Under His Protection

Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

"I know I should have realized there was so much left we had to sort through," Val told Oliver as she stood in the enormous barn looking at the five huge crates that arrived with several weeks ago. She saw the gigantic task that loomed before them once more wondering where they would store the items in the crates. "How is the world did they get these off the wagon and stored in here?"

"Horses and pulleys," Oliver replied smiling. "Each crate has a large cable like straps that allowed them to be lifted. That's how Myles and his crew got them on and off his ship then loaded on the wagons for here and how they were then unloaded in the barn. I'm just glad we had ample space to store them until we were able to unload them or we would have been doing it the day they arrived. These crates are not water proof and Myles's men knew how to pack them to the fullest."

"Yes," Val said still pondering where they would put all the furniture and other items the crates contained. "Where are we going to store what's in them?"

"From the inventory list Myles left with me you and Bishop had a small house in India and I thought we might be able to put a piece here and there in some of the bed chambers, sitting rooms, etc if you want. We will look through the books and decide which ones we want to put in our bare bookcases in our new sitting room and which ones to store until we are sure we no longer need anything. We cannot get rid of anything Val until we are certain nothing is hidden in them."

"Yes I know," she replied to her husband.

"We will take one crate at a time and it will not seem like such a monumental task, and remember too that Richie said he would gladly help us if we have any questions about where anything was located in the house in Bombay since Myles's list doesn't let us know where each item came from.

"I discussed things this morning with Mrs. Mortmain and Thompson and they will be standing by to list what piece of furniture or item went to which room in the house. Several of the maids will be ready to dust and clean any of the pieces of furniture or whatever since I'm sure after all this time in storage things are going to be dusty and dirty.

"I have three footmen and two groomsmen ready to help unpack and distribute the items as soon as we have a good look at what they are and if they have any hidden compartments in them. Besides the hidden compartments I'm familiar with Cat gave me a list of a few she'd run across in her work with the Foreign Office."

"As usual you have everything well in hand, my lord," Val said smiling at her husband. "Shall the unpacking begin?"

"Myles said the crates were built from the bottom up so we will have to reverse the process and unload from the top down."

The first crate was already open about one third of the way down from the top and two tall ladders were placed up against the crate. Ethan and Joe were the two footmen that climbed the ladders when Oliver gave the word to start taking items from the crate. They surveyed the large crate then started handing down to Orvil, Chad and Max, the three groomsmen, waiting below. Once they had a crate they came and deposited it at Oliver's feet.

Oliver was ready with his trusty crowbar and opened the first seven crates to discover they contain books.

"Orvil you, Chad and Max take these books up to our sitting room and stack them in front of the last bookcase in the room out of the way so no one falls or trips over them," Oliver told the footman and watched as the men each hoisted a crate on their shoulders and left the barn for the house.

That left just Oliver and Val and the other two footmen on the ladders until the three returned from the house, slowing down the process of unpacking the huge crate.