Landing in the river, Sir Laurence allows the current to carry him down river around the corner, riding the small waves to a peaceful eddy a few turns downriver. He stays mostly submerged, breathing through the strange little oxygen generator he invented. He swims into the eddy and clambers out, onto the sandy shore. Removing his waterproof gear, he gives of a great Howl! “Arrrrrooooooo!” Like a wolf! He tilts his head back towards the blue sky, “And the storm has passed, the sun beams down, life is Great!” He celebrates, pulling out his flask and downing some Orange Vodka! “Ah, Ace, that was a wild ride! Ha, I love this crazy life!” Downing some more Orange Vodka to warm the blood!
He turns to the river, and pulls his canoe out of the bushes, “Time to fly down this river to the Crystal Geyser and the Crystal Geyser Ranch to get a horse.” He bellows! He fits a tiny piece of enriched coal into the boiler of the canoe, and begins to build a head of steam, checks the pistons for grease and prepares the craft for the river. Once the engine is ticking away nicely, he dons his goggles, pushes the canoe into the current, blowing the tiny whistle a few times, just for the fun of it! Whee, Whee! He pulls the throttle back and grabs the tiller, hitting all the little waves with glee, water splashing his face, and hissing off the tiny boiler! “Ha, nothing like a little wave riding after a night on the beast!” He yells. He tilts side to side, sweeping arcs through the water, a great plume of water spraying to all sides, flying wildly down the river. “And I have to get myself to Salt Lake City to meet up with Sapphire.!” “Yea, Baby!”
A few miles down river, he guides his little steam powered water craft to shore at the Crystal Geyser. He pulls his goggles up off his eyes, and shades his eyes to look towards the geyser, “I wonder if it will erupt?” Clambering out, he decides to build a fire and warm up for a time. He dredges around under the bushes for some dry bits not soaked by the snow. He pulls some remaining enriched coal out of the fire box and feeds tiny sticks to get a flame going. Suddenly the geyser gives a Big eruption, way up in the sky! “Wow, I was lucky to see that one, this geyser is usually not so spirited!” He pulls out his flask again, and raises it towards the geyser, “I’ll drink to that!” He yells! The fire gets to flaming nice, and he sits by it, ruminating on the night. “Crazy train ride, that Beast. Not every night you get to meet a dynamo like that! But that German has me worried. I didn’t expect that, I’ll have to be more careful in the future. Great coffee on the train though, I could get used to train riding.” “I hope Mark makes it here to the rendezvous Ok,” Laurence thinks.
His ears prick up then, hearing the jingle of harnesses and the thunder of hooves. He looks south down the wagon trail, and spies a team and wagon bouncing through the snow, nostrils steaming, breath steaming, the horse team careens to a stop by the geyser. “Howdy, Sir Laurence! I got your telegram you would be here, me and the team raced on over!” “I’ll drink to that!” Yells Sir laurence, brandishing his flask about, have a snort of this fancy Orange Vodka spirits I distilled!” He throws the flask to Mark and stomps out the fire. He leaps into the wagon and gives Mark a friendly hug, “My old cowpoke, what’s going on? Blazes, it is good to see you! How is the ranching life?” Mark tilts his head back and quaffs a huge draught of Orange Vodka, his head spins sideways towards Sir Laurence, he yips and shouts, “Arrroooooo! yea baby! YOU made this stuff! Holy Smokes, this is the best liquour I have ever tasted, why it tastes like candy! Do you have any more?” ” Oh yea, mark. Verily, I have a barrel on the canoe. Lets get the boat loaded up and get on down the trail!” Sir Laurence jumps off the wagon and begins pulling the canoe to the wagon. Mark jumps down and they heave the boat and barrel of Orange Vodka on the wagon. “Lets get on over to the Crystal Spring Ranch, Sir Laurence.” Says Mark. “The boys got a steer roasting, and beans I suppose.” “Beef I’ll eat, but the State of Utah can’t have me consuming any beans, way to dangerous!” Replies Sir Laurence! “Mark grins and grabs the reins, “Ah, Sir Laurence, truer words have never been spoken! Giddap, giddap you guys, lets get on home, before more snowflakes!”