The Big Dig

As Gloria and Balischo started out for the west, Astra was leading the Dunchovians up a rise in the trail. The river had just come into view, off in the distance. The bridge was there - and so was a small mob of people. It looked as if it were a market day. On a market day, people milled about booths bargaining over the price of a loaf of bread or a bolt of cloth. There was one spot in particular, about two hundred paces from the bridge, had the a large knot of people around it, as if they were crowded around a booth selling sweets. Astra then remembered the fishermen. [88209] This was not a market. The fishermen thought that there was gold there, and word got out. The fishermen has set off a gold rush.

These diggers were something that she had not considered. A band of Dunchovians and a mass of diggers were about to meet each other, and the former were crossing into the lands of the latter. The diggers might block their way or start a fight. She wished that she had sent for the cavalry now. Aqualarian cavalry approaching the bridge would inspire fear and respect amongst these diggers. She would have to make do with the Dunchovians. The ramshackle tribesmen could hardly overawe the diggers, and their coarse dress and strange manners might scare the diggers. Astra also thought that the diggers may have found something, as surprising as that seemed. That thing might be as insignificant as an old coin, or something big, but the fact that knot of people at the one spot suggested that there was something to defend.

Thinking through this was difficult for her steingewer brain. She would not have been able to do it if she had not once been human, with some capacity for abstract thought. What image could she convey without leading them astray? They would see the diggers soon, and Astra was trying to think of what to do.

It turned out that

1. the diggers had found nothing of importance, but were inspired by the fishermen and were still looking.
2. the diggers had found a hoard of coins!
3. th diggers had found the ruins of an old building, and were execavating it.

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