Stranglehold

by William W. Johnstone

  “Hey, who do you think that was that throwed the cell key in through the back winder like he done?” Hunter asked.

  “I don’t know,” Libby said. “When I clumb up on the bed to try ’n get a look to see who it was, he was already gone.”

  Hunter laughed. “I’ll bet that foreign-talkin’ sheriff is goin’ to be some surprised when he comes back ’n sees us gone.”

  “Yeah, well, we ain’t a-goin’ to be gone if we don’t get them horses saddled ’n get out of here afore anyone sees us.”

  * * *

  By alternating his running and walking, Wang reached the town of Cottonwood Springs shortly before midnight. Most of the houses and buildings were dark, but one of the buildings, a saloon, was brightly lit. Even from where he stood, Wang could see that it was quite busy. Moving down the alley, he reached the saloon, climbed up the back of the building, and let himself in through a dark window.

  As he stepped inside he could hear the rhythmic breathing of a woman who lay sleeping alone in the bed. He had stepped into the bedroom of one of the working girls of the saloon, who, fortunately, was not entertaining a man in her bed at the moment.

  Walking very quietly so as not to awaken her, Wang crept over to the door, then let himself out into the hall. He followed the hall until it reached a balcony that overlooked the main floor of the saloon. Stepping out onto the balcony, he kept in the shadows and moved all the way down to one side where he could remain hidden. Unseen, he could observe and listen to what was being said below.

  Most, but not all of the customers were wearing the uniform of Schofield’s Legion.

  “If you ask me, we shoulda just kept on shootin’ them cannon at the town while we had the chancet. Why, when we had all six of ’em, we coulda blowed up ever house ’n buildin’ in town,” one man was saying.

  “Hell, Muley, what good would that a-done? If we’da blowed up the whole town ’n kilt ever’one in it, then the town wouldn’t be worth nothin’.”

  “Yeah, ’n they wouldn’ta been able to run us away neither, would they?”

  “Hey, look!” someone said. “There’s Libby ’n Hunter!”

  Looking toward the front door of the saloon, Wang saw the two men who had just come in. The last time he had seen them, they had been prisoners in the Antelope Wells jail.

  “We thought you two was dead!” someone said.

  “Yeah, how’d you get here?” First Sergeant Cobb asked. “I seen both of you get shot off your horses.”

  “Yeah, we was shot, but we wasn’t bad hurt,” Hunter said.

  “Well, where’ve you been? How come you just now gettin’ here?”

  “We’re just now a-gettin’ here on account of after we was shot, we was took to jail,” Libby said.

  “Then if you was in jail, how’d you get out?”

  “Did you know we got us a friend in Antelope Wells?” Libby asked.

  “Yes, I heard we had someone in the town,” Lieutenant Fillion said. “Nobody knows who it is, though, not even the Prime Director.”

  “Yeah, well the way we figure it, he’s the one that let us out of jail,” Libby said.

  “You’ve met him then? Who is it?”

  Libby shook his head. “We don’t know. We didn’t see ’im. He just throwed some keys in from the back alley is all he done.”

  “Don’t forget the note,” Hunter said.

  “What note?” Fillion asked.

  “The note that got throwed in with the keys,” Libby said.

  “What does the note say?” a new voice asked.

  “Prime Director!” Libby said, glancing toward Schofield and General Peterson, both of whom had just come in.

  “You were speaking of a note as I stepped in,” Schofield said. “Who did it come from, and what did it say?”

  “It’s like I told the others, Prime Director,” Libby said. “We didn’t neither one of us see who it was that throwed the keys in to us, but whoever it was, also throwed in the note. ’N I don’t know what it says, ’cause seein’ as it’s addressed to you, neither me nor Hunter read it.”

  “Hell, that don’t mean nothin’,” one of the others said. “Hunter can’t read nohow.”

  The others laughed then grew quiet as Schofield read the note, doing so aloud.

  “‘MacCallister and the Home Guard he has assembled are making plans to free the Bootheel. To that end, they intend to attack you in Cottonwood Springs and destroy the legion.’ It is signed, Angus Pugh.” Schofield looked up with a grin on his face. “Mr. Pugh has just provided us with some very valuable intelligence. Gentlemen, they are planning on attacking us.”

