Well, the first order of business was to drop the herd off in the pasture. We had men down there who not only welcomed us (back) to Rulo, but took over the new livestock and integrated them into the current herd. This was done way too readily; someone had obviously planned for this. I’d been gone just over a month and it was very apparent that things had not stood still during my absence, just the bunkhouse down here was a good example.

So it was simply me and the crew continuing on the road up to my homestead and Rulo. Actually, Brin and Amos led the way and the rest of us trailed along behind them in a group. For most of them, this wasn’t a homecoming; this was the first taste of freedom; for today I just let them see and absorb it. Tomorrow was time enough for fancy statements.

Fortunately, as we came out of the woods, I noticed that the field of corn, the ‘corn out of time’, was now nearing full height and almost ready for first harvest. The corn was tall, between five and six foot per stalk. This meant we might be having sweet corn for dinner and just the thought had my mouth watering, of course, I’d be sick of sweet corn by the end of September but that’s just the way these things worked. The squash had come in nicely, also, and I could see that some summer squash - I always think of it as 'baby squash' - had already been harvested.

We finally crossed the stream and made our way around my little homestead. The road now passed close by the palisade but didn’t go through it, I didn’t need all that traffic traipsing through my front yard. The men were all staring around with big eyes, taking in their new home, each face had a different reaction but most looked pleased. It was still too quiet and not a soul was to be seen, I wondered what they were planning.

Well, we found out pretty quick, the temporary village was fully setup with tables and even some decorations. The cooking fires were going full blast and meat was being turned on the spit. One of the spit lads ran over to me, full of excitement, and reported, “The boats are coming in, sir, and we’re going to have a feast!!” Well that lad was all over himself with excitement and I had to shoo him back to his duties, so we could head down to the Landing ourselves.

I gathered the men around and gave them the word, cheers and happiness was the overwhelming reaction. New home and your family back all at the same time, this was like Christmas morning for a four year old. So off we went to Rulo Landing at a quick canter. Amos was keeping pace with Brin and me. He had a big old grin plastered all over his face and he had diarrhea of the mouth that wouldn’t stop. He prattled on about anything and everything, but mostly about his girl.

He did manage to notice that the road was almost finished and that the upper pasture had been fully fenced with rough wood fencing. Downtown Rulo almost blew my mind as the main block was almost entirely cleared of standing trees. We had one rough building in the wood shop and as we approached the end, there was a large Pawnee-type lodge built up on the bluff. We drew up there for a moment.

From our viewpoint we could see the landing down below and could see our boats were slowly moving towards the dock to make landing. It was a glorious sight to see and I took the minute to savor it. The shore was lined with people and the boats were packed. The boatmen strained on their poles to defeat the current until they slipped into the calm waters of our little artificial bay and started gliding towards either beach or dock.

I urged my horse forward and off we went to join in the welcoming celebration.

Inevitably, it was a mess, we had three groups of people and action from every direction. Horses were milling, dogs were barking and people were shrieking and laughing. The boatmen were trying to secure the boats and folks were trying to get off and I just sat there on my horse and laughed.

I felt relief, I was done with this trip and I was done with my responsibilities, at least for the day. Somebody was in charge of this little madcap show, but it sure as hell wasn’t going to be me, I assumed. I hoped that Michele and Sonya had thought this through.

I just sat there on-horse and smoked a cigarette. My captains were wise enough to settle in with meell, except for Jeb, he was down there in that mess somewhere finding his family.

I felt a tapping on my leg and looked down to see Mouse staring up at me with those beautiful eyes, I simply reached down and locked arms with her then I swung her up onto the horse behind me. Well, onto the mule, I was riding one of the big mules today and he had plenty of room up there on his back. As tall as Mouse was she still weighed very little with a lithe young body and legs that went on forever.

She simply molded herself to my back and we sat there watching quietly. It was quite a show and I was greatly amused. Sheriff decided we needed to do something about the horses and took Amos to go gather up the loose mounts. It seems some of the men had simply dismounted and went rushing down to wait for the family as the boats docked. The two of them gathered up all of those ponies and tied them back up along the trail, clearing up a little confusion.

I whistled up Brin, Mila & Kordi and sent them to stay in the shade near us. The madness cleared a little more and the noise factor dropped a bit also.

Of course, that calm only lasted until the children were released from the boats. ‘Cry Havoc,’ indeed. Several dozen children who had just been cooped up on boats for three weeks, mixing with several dozen new kids?

Helter Skelter is the term I prefer.