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Piotr was doing a lot more traveling than I was. He had to make a monthly visit to the inns at Cracow,
Cieszyn, and Wroclaw, besides the installations at Three Walls, Copper City, Eagle Nest, where we were
taking care of the bookkeeping, paying all expenses and charging Count Lambert in cloth for it, and Okoitz,
where we had built a small Pink Dragon Inn at Count Lambert's request. If the duke had one at Wroclaw,
Count Lambert had to have one at Okoitz.
That summer, I'd formalized the mail service, setting up a post office at every one of our inns. Besides
serving our own people, we carried the mail of anybody who asked, and charged for it. It became a
profitable sideline.
We never carried money or valuables, since Piotr had to travel alone and I didn't want to make him a target
for thieves, but I did set up a system of postal money orders.
By spring, volume had grown to the point that I had to put on a full-time letter carrier, who made the round
on about a weekly basis on a fast horse. As more inns were added, the number of letters sent increased as a
cube function. In a few years, letters left each inn daily, and a letter could get to any major city in Poland in
a week, for a price.
And like a modem post office, we were absolutely scrupulous about respecting people's privacy and about
getting the mail through.
By late fall, the smelters at Copper City were in full production and the other facilities were just about
complete. I sold the Krakowski Bros. Brass Works at a very healthy profit to Count Lambert's brother,
Count Herman. I did this with the clear written understanding that I was taking the best of my workers with
me to Legnica, and that we would be producing products there much like those that were made in Cieszyn.
I don't think the guy understood that people are as important as things when it comes to getting something
done. It takes both the tools and the man who knows how to use them to accomplish anything, but many
would-be industrialists don't realize that. He got all the buildings, machinery, and facilities, as well as two
years worth of back orders and my blessings. But deep inside, I didn't think he'd be successful.
Most of the people from the brass works were moved to Copper City and formally sworn to me. They
hadn't been up to that time, except for the Krakowski brothers themselves and their wives, and I wanted all
the workers to be treated the same. I also swore in those workers hired that spring that had received the
approval of the foremen, most of them, actually.
Thom Krakowski was put in charge of the smelting and mining operations, and being the eldest was also
overseer of the whole city. His brothers had charge of the casting and machining sections. In fact they were
used to working as a committee, and that's the way I set it up. Oh, they were always arguing like a bunch of
kids over a game, and sometimes it got pretty loud. But somehow inside they were a smooth team. It takes
all kinds.
My ladies had each spent months at the city and at Eagle Nest duplicating their own bailiwicks there.
Krystyana got the kitchens going well; Yawalda had the barns running efficiently. The stores and offices
were set up, and all the girls had chosen to come back to Three Walls. I was flattered, but they explained
that if they stayed out in "the woods," as they described it, they might be stuck there. But things were
always happening when I was around, even if I wouldn't marry them.
Tadeusz had put his youngest son in charge of running the inn at Copper City. He was worried. He was
now out of sons. How could we expand further? So we worked out a training program for innkeepers, with
each of his sons training a man, and with promotions to larger inns if a man did well. There was also a
bonus system for the trainer.
Piotr had junior accountants at each of our installations by then so that he only had to check their work
rather than doing it all himself. There just wasn't time.
The priest from Italy finally arrived, and I nearly fell off my chair when he announced his name. It was
Thomas of Aquinas!
Saint Thomas Aquinas was the greatest theologian and logician of the Middle Ages, perhaps of all time!
And here he was, a young man of twenty-two, running my church and school system. I tried to treat him the
same as any other priest, but secretly I was in awe of him. I told him what I wanted to accomplish, but
generally I let him do as he felt best, offering advice only when asked.
Interlude Two
I hit the STOP button.
"He really had Thomas Aquinas working for him?"
"Yes and no. The man's name was Thomas and he really was from the Italian town of Aquinas. But the
Thomas Aquinas you're both thinking of was seven years old at the time, and no relation to Conrad's
schoolteacher. Conrad's history was about as accurate as yours."
"Summa Theologica still got written in Conrad's branch."
He hit the START button.
Chapter Ten
We had just finished installing our first rotary steam engine, our first double expansion device. It turned an
overhead shaft that had leather belts driving the lathes, grinders, and other machines we had lined up below
it. Wicker baskets covered the belts, a safety feature.
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