Amy was now heavily pregnant and getting ready for the birth of her first child. I had suggested she head into Crossway to be closer to the local doctor, which she agreed to, but she gave me something that interested me before she left. Canada: Revolution to Dominion and Beyond by Rupert C. Giles.

It was mid-February, and things had gone quiet again. The book was the Canadian slant on the last book I had read on a century of US history. Hopefully, it would supply answers, and it did. It was not as jingoistic as the first, but not by much. I think it was just the times.

It started with the end of the War of Independence. It explained how twelve per cent of the population of the former thirteen colonies got up and moved to Canada rather than live in the new Republic, becoming the bulk of the Anglo-Canadians today.

Things went into the Napoleonic Wars. When Spain joined France, Britain used the opportunity to seize Cuba and Puerto Rico. The Spanish garrisons were having problems with insurgents and were quickly overwhelmed. The British Crown entered into agreements with the local Cubans, effectively making them a protectorate. Puerto Rico was made into a colony.

There was not much until the War of 1812. Surprisingly, the author admitted that the British had started this one. The US Navy went on the offensive, raiding the Caribbean, attempting to blockade the British Isles, and launching an invasion of Canada. The War was fought on several fronts—Tecumseh with the British in the Great Lakes. The Gulf, Chesapeake, and Atlantic campaigns were scenes of many engagements.

At first, things were disjointed, and the fighting was sporadic. An attempted invasion of Canada was soundly defeated, but the US Navy was hitting the British merchant fleet. With the help of the Native Tribes, the British made progress in the Great Lakes.

The US Army reinforced, but it suffered a string of defeats in minor engagements. The US Navy had more successful engagements, but they did not have it all go their way. Things went back and forth, except in the Great Lakes, where the US suffered severely. The Royal Navy arrived in force and started a large-scale blockade of the East Coast. President James Madison declares, "The free Fifteen will stand and remind the British that we are a free people."

It was not until 1814 that things changed. The US Navy suffered two significant blows between June and August. During a storm outside of Boston, two flotillas discovered each other and engaged. Looking at the damage and casualties, I would have called it a confused draw, but the loss of the US Navy's newest warship, the USS Boston, hit the navy's morale, as well as that of the civilians.

The news of the invasion of New Orleans then arrives. The city's fall forced the Navy and the Army to take action. A large force sets sail from the harbour of New York and is ambushed because a spy leaks the fleet's plan to the British. The Royal Navy crossed the T and mauled the US Navy ships. The Army is defeated outside the city.

All this added to internal pressures, causing massive civil unrest across the northern states. Open demands for secession were soon heard in different state senates. Napoleon had abdicated, freeing the battle-hardened British Army to come to the North American theatre.

Peace was signed the following year, and the state of Cascadia was declared.

Then came the US invasion of the Tecumseh Confederation, which was the next thing that affected Canada. The combined Native population withdrew across the Great Lakes and escaped the US Military. This increased tensions with the Anglo-Quebec population, which saw them head west into the Great Plains States. They were encouraged to do this through land grants and the establishment of loans. This caused tensions with the Tribes already there, but eventually, they came to an arrangement to live together.

British forces invaded and annexed Alaska during the Crimean War, taking it as part of the peace treaty. They did not hide that they were happy to have it part of the Canadian Territories.

Things progressed with the Dominion of Canada, established in 1865, following the completion of the transcontinental railway, which connected the two coastlines. Many approved of this due to the ongoing conflict in the US with the Civil War. Many freed or escaped slaves made their way to the new Dominion in the years leading up to and during the War. Newfoundland remained separate from the new Dominion under British control.

Since then, the country has had issues, but is moving forward. The biggest was the sizeable Native population, which increased their stake in the nation's economic power. The native French speakers in Quebec were another.

"Well, that was interesting."

I put the book with the other and went back to work.

March reported on a story that caused a stir: a man named John Montgomery conducted the first glider flight but died in a crash on the fourth one. Many were debating whether this would lead to future human technological development. May established the eight-hour workday by the Federation of Organised Trades and Labour Unions. Gordon was besieged in Khartoum, but the British tried to mount a military campaign to relieve the siege.

During these months, I kept a close eye out for any trouble caused by Marshall Jones's disappearance. Herbert and Amy added a son named Joshua to their family, making my plan more viable.

