Hall of the Mountain King CH 11

I.

The Endless Caverns, just 3 miles south of New Market, Virginia, are so named because even now, 131 years after their discovery in 1879, it is not known how far underground the caverns extend. They have been mapped for over six miles, and periodically expeditions set out to try to find tunnels leading into other rooms.

Before taking the guided tour of the caverns, which they knew would not extend for the whole six miles (most show caves show only about 20% of the cavern system in question), Michele and Fitz walked around New Market.

New Market is a small town, of only a little over 2,000 people. Despite that, they have two baseball teams -- a collegiate summer league team called the Rebels, and a summer baseball league team called the Shockers.

Michele was more interested in its Civil War connections.

On May 15, 1864, the Battle of New Market took place, one of the battles in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 – General Grant’s campaigns to bring pressure on the Confederate armies in the Shenandoah Valley.

Confederate General John C. Breckinridge, desperate for men, summoned students from VMI (the Virginia Military Institute) to help. Over half of those who answered the call (257 men) were “rats,” first year students. They joined Breckinridge’s army of 4,500 veterans. Breckinridge had originally only intended to use them as a reserve, but when the situation became desperate he “sent the boys in,” and the cadets did as ordered, and were instrumental in chasing Union General Franz Sigel and his army out of the Shenandoah Valley.

Fitz and Michele walked through the Hall of Valor, then joined a guided tour of the battlefield, in particular the “field of lost shoes,” no longer muddy, but where, back in 1864, the rats had charged to set the Union soldiers to flight, and the cadet's shoes had been sucked off by the thick mud through which they had slogged onthat rainy day.

Five of the cadets died that day, five died within three months from wounds received during the battle, and forty-eight others were wounded…but the Confederacy survived for another day.

“Too bad I didn’t get this idea a month ago,” Michele mused, nodding at an old poster in the visitor’s center. Just a month earlier, in May, the Battle of New Market had been re-enacted.

“There’s re-enactments going on all the time,” said Fitz, “somewhere.”

Michele grinned at him. “What a very helpful comment, Fitz,” she said. “I’ll have to do some research when we get back to our B&B. The Gettysburg re-enactment, I know they do that one every year…”

Fitz stopped and stared at her.

“What,” she demanded.

“Oh, baby, I’m sorry to tell you, that’s already been, too. Just a couple of weeks ago. July 1st, 2nd and 3rd. That’s because…”

“I know, I know,” moaned Michele, clutching her head. “That’s when the actual battle took place, so of course they do it on those days. And it never even occurred to me. Damn, damn and day-um.”

“There’s always next year. Give you an excuse to come back.”

Michele grinned. “As if I needed an excuse.” He bent down and kissed her briefly.

Then she sighed. “Well, let’s go take a look at Endless Caverns, and after that, that farm, Cooper Farm.”

“Okay.”


II.

Gus Keller stood outside the entrance building to the Endless Caverns, cursing himself for a fool.

He really hadn’t thought this through, he thought to himself. He’d been so anxious to see Taran Tula again that he’d picked up sticks and come here….but to what end? Was he going to hover around the cavern entrance all day long? That’d be a waste of time. Should he check out the B&Bs around New Market, ask if there was a Michele Bravo staying there? But what a waste of time, if she’d decided to stay in a nearby town.

He didn’t even know if she was really in the town! Perhaps she was timeslipping her blog, publishing the daily entries a week or so late, so as to avoid any fans trying to meet her. So even though she was writing about her visits as if they were happening that very day, they might very well have actually happened a week…even two weeks in the past. Even travel bloggers might have groupies who need to be circumvented.

No, he hadn’t thought this through.

What he should have done, Keller thought, was just to get the address of this particular Michele Bravo, and then camp outside her house or her apartment, or whatever it might be. That was a place she’d be returning to eventually!

Keller took a deep drag on his cigarette and smiled ruefully. He’d just really, really wanted to meet her today, end the suspense quickly…he felt like a teenager with his first crush.

“Hell with it,” he murmured, carefully stubbing out his cigarette and then throwing it into a garbage can. “As long as I’m here, he thought, “I’ll go through the caverns. They might be interesting.”