The day before the legislature convened.Benjamin Franklin Stringfellow played an extreme card—house arrest of the governor—to grease the skids for drafting the Kansas constitution.But the governor’s reaction was absurd.He poked his mouth to the window and said,“I won’t go out, so don’t you even think about coming in! Then I’ll see you after the legislative session!”At a single threat, the governor said okay without a second’s hesitation. From his voice, he even sounded like he welcomed being confined at home. With nothing left to say, Stringfellow had to settle for glaring daggers at the house.‘The governor’s out of his mind.’Well, the very idea of making Pawnee—the place one hundred fifty miles (242 km) from Missouri—the seat of government hadn’t been normal from the start.Stringfellow spat toward the house, left some Border Ruffians behind, and disappeared toward the capitol.From the windows, the Jayhawkers inside could see the men encircling the house.A rough count came to over thirty.“Wow, how are we supposed to handle that many.”“If you count the ones who occupied the capitol too, it’s no joke.”“Damn, if I’d known this I would’ve brought every man we have in Lawrence.”“You don’t know that’s the more important side right now?”“Ugh. Fine, leave that aside—what the hell are those two thinking?”The Jayhawkers frowned at the unreadable conduct of the governor and the Oriental.The two of them were playing chess in leisurely peace in the second-floor study.“One more game. There’s no way I lose like this.”“That’s the third time you’ve said that.”“I’m anxious, anxious. If they attack like that, how are we supposed to stop it? No matter how good you are, the situation—”“I told you. The one who holds out in this house wins.”Peeling himself from the board, Max looked at the governor.A legislative session to run three full days.From his former life, the one thing Max had dug up was that the legislature at Pawnee suddenly changed locations. He couldn’t know when, where, or why.But once he arrived here, he could guess the reason through the servants working in the house.Anxiety and fear in their eyes.This wasn’t about Border Ruffians.— They say there’s an epidemic at Fort Riley. Everyone’s worried sick about when it’ll spread here.‘So they moved it somewhere other than Pawnee because of that.’Because it was an epidemic that erupted not only in America but around the world, Max remembered it.The disease was none other than Asiatic cholera.It was not Border Ruffians but the epidemic that threatened Pawnee.A disease transmitted by filthy water and food; especially in this era, the Asiatic cholera that swept the globe took its name from an outbreak in 1837 in a region of northeastern India called Western Bengal.After the first outbreak, it gradually moved west to reach Kabul, Afghanistan in ’38, and east to the Philippines and Sri Lanka, then on to China.By ’48 it had spread throughout Europe, and in England a thousand a day were dying. Immigrants who had crowded into the eastern United States carried cholera west as they set out for the Gold Rush and to pioneer the wastelands.The governor had already grasped the gravity of the situation.“As of a few days ago, one hundred seventy-five had died just at Fort Riley.”Like Fort Leavenworth, it was a fort built for Indians and westward expansion. Soldiers and many hired laborers died because of cholera.Considering the distance between Fort Riley and Pawnee, it wouldn’t have been strange for cholera to spread here at any moment.Even so, why insist on this place.The governor’s answer was somewhat shocking.“...If the slave-state legislators catch the epidemic and die, wouldn’t that be God’s will. I’m staying in a clean new house, as you can see, so nothing much should happen to me.”Max blinked and looked at the governor.He’d taken him lightly, but behind the land speculation the man had hidden a rather cruel plan of his own.He just hadn’t thought as far as moving the meeting to another location.“Pawnee is my last pride.”The governor’s eyes drifted to the window.As if he’d been doing some soul-searching, a shadow crossed his face.“To tell the truth, I’m a coward and a speculator. Given what I’ve done so far, it’s obvious how history will record me.”He went on with a hollow look.“You seem to have an uncommon eye for reading the board. So tell me—do you also know I’m about to be dismissed?”“...I expected as much.”The fallout from convening the legislature at Pawnee was greater than expected. Slave-state men denounced the out-of-the-blue location and petitioned the chairman of the military committee over the governor’s abuse of power.With the national administration in the hands of the Democratic Party, which backed the slave states, the dismissal of Governor Reeder was the natural course.“I truly meant to help Lawrence, but what power does a man cast from office have.”“So you meant to spend your last days here in Pawnee.”“Well, when it’s all ending, a man should at least leave money behind. As you see, this is the sort of person I am.”The governor looked at Max with a bitter smile.