“That’s the damndest thing I’ve ever seen,” Cade said, pointing to the carts. “Why is that barge anchored so far off shore?”
“A heavily loaded boat draws too much water to get any closer, so they have to bring these carts out here to off-load them,” Bento said.
“Are we going to have to get into one of those carts?”
“No. This lighter is empty so it is riding high enough in the water that we can go ashore.”
“Ashore, yeah,” Cade said. “So what do we do then?”
Exactly what they were going to do came to a head the next morning when they were surprised to see Stumpy Jones.
“Bento, look,” Cade said, pointing to the man who, but the day before, had been a fellow seaman. “What is he doing ashore?”
“I think he is looking for us,” Bento replied.
“Do you see anyone else with him?”
“No.”
Cade looked around very carefully, then seeing no other familiar faces, called out.
“Stumpy?”
Stumpy came quickly to them.
“Are you looking for us?” Cade asked.
“Aye. I came ashore with Billy Boggs ‘n the bo’sun. Only Higgins ain’t the bo’sun no more. He’s the second mate.”
“Higgins is the second mate?”
‘Yeah, they found Barkley’s body.”
Cade nodded. “I figured they would.”
“The cap’n has put out a five hunnert dollar reward for you two,” Stumpy said. “You’d better not stay here, everyone in Buenos Aires is going to be wanting to collect that money and it won’t be that hard for ‘em to pick you two out, especially with your red hair,”
“How’s Tait doing?” Cade asked.
“He’s comin’ along. And Higgins, bein’ the new second mate, says Tait won’t be gettin’ no more punishment. By the way, the boy ‘n Pops both told the cap’n what happened, and that you two didn’ have no choice. But bein’ as Barkley was an officer, the cap’n says he don’t have no choice neither, but to try ‘n bring you in.”
“I see you’re wearing a pistol,” Cade said. “You aren’t going to try and take us in, are you?”
“No. Pops got me onto the shore party so’s I could find you ‘n warn you. You two has got to get out of here.”
“Thanks, Stumpy,” Cade said.
“I should thank you. The whole crew should thank you for killin’ that son of a bitch. Listen, I heard somethin’ that might help. There’s an Italian gunboat here that’s goin’ up the Paraguay River to Matto Grosso, it’s like a state in north Brazil. They’s some Italians ‘n other foreign folks up there, and this boat is goin’ to pick ‘em up ‘n take ‘em out, on account of the war.”
“What war?”
“There’s some kind of war goin’ on here, ‘n they say it’s just plumb awful,” Stumpy said. “Anyway, if I was you two, I’d be figurin’ out some way to be gettin’ on that boat a’ fore it leaves.”
“There’s Boggs,” Bento said, pointing out the other sailor.
Boggs saw the three of them, and with a nod, warned that Higgins was nearby.
“I’d better be a’ gettin’,” Stumpy said.
“I have an idea,” Cade said after Stumpy left. “He said this Italian boat was going up-river to evacuate some foreigners. If we tell the captain that we have some people up there, he may let us buy passage.”
“No, I cannot sell you passage,” the boat captain said. He studied Cade and Bento for a moment. “You are dressed as sailors. Are you sailors?”
Cade hesitated for a moment before answering. He was certain that word was already out that two sailors were wanted fugitives.
“Because if you are, I’m a few men short, and I would be willing to take you up river as part of my crew.”
“Captain, you’ve got a deal,” Cade said, extending his hand.
Once the lines were cast off and the anchor raised, there was little for any of the crew to do as the boat proceeded up the Rio de la Plata River. Unlike the boats Cade had experienced on the Tennessee, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers, this boat, the Solari, used a screw, rather than paddle wheels for propulsion.
Cade couldn’t help but compare the Rio de la Plata with the Mississippi. The Mississippi was broad and majestic, flowing by planted fields and stately homes. The Plate River was untamed with tangled growth crowding down to its banks. Often animals that were strange to Cade would emerge from the encroaching forest to drink from the river. Brightly colored birds flitted about, filling the air with calls that were louder even that the steam engine that propelled the Solari upstream.
There were eight 32 pounder Whitworth guns on the boat, four on either side.
Oliver Cabot was the only Englishman on board, and Cade made his acquaintance shortly after they got underway. Cabot was a geologist who was trying to get back to the diamond fields at Diamantino.
“Diamonds? You mean real diamonds, like the jewels?”
“Well, eventually,” Cabot replied with a little smile. “They don’t look like much when you first see them. They have to be cut and polished before some lady would allow them to be put around her neck.”
“Why did you leave?”
“The war, dear boy, the war,” Cabot replied.
“Yes, I heard someone say something about a war.” Cade pointed to the cannon. “Are we likely to get involved?”
“I wouldn’t think so,” Cabot replied. “This boat is Italian, I’m British, you are American and your friend is Portuguese. There is not a person on board who is from a belligerent country, so by the rules of war, we will be able to pass safely through to pick up other non-belligerents and take them to safety. As mad as Lopez is, I don’t expect even he would interfere.”
“Who is Lopez?”
