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"Adora? On a dirigible? You can’t be serious"

"Her first name’s Adora?" Mercy responded

"It fits her about as well as a glove on dog’s ass, don’t it?"

"I wouldn’t go so far as to say that--"

His face blooth of the ht You’re not family, but I auessed the obvious "So that must make you the captain? CaptainI’m sorry, she only called you Benham, and I won’t presume"

"Captain Benham Seaver Greeley, at your service, Nurse You are a nurse, ain’t you? I’ve seen that cross before Salvation Ar else But I’ll be damned if I can recall just what"

"I’m a nurse, yes With the" She brandished the ornaanization’s very popular in Europe Miss Clara Barton is trying to establish a solid presence here in the Americas, too" She did not add that she was not strictly a ency, in case it would’ve ht?" he asked, still trying to get a handle on precisely where the situation stood

"I guess I mean, I’ll treat anybody who needs treatin’, and I try not to look at the unifor up our boys for the last few years The Rebel boys, I mean And a few Texians, too"

He nodded, as if this made sense, or at least it didn’t confuse hi on, to patch up some other boys? I don’t know if Adora told you or not, but our run’s between St Louis and New Orleans" He said New Orleans in two syllables: Norleans "Our afternoon run will put us in Missouri by the end of next week, so if you’re looking to head down to the delta, you may want to wait for the return trip at the end of the month"

"No, no I’m headed north And west"

"West? Out into the Republic proper?"

"No sir," she said, and she gave hiiven half a dozen ti father in the Pacific Northwest "So, you see, I need to reach St Louis, and from there I’ll find myself a transcontinental line out to Tacoe of his facial hair "That’s a , Mrs Lynch Another two or three thousand o and the trains you catch"

"And the steamers I talk my way on board," she added with a note of hope "Captain, I assure you, I knohat I’ And even if I didn’t, I’d still have to find a way Will you carry s, set aside for just such an occasion Though I don’t know if you takeyou must take Confederate money, don’t you?"

" ’Federateelse worth a stitch Got paid in wampum once, and one time I took a horse Another time, somebody paid me in a crate of books I never did read So I sure do take your Rebel coin, and I’ll be happy to have you aboard The trip upriver will run us about ten days, if all goes according to plan We can chug along right about thirty-​five knots if nothing stops us, and the trip’s about three hundredto sound ih she had no idea if that was fast, slow, or standing still "That’squite a clip," she finished

"Ain’t it though? We could run circles in the water round any one of them Anchor Line boats, I tell you what You want me to let you knohy that is?"