“If you’re disappointed, I’m sorry. Still, I want you to guard me to the end.”“Once the legislative session is over, we return to Lawrence.”“I know.”“Pawnee will be dangerous for a dismissed governor to live in.”“Would they really attack a man whose strength is spent.”Max shook his head. Pitiful as he looked, he could also understand him.The feelings when a not-so-steadfast conviction breaks and its end is shabby.Perhaps the overdone laughter and nonsense to throw off defeat and self-contempt were because of that.Calmly, Max looked at the governor and spoke.“Then how about this instead. Be recorded as a man who fought to abolish slavery.”“In this situation?”“It’s all in how you frame a man. Even with the same death, the last words you throw can change the judgment. Will you do it?”The governor’s eyes quivered. But soon he nodded as if resolved.“If it’s something I can do.”Max told him the concrete things he had to do. It was a picture of setting the governor at the forefront of abolition.And it began with a strong endorsement of Lawrence.At first the governor had been half in doubt, but by the end the shadow had lifted from his face.“Then it won’t be a one-sided dismissal—we can make a situation where even the president is blamed.”“Just hold your line firmly. At the very least, the free state will defend you.”“Understood. I’ll do as you say. For now, we just wait here, then.”“All we do is catch anyone who tries to come into the house.”About to drink, the governor found the tea had gone cold and called a servant.“As the sheriff advised, water’s only at its best boiled. Bring it at a rolling boil.”“Understood.”This wasn’t the first cholera epidemic.Strictly speaking, we were in the sixth.So, in the sixth cholera pandemic, what Max chose was—Self-quarantine to distance from the legislators, not mere house arrest.The governor liked the sound of that, nodding big.“A phrase that fits our situation exactly.”The Kansas constitution, which would divide free state from slave state.In the middle of the grave legislative session to make it, an epidemic had risen as the crucial variable. ****When Max came down to the first floor, the Jayhawkers looked at him with undisguised displeasure.Patrick Downey, two years older than Max, shouted,“Shit, is this really a time to be playing chess? How do you plan to get out of this house?”Max gave Downey a sidelong glance and said,“When it’s time to get out, we get out. No need to waste strength worrying beforehand.”“Easy for you to say. With dozens ringed outside, we’re supposed to sit here sucking our fingers?”Max shook his head and said,“With an epidemic going around, don’t be sucking any fingers. Anyway, we’ve got work to do starting now, so gather up.”“If this damn house is wide, how wide can it be. Say it from there.”Max looked at Downey, then hardened his expression and said,“If you want to pick a fight, use your body, not your mouth. Guns, knives, fists—I don’t care.”“......”Then Max met the eyes of each of the younger Jayhawkers in turn.For all their challenging looks, none stepped forward.Lane’s and the governor’s words circled in their heads and held their feet.They had to know what was going on, at least, so Max explained the epidemic and what would happen next.And he set up a device for intruders. He ran threads to the doors and windows and hung tableware to make an alarm system.“Sleep in turns. Sentries, focus your ears on sound.”At the end of his words, Max added a line.“I can overlook you picking fights. Fail at watch, and you’ll have to face it.”‘Shit, do I have to take this from an Oriental?’The Jayhawkers’ faces twisted.To them, Max was no more than a cocky Oriental who looked a little dangerous. ****July 2. Legislators gathered at the Pawnee capitol.Whether word of the epidemic had spread, worry clouded some faces.“They say many died of cholera at Fort Riley. I’m not sure this won’t spread here.”“Damn governor. How is it right that he alone gets to sleep in that brick house?”“He’s out of his mind. He’s doing this to screw us on purpose.”The night in tents must have left them resentful and sore; the air rattled with curses at the governor.But there were men more wronged than they—legislators whom Border Ruffians had blocked from entering the capitol.“What kind of legislature is this! Move aside this instant!”“Turn back while I’m saying it nice. This ain’t a place for you.”“Damn you! No matter what you do, Kansas will never become a slave sta—!”Bang!Firing into the sky, Stringfellow spoke in a chill tone.“Disperse at once. For reference, I’m the sort of man ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ who doesn’t give a damn about the lives of worm-like scum such as you.”The Stringfellow brothers, notorious for their vicious defense of slavery. The flinching legislators tried to go to the governor, but he didn’t allow that either.