Towards the end of May, Herbet came to the Dungeon, worried. I saw him approaching and met him at the gates. I wondered what had him so concerned.

"Keeper, we have a problem."

"What would that be, Mr Driver?"

"The city fathers have given me an ultimatum or an offer, but I'm not sure which one it is." I did not ask, but my look told him to get on with it. He visibly swallowed and then continued. "They are demanding full payment for the land but have offered for a sizable sum a greater stretch of land if I could make the payment."

"How much land and how much for?"

"They are seeking an additional $10,000 in return for…" He pulled a map out of his pack and opened it up. On it was the marked area we were buying, but they offered a second line for an additional $10,000. This covered nearly the entire forest area around the Dungeon. In total, it was over 5000 acres. I would not lie and say that it was not interesting, but what caused them to ask for such a sum now? There was a series of legal documents, and the map outlined everything in detail.

Looking at Herbert Driver, I wondered?

"Who have you been speaking to, Herbert?"

His face suddenly paled, and his eyes went round. He tried to start her out with some excuse or a lie, but the look on my face told him otherwise. My suspicion was correct. He had been speaking. Over the next few minutes, I got the tale out of him that he had been drinking while visiting Crossway and mentioned that he had come into a large sum of money far beyond what they claimed the inheritance was. I ensured he had not mentioned me or the full extent of the wealth I now possessed. With this knowledge, I went back to the documentation he had received.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

The more I looked at it, the more confident I became that this was not a simple push to secure a larger land deal, but a shakedown. Someone inside Crossway was trying to extort as much money as they could from Mr Driver.

"Herbert, who is pushing for this deal?"

"I do not understand, Keeper, what you mean?" Games of intrigue were not his Forte.

"Who in the town has been talking to you most about this, trying to get you to sign it?"

"Oh, that would be Mr Myers." He said after a few moments of thought.

"I take it that this Mr Myers is part of the Crossway council?"

"Oh yes, he moved to the town a few years ago and has become established as a local businessman."

I continued to speak to Herbert, and it quickly became clear that this Mr Myers was a shark who preyed on those around him. Well, he thought he was a bully and a hard man, but he had not yet encountered me and mine. I looked over the map again and considered the pros and cons. This might work out in my favour.

"Herbert, I'm going to give you the $10,000. And this is what you're going to do…."

I gave him the money and sent him on his way with stringent instructions and a real warning. I had McGregor come out of his lair to help reinforce my unhappiness with what he had done and revealed. This Mr Myers might become an issue for me, so I will have to do a bit of Recon. Roberson was probably the best choice for this, as he was the Hunter least tied to the Dungeon at the moment. This meant he could spend the longest time away from home.

I roused him from his lair and sent him off with instructions to Crossway. I had him ride with Herbert to act as an escort and protection. Part of his instruction was to oversee the transfer and signing of the paperwork. However, the central part was to research and recon on Mr. Myers and his assets. I didn't want to, but I might be compelled to take action beyond my domain's limits.

Roberson returned near nightfall and felt the strain of being away so long. He reported his findings to me, and I was both happy and more concerned. Herbert had gone to the lawyer I had told him to find, and the paperwork was checked over and confirmed to be legitimate, with no hidden clauses that could be used against him. He was now the proud owner of approximately 5,000 acres of prime woodland in the state of Idaho.

The fact that he had been able to stump up the money and pay it off in one go had caused quite a stir in town. From what he could see, Roberson informed me that Mr Myers was not happy about this. I suspected he hoped that Herbert would not be able to pay off the first amount, let alone take the second one, but I could back him financially.

Mr Archibald Myers was indeed a local businessman. He arrived in town less than three years ago, yet he has established himself as one of the most influential businessmen in the area. Roberson, I've seen many businesses in town that bear his name. He also owned a significant amount of land in the Northwest, which was used for mining and logging. He was an industrialist, not a farmer, it seems.

From what gossip he could gather, most of the population was neutral about the new entrepreneur in their midst. Several, however, hinted that they suspected he was responsible for darker deeds in acquiring his business ventures and forcing out his competition.

Yes, I feared this one would be trouble. Plans will need to be made.

When he recovered, Roberson was sent on several more intelligence-gathering missions. For now, I would not take any action but watch and wait to see what he will do.

