There wasn’t much to do, in fact, since he had always lived in rented rooms and traveled light. He packed some clothes and shaving gear into a portmanteau, procured a leather case to hold his Henry rifle and its cleaning gear, then settled with his landlord on the rent. He did not pay to have the small and spartan room reserved for his return, since Ryder couldn’t say exactly when—or if—he would be coming back. Small loss. He had no friends of any consequence to trouble with good-byes, though Dolly had seemed pleased to see him for a quick roll in the hay before he sailed. Or pleased to see his money, anyway. The Southern Belle was waiting when he reached Baltimore’s waterfront, on the Patapsco River. She was a stylish boat or ship; he never fully understood the difference between the two. Three hundred feet in length and painted white above the water line, the Southern Belle had three decks and sprouted a tall single smokestack amidships.
