "To the stream. Is there any other place?" He hangs out on the grass every day for convenience.He washed his face and hands in the manger.He scraped his teeth with a broken willow branch and kept them white for an hour, but he could do it repeatedly while riding. "Hit up the horse and come with me." She led him to the armory, unlocked it with a key in her belt, and took him in.There was a back wall behind the chained racks of Springfield rifles.She found a knob to press in a knothole in the wall, and a secret door opened.There is another room in the door, which is equipped with a washbasin and a bathtub. During his two years in Ellisburg, Craig had seen hot tubs, but they were barrel tubs, and the ones in front of him were all cast iron and enamelled.He knew it would take buckets of hot water from the kitchen to fill the bathtub, but Charlie turned a strange knob on one side and steaming hot water gushed out. "Ben, I'll be back in a minute. I want you to take off all your clothes and put them outside the door, except for the buckskin suit that needs to be dry-cleaned." "Then I want you to grab your brush and soap and jump in and scrub your body. Full body wash. Then wash your hair with this." She handed him a bottle of green liquid that smelled of pine buds. "Finally, I want you to put on the underwear and shirt that's sitting on the rack. Come out when you're all done. Okay?" He did as he was told.He had never bathed in a bathtub before and found it to be fine, but he fumbled and didn't know how to turn off the tap, and the water overflowed and ran all over the floor.After washing his body, he shampooed his hair, and the water turned a dark green.He found the plug at the bottom of the tub and pulled it out, then watched the water run out. He selected cotton shorts, a white T-shirt, and a warm plaid shirt from a rack in the corner of the room, put them on, tucked the feather into the back of his hair, and walked out.Charlie was waiting for him.There is a chair in the sun.She is holding a pair of scissors and a comb. "I'm no expert, but a little fix is ​​better than no fix," she said. "Come on, sit here." She trimmed his chestnut hair, leaving only the feathered strands untouched. "It's much better this way," she said when it was done. "You smell good." She put the chair back in the armory and locked the door.She was hoping for a warm thank you, but found the scout serious, even a little dejected. "Charlie, would you like to go for a walk with me, ma'am?" "Okay, Ben. What's on your mind?" Privately, she's happy about it.Now she might understand this enigmatic and strange mountain man.They went out through the gate, and he led the way across the fields to a stream.He was silent and preoccupied.She tried not to break the silence.It was a mile to the stream, and they walked twenty minutes. The prairie smelled of hay.The young man raised his head several times, looking at the towering Pryor Mountains to the south. "It's nice to be outside and see the mountains," she said. "That's my home." He finished and lost himself in thought.When they reached the bank, he sat down by the water.She folded up the hem of her cotton dress and sat down facing him. "What is it, Ben?" "Can I ask you something, ma'am?" "Call me Charlie. Yes, of course you can ask." "You won't lie to me, will you?" "Don't lie, Ben. Just tell the truth." "What year is it?" She was taken aback.She had expected him to reveal secrets, such as about his relationship with the other young men in the group.She stared into those big, deep blue eyes and wondered... She was ten years older than him, but... "Oh, it's 1977, Ben." If what she expected was a noncommittal nod, she had missed it.The young man buried his head between his knees and covered his face with his hands.The shoulders of the buckskin suit began to tremble. The only time she had ever seen a grown man cry before was next to a pile of car wrecks on the Bozeman-to-Billings highway.She was on her knees, leaning forward, her hands on his shoulders. "What's the matter, Ben? What's the matter this year?" Ben Craig had been terrified before, like when he faced the grizzly bear on the hillside by the Little Bighorn, but never before. "I was born in 1852," he concluded. She wasn't surprised.She knew there was a problem.She put her arms around him, held him to her chest, and stroked the back of his head. She was a modern young lady, and she had read about these things in books.Half of the young people in the west are fascinated by the mysterious philosophy of the east.She knew about the theory of reincarnation, and the varying degrees of belief people held in it.She'd read that some people had "déjà vu" feelings, thinking they existed a long time ago.

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