Not long after Amy gave birth to her first child, she and the boy returned to their homestead. From what Herbert told me, both mother and son were doing well. Roberson overheard her yelling at Herbert over his indiscretion about revealing the money. It seems she had the situation well in hand, and I did not expect a repeat of it.

I had Herbert acquire a map of the area he now owned as my proxy, as well as another of the surrounding states and Cascadia. I placed it in the crypts below the church so I could view it whenever I desired. I now controlled everything from the rough dirt roads to the ravine in the West. Also, my Dungeon now owned a fair chunk of woodland to the north and south.

The end of May saw an economic panic that deepened the country's depression. The economy had not been well since 1882, but things were deteriorating as many were cutting back on credit to both small and large institutions.

May surrendered to June, and the month passed with little of interest happening in my area. Internationally, Germany was claiming new colonies in Africa and the Pacific, which raised tensions with the British Empire. July arrived, and as the town of Crossway celebrated Independence Day, I read about the establishment of the Dow Jones Transportation Average. When I recognised the name of the Stock Exchange from my world, I wondered if it would be as powerful as it was there as in this one.

August, however, turns out to be a far more interesting month for the East Coast of America at the start. A large earthquake rocks many states, causing extensive damage mainly in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. This only exacerbates the national economic woes, as many businesses and factories are damaged and cannot find sources of credit to repair them if they do not have the necessary funds themselves. The Sino-French war in the Pacific broke out at the end of August. According to reports, the French initially seemed to dominate the conflict.

I had watched traffic along the road at the forest's edge all year, and none had turned to come up to the Dungeon. I was secretly glad of this, as it gave me time to allow the memories of those who had disappeared here to fade. Killing too many too fast would attract far too much attention, and I was not ready for that.

All year, the papers asked the same question: where were Adam Pilgrim and his gang? Other gangs had been active, especially in the southwest near the Mexican border, and we're now starting to draw the attention of the U.S. Marshal Service. I had secured a copy of the US Marshall Act and had read it through. It seems here that the US marshals were fast becoming what the FBI was in my world. They have been divided into several organisational bureaus, each dedicated to a specific crime or job. Such bureaus are the Bureau of Fugitive Transport, the Bureau of Cross-State Border Pursuit and the Bureau of Judicial Protection, to name a few.

The southwest was terrorised by a very large gang of individuals known as the "Cowboys". With the disappearance of Pilgrim and his gang, the Marshall Service was now focused on this other group as they were spread across several states, causing trouble. There had been several reports of running gunfights, and even military forces called in to support the Marshals as they shut down different aspects of this criminal gang.

Many within Marshall's higher echelons claimed that they would have the territories pacified and order restored by the end of the year. As the months rolled on and the number of gunfights increased, I wondered if they would. It seems that these "Cowboys" had other ideas.

September was another quiet month, both locally and nationally. Internationally, it was also pretty quiet, except for the discovery of a gold deposit in Argentina, which triggered a new gold rush there.

October rolled around, and at the start of the month, Congress rejected the US Navy's request for a Naval War College to be established. Since the end of the Civil War, the US Navy had been relegated more to a support role. They had been unable to blockade the Confederate States' coast, and many new ships were built, but this wave of new construction stopped after the conflict. It was problematic for the US Navy to obtain funds for upgrading or acquiring new ships. At the end of the month, Greenwich was declared the world's prime meridian.

November saw the US in election mode, as the 1884 United States presidential election returned a new Republican president to the White House. President-elect Arthur Windborne ran a campaign to restore the equality laws that the Supreme Court had recently gutted. He only won the presidency with two votes in college and faced a Congress and Senate controlled by the Democrats.

By now, the weather had changed around the Dungeon. The leaves on the trees were mostly gone, and the cold wind was blowing off the mountains or coming in from the north. There was a lot of rain, and I suspected it would soon turn to snow.

I'm settled in for the winter now, but one last story caught my attention from near the Mexican border. Near Frisco in New Mexico, on December 1st, a deputy sheriff arrests a member of the Cowboys. The gang does not take this too well and seeks to free the prisoner. Things quickly escalated into a major gun battle as several marshals, along with the posse, arrived to support the deputy. One Marshall, several members of the posse, eleven civilians and sixteen Cowboys are killed. The prisoner was not freed.

"Pacified my crystal backside."

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