"Michael F. Flynn -- The Forest of Time" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flynn Michael)

Knecht snorted. Vonderberge was mocking him with this elaborate ridicule. In his short
time at Fox Gap, Knecht had encountered the Kommandant's strange humor several times.
Someone had once told him that Vonderberge had always dreamed of becoming a
scientist, but that his fa-ther had pressured him into following the family's military tradition.
As a result, his command style was somewhat unorthodox.

Na, we all arrive by different paths, Knecht thought. I joined to spite my father. It startled
him to recall that his father had been dead for many years, and that they had never become
reconciled.

Knecht stooped and helped collect the scattered documents. Because he was a scout,
however, he glanced at their contents as he did so; and as he absorbed their meaning, he
read more and collected less.
One sheet in particular held his attention. When he looked up from it, he saw
Vonderberge waiting patiently behind his desk. He was leaning back in a swivel chair, his
arms crossed over his chest. There was a knowing smile on the Kommandant's thin
aristocratic face.

"Is this allтАж" Knecht began.
"Ach, nein," the Kommandant answered. "There is much, much more. However," he
added pointedly, "it is no longer in order."
"But, this is from the prisoner, Nando Kelly?"

"Hernando is the name; not Herr Nando. It is Spanish, I believe." Von-derberge clucked
sadly over the documents and began setting them in order.
Knecht stood over the desk. "But this is crazy stuff!" He waved the sheet in his hand and
Vonderberge snatched at it vainly. Knecht did not notice. "The man must be crazy!" he said.

Vonderberge paused and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Crazy?" he re-peated. "So says
the Hexmajor. He can support his opinion with many fine words and a degree from Franklin
University. I am but a simple soldier, a servant of the Commonwealth, and cannot state my
own diagnosis in so impressive a manner. On what basis, Rudi, do you say he is crazy?"

Knecht sputtered. "If it is not crazy to believe in countries that do not exist, I do not know
what is. I have looked on all our world maps and have found no United States, not even in
deepest Asia."
Vonderberge smiled broadly. He leaned back again, clasping his hands behind his
neck. "Oh, I know where the United States are," he announced smugly.

Knecht made a face. "Tell me then, O Servant of the Commonwealth. Where are they?"
Vonderberge chuckled. "If you can possibly remember so far back as your childhood
history lessons, you may recall something of the Fourth Pennamite War."

Knecht groaned. The Pennamite Wars. He could never remember which was which.
Both Connecticut and Pennsylvania had claimed the Wyoming Valley and had fought over it
several times, a consequence of the English king's cavalier attitude toward land titles. The
fourth one? Let's seeтАж1769,1771,1775тАж
 "No," he said finally. "I know nothing at all of the time between 1784 and 1792. I never
heard of Brigadier Wadsworth and the Siege of Forty-Fort, or how General Washington and