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"Yeah, I’ve heard of it"

"Is it" She wasn’t sure where she was headed, but she fished regardless "Is it a particularly fast train?"

"As far as I’ve heard Rolls for you Rebs, I think Supposed to be pretty htweight hybrid engines that were notorious for their speed They’d been designed and mostly built in Texas, some of them experimental, as the Texians had searched forslowly and wondering how much she should tell him He’d already made plain that he didn’t care what the Rebs wanted with the train Then again, he ht there were spies on board Anyway, it wasn’t like she had anybody else to tell

While she was still pondering, he said, "What makes you ask, anyway?"

She would’ve answered, too, if the whistle hadn’t chosen that precisethe few children present to cover their ears and griether, pressing forward to the passenger cars in anticipation of boarding or reboarding

"Never mind," she said instead "We can talk about it later"

She walked away from him and joined the press of people As the crowd thickened, she was er; and although she was the only one who kneas a ranger, everyone had already gathered that he was a Texian, and she didn’t want to join him as a pariah She understood why he would prefer to keep his status as a law enforcer quiet, though: military men like to have a hierarchy They wouldn’t have liked to think that souns, and froal standpoint, they wouldn’t have any authority over him But they could make his life difficult, especially in such a confined mode of transport

Back on board the train, Mercy was surprised to note that Mrs Butterfield and Miss Clay had beaten her to the compartment She was even more surprised, and openly curious, to note that the two Mexican ned to her own car The two ladies opposite her were not whispering, just conversing about the newcomers in their normal voices

"I heard the Spanish," said Mrs Butterfield "Obviously I don’t understand a word of it, but that one fellow there, the taller one, he looks alht be white," Theodora Clay pointed out "There are still plenty of Spaniards in Mexico"

"Why? Wasn’t there some kind ofI don’t knowrevolution?" Mrs Butterfield asked vaguely

Her niece replied, "Several of the north and west? That sounds like the wrong direction altogether, don’t you think? They aren’t dressed for the weather, I can tell you that ested, "Why don’t you ask them, if you really want to know?"

Mrs Butterfield shuddered, and gave Mercy a look that all but said, Good heavens, girl I thought I knew you! Instead, she told the nurse, "I’e new friends on this occasion Besides, they probably don’t speak English And they’re all Catholics anyway"

"I bet they do speak English," Mercy argued "It’s pretty hard to find your way around if you don’t speak the language, and they’ve ht"

Miss Clay arched an eyebrow, lifting it like a dare "Why don’t you go chat them up, then?"

Mercy leaned back in her seat and said, "You’re the one who’s dying to knoas only saying that if you were that desperate, you could just ask"

"Why?" Miss Clay asked

Mercy didn’t understand "Why what?"

"Why aren’t you interested? I think interest is positively natural"

She narrowed her eyes and replied, "I’m inclined to mind my own business, is all"

But later on that day, nearly up to evening, Mercy found her way back to the caboose in search of supper, and there she found the two Mexicans seated at a table with Captain MacGruder and the injured (but relatively able-​bodied) Morris Comstock Morris smiled and waved, and the captain dipped his hat at her, which gave her the perfect excuse to join them She ordered a cup of tea and some biscuits with a tiny pot of jam and carried them over to the seat the men had cleared in her behalf