“Well,” he said, tilting his head to one side. “Sounds like that there Fetchin’ Gift be right handy. Why, I c’n think of a mort’o ways it’ll be useful out here. Like—well, ain’t jest horses what hez trouble birthin’. Cattle, sheep, hooman wimmin—reckon yer gonna be right popular with Healer Alberdina. An’—well, they’s one good way o’ makin’ a big shelter, an’ thet’s ter bend down a bendy tree, like a birch, stake ’er down, and throw canvas over ’er. Ye c’n bring thet top right down, aye? An’ what if a barge breaks loose an’ floats out inter a lake? Ye c’n Fetch her up t’ th’ bank wi’out nobody hevin’ ter go arter ’er.”

He continued at some length, with great enthusiasm, until after a moment, she realized that not only was he right about some of that, she might very well be so busy that she would never have time to do all the hard labor she’d envisaged herself doing.

He glanced over at the men setting up more shelters in the ruins. “Ain’t lookin’ for’erd ter sleepin’ on ground,” he said with distaste. “Be glad when th’ livin’ barges start a-comin’ over.”

“What are living barges?” she asked.

“Barges fixed up as housen,” he said. “Cozy, they is. Live in one m’self, what with bein’ a fishin’ man.” And he began to describe what sounded to her like something that was every bit as comfortable as a little cottage, if nothing near as spacious.

“But how do you keep it warm in the winter?” she asked.

“Leetle stove. I’d show ye how big, but I reckon ye don’t want me t’ turn loose of this coracle,” he said with a chuckle. “It ain’t no manor, but it ain’t no tent, neither. Wust thin’ come winter’s gonna be gettin’ bored, I reckon. We ain’t a-gonna be able ter move in winter, gonna be plenty idle hands ter take care of the stock an’ all. Reckon come fall, we’ll pick a good place, make stockades fer th’ critters, an’ stretch oursel’s along the river all th’ way ter this here lake. We’ll be like a long, skinny town. Then come spring, oncet th’ stock’s done birthin’, we’ll move agin.”

She could even see it in her mind’s eye: the “town” of living barges along the shore, the animals in their pens ashore, maybe some people (hardier than her!) living on shore in something that gave more shelter than just a mere tent—