“General Francisco Solano Lopez is the president of Paraguay. He is also a madman and because of that, totally unpredictable. The really bizarre thing is, he is as big a threat to his own people as is the enemy.”
“Yeah, I was at Franklin, during the war. I’ve had some experience of generals making bad decisions.”
“I have read of that battle,” Cabot said. “I don’t think either general was very smart that day, but at least Generals Hood and Schofield didn’t murder their own men.”
Cade started to refute him, remembering that at Franklin the Federal troops fired grape and canister, indiscriminately, killing many of their own troops who were massed so closely with the attacking Confederates. But he knew this wasn’t what Cabot meant.
“Wait a minute, you aren’t just talking about bad decisions here, are you?”
“No, I’m talking about murder.”
“Are you saying he has actually murdered some of his own people?”
“Let me tell you a story that is widely known. In a recent battle the Paraguayan general was engaged with Brazilian troops that outnumbered him four to one. He managed to withdraw without losing his entire command, and he sent his adjutant and two others to take the report to Lopez.”
“I take it Lopez was disappointed at the outcome?”
Cabot made a scoffing sound. “Disappointed? Disappointed, dear boy? Yes, you might say that. He was so disappointed that he executed the adjutant and the two who had come with him.”
“Yeah, I’d say that’s a little more than a bad decision.”
“Then when the Tenth Battalion returned, the first to do so, he executed the commander, and every tenth man of the battalion.”
“Damn!” Cade said. “I’ve run across some evil men in my day but I’ve never known, or even heard of anyone to match this Lopez.”
“Nor have I,” Cabot said. “So now you can see why I said that he is as big a threat to his own army, as is the enemy.”
At nine o’clock the next morning Cade, Bento, Cabot, and nearly the entire crew were on deck as the boat passed by the town of Humaita. This, the captain of the gunship had been told, was the main stronghold of the entire Paraguayan army. There were several Parag
uayan soldiers on the bank of the river, and those on the deck of the Solari waved at them. None of the soldiers returned the waves.
“They don’t seem like a very friendly bunch,” Cade said.
“They are probably too frightened of Lopez to wave,” Cabot replied.
“That looks like a Monitor,” Bento said, pointing to an ironclad boat that lay tied up to one of the docks. The deck of the boat was low, only inches above the water. The turret stuck up from the middle of the boat, like an observation turret.
“I’m surprised to see that Paraguay has such a warship,” Cabot said. “I thought only the Brazilian navy had them.”
“The name says it is the Algoas,” Bento said. “It is Brazilian.”
“Interesting. They must have captured it.”
At that moment the Solari came to a sudden stop, so severe that many on board were thrown into the water. The unexpected stop was accompanied by a loud noise, as if the boat had collided with something, but there was nothing visible in the water ahead.
Cade and Cabot had been thrown to the deck at the impact. Bento, who was holding on to the railing at the time avoided being thrown into the water. Bento reached down to help both Cade and Cabot to their feet.
“What the hell happened?” Cade asked. “What would make us stop like that?”
“Vi è una catena in acqua!” one of the Italian crewmen who was near the bow of the boat shouted. “Vi è una catena in acqua!”
“What is he saying?” Cade asked.
“There is a chain in the river, stretched from one side to the other,” Cabot said. “We hit the chain.”
“What’s a chain doing there?” Bento asked.
“It looks like we are about to find out,” Cade said, pointing to more than a dozen boats, each filled with soldiers, paddling rapidly to where the Solari sat, dead in the water.
“Whatever they want, we’re helpless to deal with them,” Cabot said. “Except for the cannon we have no arms aboard. And we have no powder and shells for the cannon, because that would be a violation of our neutrality.”
“Maybe once they see that we are no threat, they’ll take down the chain and let us pass,” Cade suggested.
“Look at the expression on the face of the officer in the lead boat,” Cabot said. “I don’t think magnanimity is on their minds.”
14
THE PARAGUAYAN SOLDIERS put everyone on the Italian gunboat in shackles, then took them ashore. There the crew of the SOLARI was ordered to line up in one long line, the captain and first mate at the head of the line, then every uniformed sailor beside him.
Because Cade, Bento, and Cabot were not in the uniform of the Italian navy, they were separated from the sailors. A Paraguayan officer read aloud, from a paper.
“What is he saying, Bento?”
“He says that the Italian sailors have invaded Paraguay, and they are to be executed.”
“No!” Cabot shouted. “You can’t do this! These men are from a neutral country, they have every right to evacuate their countrymen from a war zone!”
The Paraguayan officer paid no attention to Cabot’s outburst. As soon as he finished reading the execution orders, twenty-three soldiers, one for each Italian sailor, marched out, turned to face the line of prisoners, raised their rifles to their shoulders and aimed.
“Fuego!” the Paraguayan officer ordered.
All twenty-three rifles discharged as one, and the captain and his entire crew went down. The soldiers then walked over to the sailors who were on the ground and began stabbing and hacking at the fallen men with the bayonets attached to the end of their rifles.
The Paraguayan officer then came over to address Cade, Bento, and Cabot. He started to speak, but Cabot interrupted him.
