Chapter 3

Posted: March 24, 2007 - 10:03:54 am?

The place that John was given was huge. It had been a warehouse, housing the overflow from the farmers. Now that the farmers had better locations that were more centrally located, this one had become an out of the way nuisance.

The first thing that John was going to need was a furnace, a very large one. It would need to be bigger then any that had been built, to date. Also needed, were containers large enough to hold the molten steel when it was made. The forms were to be made out of reinforced clay.

For the first two months John had the furnace built, and ore moved into position. The blacksmiths were all excited by the prospect of the big furnace. While it was smaller than John had originally thought, it was by far the biggest furnace in the duchy.

John was lucky in the fact that this land knew of steel, and could make it. With the ore that the Baron provided, John was well on his way. He drew up plans for a small steam engine. Small it was, yet it would be large enough to pull a heavy load. While the engine was being built, they surveyed a route, and started laying track.

This meant that a lot of furnace time was spent making rails instead of the engine. They basically had it down to one mile a month of track, at the end of month three.

John experimented with the mixture of ores to be sure he got everything right before he made the frame of the engine. At the end of six months, he had a working steam engine. He had tested it to the extent that he knew it ran at about ten miles an hour. It had two gears, forward and reverse.

To start making money on the train and recoup the Baron's investment, they made a loop at the five mile mark. They built a huge warehouse there for trans-loading cargo and people, to wagons and coaches. It worked out fine. It also introduced the locals to the switch for the track.

Of course, people still had the right to hire horse drawn wagons for the entire trip. However, the ten mile run to the Duke's town took a heavily laden wagon hours longer to make, than the trip by the train. The track would be done in another four months or less, as the laying teams were getting faster. It was the supply of track and ties that was holding them up, sometimes.

John was not working just on the train problem. He also introduced soap, and was currently working on gun powder. He wanted to make fuses and luckily, he had his laptop computer to work with. It had an encyclopedia installed, and the information it contained was priceless for John. Sometimes, all he had to do was print out a diagram, and the smiths and artisans got to work immediately.

Finally, the big day arrived. The tracks had arrived at the station set up outside of the town of Candon. The Duke had forbidden it to run inside the town itself, or to breech his walls. John understood, but was disappointed.

For the first official run to the Candon station, he sat behind the engineer and thrilled to the beat of the wheels on the track. He immediately saw he was going to have to have the stack raised quite a bit. Smoke and steam were frequently being blown back at the engineer, at its current height.

When they arrived at Candon station, located one hundred yards from the outer wall of Candon, a huge crowd was cheering their arrival. John had to admit to himself he was pleased with the feeling it produced. The accomplishment of getting an engine and cars and ten miles of track laid, built from scratch all within a year, was fantastic!

The reward that John and the Baron had gotten, while seemingly commensurate to the accomplishment, did nothing to provide back pay for the monies expended in the building of the train, and laying the tracks.

Oh, the Baron, now Count was happy enough, as he got a promotion in the ranks of the nobility to Count, and John was now a Baron with estates and income that said estates produced. Still, it was not what he had expected.

Furthermore, all income derived from the train, went directly into the Duke's coffers. To John, it smacked of stealing. Yet, there absolutely nothing they could do about it, short of taking their complaint to the King. John did not think that the Baron, errr Count, would be happy with that option.

John and the Count were still at the Duke's palace, a week later, when he arrived as growly as a bear.

"What seems to be the problem, your grace?" Count Breverton asked the Duke.

"I ate something, and now I have a toothache. All my healers who can deal with this are out of the palace and in the field. It will be a week before the first one is back to take care of this, and it hurts like all the hells of the lower world," the Duke responded with a growl.

John perked up.

"Perhaps I can help you? I have a small dental kit called Dentek. It has a couple items that might be able help you out. I think I can do a temporary filling for you, and relieve your pain," John commented.

So it was that John had to make a trip back to Breverton, retrieve his first-aid kit with the Dentek items. Later that day the Duke was seated at his desk, while John was looking at the offending tooth.

"You have what is referred to, as a cavity. Most strange. People of this period don't seem to have teeth problems," John commented.

"What do you mean?" the Duke asked, puzzled.

"Cavities are caused by poor diet, usually by eating foods loaded with processed and refined chemicals. Sweets, in my world, were the primary culprit," John stated.

"Ah, that would explain it. I have been eating a new food with a new sweetener. It is a white grainy substance, and is most sweet," the Duke responded.

John nodded. "That would do it. Ok, here is what I am going to do. I am going to treat the cavity first with medication, and a pain killer. Then I'll give you a temporary filling. That should hold you until your healers come back," John stated briskly.

