loss of his friends.
16 But less than an hour later, huffing and puffing, the empty train
backed up the tracks and came to a stop. Everyone jumped out.
17 "Can you imagine," marveled Whistling Dove, "how much cargo we could
carry with a train like this, all the villages we could serve between
Northern and Western; the mail we could carry?"
18 "By The Lords!" cried Trusting Fox, "We'll do it! We'll build your
railroad!"
19 "But where will we get the money?" argued a Councilman. "We barely
take in enough now to cover all our expenses."
20 "I will speak to all my friends," said Trusting Fox, "I will get
everyone I know to invest. But The Church must be a big investor, too.
In the future this railroad will bring us a great profit.
21 We will cut the budget for canal maintenance in half. We will order
only half the new rifles for the Army and only a fourth of the new
cannon.
22 We will give each fighting person only one new uniform this year,
instead of two, and every project to support the poor will be sat
aside. Instead, they will all be put to work on the railroad, and I
am sure many more."
23 Bold Fox spoke up. "Lord," he argued, "you cannot make such cuts in
the Army! We barely have enough rifles now. The militia is using
weapons so worn they can hardly hit a mark. We were counting on the new
rifles so we could pass some of the better of our old ones
on to them, and the same for our cannon. We barely have enough as it
is! How can you expect us to defend the Land without suitable weapons?"
24 "You do not need to defend the Land," answered Trusting Fox. "Our
only real potential