“Get the hell out of Pawnee right now.”They even resorted to violence.Three legislators who had denounced them fiercely were beaten by Border Ruffians and dragged away. In the end the abolitionist legislators had no choice but to swallow their rage and leave Pawnee.Meanwhile, unlike the chaos outside, the conference room inside the capitol was all smiles.There had been plenty of curses for the governor, but then one legislator held up a book and drew all eyes.“Is there any need to make a constitution the hard way? We can draft it based on what the slave states have already pondered over.”The same book lay on every desk.The constitution of Missouri, a slave state—the foundation for the Kansas constitution.On the first day, the legislators set about making a constitution with it as reference.And at the same time,Lawrence publicly announced a new legislature.It was news to flip the table, but it would take time for it to reach Pawnee.And on July 4, two days later,at last, a problem broke at Pawnee.“The epidemic has spread here!”A resident living right by the capitol had died of cholera. In an uproar, the legislators trembled with fear and again pounded the governor with blame.In the end the conclusion they reached was to move to a third location.“If we don’t know when the free-state bastards might attack on top of the epidemic, let’s just move the venue to Shawnee.”“That’d be better. It’s close to Missouri—surely we’ll get protection.”The problem was, it was only possible with the governor’s consent. In a territory, the governor wielded the powers of a viceroy and could dissolve and convene the assembly.To settle it, Stringfellow visited the governor’s house.“Did you forget what I told you a few days ago? I said I won’t be leaving the house, so don’t you come in.”The exchange between Stringfellow and the governor took place across the window.“With people dying of cholera, what kind of meeting are we supposed to have in a dump like this! We’re moving the venue at once—give your consent!”The governor glanced sideways at Max.Then, with a grim set to his face, he shouted,“I refuse!”“Can you not see the present situation!”“You’re the one who needs to look at it!”What followed drove Stringfellow into shock.“I, Andrew Horatio Reeder, Governor of the Kansas Territory, hereby dissolve this legislature at Pawnee and formally recognize the legislature of Lawrence!”“Wh-what kind of bullshit is that!”“Are you deaf now!? Paper with my signature must already have reached Lawrence. Dissolve the Pawnee legislature at once!”“I’ve never seen a madman like this!”In a fury, Stringfellow drew his pistol. But glowering at the window, he turned his body away.In broad daylight—at the governor’s house, no less—pulling the trigger was a heavy thing.‘I need to grasp the situation first.’Stringfellow returned straight to the assembly and reported it. Naturally, the chamber turned upside down.“This means Lawrence has risen in rebellion!”“But are we not saying that lunatic governor took their side?”“In any case, the president will dismiss the governor—that’s a certainty!”“He’s still the governor, though!”“For a few days at most! By the time we move to Shawnee, his head will have rolled!”After wavering and trading shouts, they reached the conclusion to move to Shawnee.“Better by a hundredfold than dying of plague there!”“Let’s just go! Lawrence will never be recognized anyway—no need to care!”Thus the legislators stormed out of the chamber and made ready to go to Shawnee.They were so quick about it that before long wagons were already leaving Pawnee.And Stringfellow gave the Border Ruffians this order:“Tonight, you take care of the governor.”“Understood.”An assassination to remove the thorn in their eye.In the political chaos, it would be no easy task to prove who had given the order.Leaving twenty Border Ruffians in Pawnee, Stringfellow headed after the legislators toward Shawnee.The governor and Max, ringed by Border Ruffians, could not know what was happening outside.And that night,a skulker eased open a first-floor window and slipped inside. And at that moment—Clink. Clink.In the quiet house, a tiny sound spread.The sound of a fork and spoon, strung on thread through the window gap, striking each other.‘W-what is this.’The intruder blanched, but soon saw a man dozing with his back to the wall.It was Downey of the Jayhawkers.Sst.‘Him first.’Knife drawn, the intruder crept toward Downey.The instant he went to drive the tip into the neck—something flashed through the dark and flew.Swish. Thunk.A Bowie knife buried itself dead-center in his forehead and the intruder’s body crashed to the floor.“W-what!”Startled by the thud, Downey sprang up.Then he saw Max, eyes cold as ice, staring at him.“I told you—fail at watch and be ready to face it.”Downey’s eyes went to the dead intruder.And to the flustered man, Max whispered,“Thanks to your shout, this’ll end quickly. You’ll have to face it.”Before he knew it, Max had a revolver in each hand, aiming through the window. The Border Ruffians waiting outside stormed the house.

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