He opened the small bottle, and then opened the small box of cotton balls. He took the tweezers that came with the kit and dunked a cotton ball in the medication. He squeezed the excess out of the cotton ball, and placed it in the cavity.

The relief must have been instant, because the Duke sighed. The cotton balls were very tiny, and he had to be careful as to how he grabbed it out of the cavity. He then opened the small container of the filler material. Taking out the pointed stick that came with the kit, he gouged out a small bit, which he rolled into a ball.

He then placed the ball of filler material in the cavity, and shaped it as best he could.

"Bite down, and grind your teeth a moment," John instructed the Duke.

The Duke did as commanded, and John then scraped away the loose gritty stuff that fell off the basic ball. He then had the Duke rinse his mouth, which he did with wine. The Duke felt what was done with his tongue, then bit down a few times.

"You, Sir, are a healer also! I thank you for relieving me of this painful affliction!" Duke Candon exclaimed.

"It is not permanent. It is a temporary fix only. I have not the skill of the healers you are used to. Still, it should last till you see one when he or she is available," John stated.

After all, he had nothing on the magic the healers brought to the profession, in this land.

John was soon thinking about the estates he had gotten from the Duke. He decided it was time for a visit to them. There were three altogether, and he wanted to see how they were run, and who was in charge of each one.

The first one was not to far from the furnace building, and was farmland. That was the one he would visit first. The second estate was located a bit further away, about twenty miles further north. It was located in a hilly section of the countryside and was famous for growing grapes for wine making.

The third one was located still further north. It was almost all the way to the King's capital city. He was wondering why this was given to him, as the Duke had used it a lot when he was visiting the King. It was a good place to use as a base of operations, and to distance himself from the King when he wanted. It was still relatively close to Carlston, the King's city. This land was also heavily into farming. It also had a small orchard located on it, which produced apples that were well received by the locals.

John thought that rather strange. From what he'd heard, the Duke and the King got along fairly well. Still, he could see where one would want time alone, and have complete control over who had access to you.

That would be the last estate he would visit, as it was the furthest away. The Duke had mentioned that each property was taxed at a certain rate, and John figured if what he was reading was true of the financial status of the three properties, he would have a nice income after taxes and running the properties. He was already thinking of how to improve his income and the standard of living, for himself and his people.

He was a bit uncomfortable with all the bowing that went along with his new title. He was from a time and place that did not have nobility, except in certain places. All the bowing and such was done usually at ceremonies, usually in England and one or two other European countries.

His friend, Jaston Breverton, was pleased for John and his elevation to the peerage. Jaston was getting into the swing of being Count Breverton, and was trying to consolidate his position.

The Duke had not paid anything for the building of the steam train, or the track laying. That was funded entirely by the then Baron Breverton. However, the elevation to the rank of Count had given Jaston a boost in income, which would more than offset the cost spread out over a period of five years. Jaston was even more wealthy now, than when he began the project. He was smart with money.

John met with Jaston just before he expected to take off on his tour.

"I still think it was horrible thing to do to you. You basically built this train line. Then control was taken from you, almost right away, and who realizes all the profits from it? The Duke," John said sourly.

"Ah, but I was more then compensated with my elevation to Count. I now realize more money a month than I used to collect in six months. No, John, I knew how this was going to play out. This arrangement is fine with me," Jaston said quietly.

John shook his head but finally said as long as Jaston was happy, John was happy. Still, the actions of the Duke left John feeling cold, and with a bad taste in his mouth. It pointed out that the higher your ranking, the better your rights, and this offended John's sense of fair play.

For the next few days, John considered how to travel. At first he considered going by horse, but while the first estate was only a day and a half horse back ride from here, the next two were much further along the northern road. The last estate was but fifteen miles outside of Carlston, and Carlston was almost a two week ride to the north.

That decided him. He would take the RV. He would drive slowly if he had to. He thought perhaps a small force that he transported inside the RV with him might be better, but Jaston was trying to convince John to take a guard of at least twenty for the trip.

John pointed out that his RV was armored and that five guards transported inside the RV with him should be sufficient. Jaston said five guards was not enough, and that ten should be enough barely.

John finally decided on six guards, and there was no further arguing.

John drove north, and took a side rode to bypass the Duke's city. He did not feel like stopping and wasting half a day talking with the Duke, as he was still angry over the grab of the railroad.

A few hours later, John turned off the main road, and took the road to Felmore. That was the name of the farm and of his first estate.

The main building was more of a large house, but was very nice looking. The grounds around it were immaculate and well maintained. The fields that he could see were well tended.

He felt a feeling of peace settle over himself, as he stepped out onto his land.