ORIGINAL: Cmdrcain
how would china get supplies if their shipping is sunk?
Captain Sutter faced a similar problem in California after the discovery of gold.
He founded his mining town, but had to go to San Francisco on business for a couple of weeks, so he called together Smith his mine foreman, Johnson his town administrator, and Chang his head cook.
"Men," he said, "I will be gone for two weeks. I depend on you three to keep this operation running. Smith, the ore needs to continue flowing from the mine to the railhead. Johnson, the workers need to be kept on the job. Chang, the entire camp depends on your making sure that food, fuel, and other necessaries are delivered on time to the right places. Your job is supplies. Don't let me down."
With that, Sutter boarded the train and headed for San Francisco. Two weeks later, he returned.
As he debarked the train, he was met by Smith and Johnson. From the looks on their faces, he could tell that something was terribly wrong. "Sir," said Smith, "we have failed you. The townsfolk have abandoned the settlement, the mine is not being worked, and the entire operation has shut down."
"How could this happen?" asked Sutter. Johnson replied, "It's Chang, Captain Sutter. He disappeared the day you left and hasn't been seen since. No food or equipment has been delivered to the company store, the provisioning station has not operated at all, and there are no tools or machinery in working condition anywhere.
"Well, what have you done about it?" exclaimed the good Captain. "Sir," said Smith, "We've looked everywhere for Chang and just can't find him."
"Everywhere?" asked Sutter. "Let's look again, he's got to be around here somewhere."
So, Sutter, Smith, and Johnson went through the entire site with a fine toothed comb. Town, stables, shipping yard, ore processing facility, no Chang. Finally, Sutter said, "Chang must be down in the mine." "We looked everywhere down there, Captain," said Johnson," and we just couldn't find him."
"Let's look again," said Sutter. "We've got to get this place back up and running or we're all out of business. Chang must be found."
Well, the three men spent hours and hours walking through the labyrinthine tunnels of the gold mine. Finally, Sutter sat down, head in hand, and said, "Men, we're beaten. I'm going to have to close this operation, declare bankruptcy, and let everyone go. It's the worst disaster in the history of the American West."
Suddenly, from a side tunnel, Chang jumped out, smiling wildly, arms outstretched, and yelled, "Suplise!!!"
hehe