“I know you speak English. If you have anything to say to us, say it in English,” he demanded.
“You are the geologist in the diamond field, aren’t you?” the officer replied.
“Yes.”
“Who are these men?”
“They are a part of my personal staff, and they enjoy the protection of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria. Your President has visited our Queen. If you shoot any of us, you will displease the Queen, and that will displease President Lopez.”
The officer stroked his chin for a moment, then spoke in Spanish to one of his soldiers.
“You have no right to put us in prison, either,” Cabot said, having understood the officer’s order. You have the obligation, not only to let us go, but to provide us with safe transport to Diamantina.”
“For now, you will be our guests,” the officer said.
As the door was shut and locked behind the three men, Cade could only think, ‘Not again!’ The walls were made of stone blocks, the windows, like the door, were barred. There was no furniture of any kind in the room, no bunks, no chairs, no benches. There weren’t even any blankets or padding. They would have to sleep on the floor.
“I’m not staying here,” Cade said.
“I must admit that the accommodations leave much to be desired,” Cabot said. “But I’m not sure we can just check out because we are unsatisfied with our room.”
“I’m not staying here,” Cade said again. He sat down and leaned his back against the stone wall, studying both the barred door and the windows.
Approximately an hour after they had been put into their cell, they heard a lot of shouting outside. Then, surprisingly, they heard the screams and cries of women and children.
“Bento, what is that all about? What’s going on?” Cade asked.
“The Fifth Corps of Paraguay Reserves has been defeated by the Argentinians,” Bento said, translating what he had heard. “Sixteen hundred of the two thousand men were killed, the others captured.”
“The women? Who are the women that we hear crying?”
“They are the wives and children of the soldiers of the soldiers of the Fifth Corps.”
For the next several minutes Cade listened to the shouting and the wailing. He was sympathetic to the women who had lost their husbands but, for the moment, he was even more concerned with his own plight. Having been a prisoner at Camp Douglas was bad, but he always knew that when the war ended, he would be released. He had no such assurance here.
“My God,” Cabot suddenly said. “They are going to kill them.”
“What? Kill who?”
“The women and children,” Cabot said. “They just got the order from Lopez to kill the women and children as punishment because their husbands failed in their mission.”
A few minutes later the door to their cell was jerked open.
“Fuera, fuera, salir ahora,” one of the three armed men shouted.
“What is he saying?” Cade asked.
“They want us to come out,” Cabot said.
“Good, maybe they are going to let us go.”
“No,” Bento said somberly. “They are going to kill the women and the children, then they are going to kill us.”
Cade and the others were taken out to the plaza, where the crew of the Solari had been killed earlier. He saw scores of women standing in the middle of the plaza, in some cases women holding infant children in their arms, in other cases children standing at their mother’s side, clinging to them. The expression of the faces of the children ranged from fear to confusion. Strangely, Cade thought, many of the women seemed to show an almost detached acceptance of what was about to happen.
Three more men, also prisoners, were brought over to stand beside Cade, Bento, and Cabot. Bento exchanged a few words with them.
“They are crewmen of the monitor that was captured,” Bento explained.
A Paraguayan officer ordered several of his men to spread out in front of the women and children and, just as they had when they executed the crew of the Solari, the soldiers took aim.
The officer shouted at the women, and Cabot translated.
“Your men were cowards. They failed the president and the country. Most have been killed, so they cannot be punished.
You will be punished in their place.”
Cade noticed then, that there were only three men guarding them, and all three were more interested in what was about to happen with the women and children, than they were with the men prisoners that were in their charge.
“God help us for taking advantage of such an awful thing,” Cade said in English. “But when the shooting starts, I think we might have a chance to overpower the guards.”
“Yes,” Cabot agreed.
“Bento, tell the Brazilians to be ready.”
Bento spoke very quietly to the three sailors from the monitor, and Cade saw them nod in agreement.
“Fuego!” the Paraguayan officer shouted, and gunfire erupted. The three who were supposed to be guarding Cade watched in fascination as the bullets tore into the women and children.
“Now!” Cade shouted.
There were six prisoners to three guards, and though the guards were armed, they weren’t attentive. They were quickly overpowered and relieved of their rifles. Cade now had one of the rifles, and when the solider he had taken it from tried to shout out, Cade made a vicious butt stroke into the guard’s face, and he saw several teeth fly out as the man went down.
Bento also had one of the rifles, but the third rifle wound up in the hands of one of the Brazilian sailors. The Brazilian bayoneted all three of the guards.
While the execution of the women and children continued, Cade and the others made good their escape, hurrying down to the river where the Brazilians led them onto the Algoas. By the time Cade and the others boarded the little armored craft, the Paraguayan colonel realized what was happening, and he ordered his soldiers in pursuit.
The retaining ropes were loosed, and as the boat began to drift out into the middle of the river, Cade and the others climbed down inside, and closed the hatch.
The pursuing soldiers, more than a hundred of them, got into boats and paddled after the Algoas. At the moment, the monitor was without power so the soldiers were able to overtake it quickly and scramble aboard.
The Western Adventures of Cade McCall Box Set Page 11