  “Oh, damn! They done give us one whuppin’,” one of the men said. “I ain’t lookin’ forward to them comin’ here ’n givin’ us another ’n.”

  Schofield shook his head. “Worry not about that. Forewarned is forearmed. The fact that we know they are coming has already taken away any advantage of surprise they might have. The surprise will be on our side. Come, gentlemen, we must prepare for our visitors.”

  * * *

  It was just after dawn when Duff was awakened by a tap on his door. He reached for the pistol by his bed. “Yes?” he called.

  “It is Wang,” said the quiet voice from the other side.

  Ten minutes later the two men were drinking coffee in the hotel dining room.

  “The name is Pugh, Angus Pugh,” Wang said.

  “What? Who is Angus Pugh?”

  “The man who lives among us but is a spy for the enemy is called Angus Pugh.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “I heard them say the name.”

  Duff was quiet for a long moment before he spoke again. “So they know that we plan to attack them, do they?”

  “Yes.”

  “All right. We’ll just have to deal with it.”

  “I shall require paper and pencil,” Wang said.

  Duff went into the hotel lobby and got a sheet of paper and a pencil from the desk clerk. Returning to the hotel dining room, he gave the two items to Wang. Wang was working on the paper when McGregor and Campbell arrived a few minutes later.

  “Good, ’tis an early breakfast ye have come to,” McGregor said. “We’ve a bit of bad news.”

  “Our prisoners have escaped,” Campbell said.

  “Aye, this I know. ’Twas someone from the alley who tossed in the keys to provide the means for Hunter and Libby to escape,” Duff replied.

  “Och, then that explains why the keys were lying on the floor and the door to the cell was open when I went in this morning,” Campbell said.

  “Tell me, Captain, how is it that ye know of such a thing?” McGregor asked.

  “Wang heard Schofield and his men talking about it last night.”

  “What? Wang heard Schofield talking?” Sheriff Campbell asked. “But how is this possible?”

  “Wang was in a saloon in Cottonwood Springs. The person who freed the prisoners is the one among us who is the traitor. He freed the prisoners, and he sent a note telling Schofield that ’tis our intention to attack him today.”

  “Och, then that means he will be ready for ye. Best ye not attack, for I fear that with foreknowledge Schofield will establish a position that is impregnable,” Sheriff Campbell said.

  “Nae so, my dear Sergeant Major. We have an advantage over Mr. Schofield now.” Duff smiled and lifted a finger.

  ” Aye,” McGregor agreed, joining in the smile. “The brigand doesn’t know that we know that he knows.”

  “My goodness, that’s a lot of knows,” Meagan said as she and Elmer approached the table then.

  “The more knows there are, the more knowledge there is,” Duff said cryptically.

  “What?”

  Duff brought her up to date on the situation, including the fact that someone had helped Hunter and Libby escape the night before.

  “Wang, what are you working on so hard?” Meagan asked, seeing the Chinaman concentrating so hard on the paper that he had failed to e
ven notice her arrival.

  “This is a map of Cottonwood Springs.”

  “Aye, ’tis a good idea,” McGregor said. “For with the map, I think we can see where best to make the attack.”

  “Aye,” Campbell added enthusiastically. “Let’s draw up a plan for the attack now.”

  “I intend to do so,” Duff said. “But the general has been so helpful that I would nae like to draw up plans without him.”

  “Captain MacCallister, ’tis wondering I am why ye lack the confidence to do something without confirming every move with the general. Remember ’twas I who invited ye here to help defend the town,” McGregor said. “I would nae want ye to forget that the sergeant major and I are not without experience in matters military.”

  “Believe me, Leftenant Colonel, ’tis well aware I am of the martial acumen of both ye and the sergeant major. But I was thinking of General Culpepper’s unique situation in that he knows Schofield and has fought against him before.”

  The expression of irritation that had so quickly discomposed McGregor’s face just as quickly left to be replaced by an easy smile. “Aye, of course that would be the case. And I agree ’twould be wise for ye to make plans with the general.”

  During breakfast Chris Morley came in to the hotel dining room, then crossed over to the table where Duff and the others were sitting. Morley saluted, and Duff returned the salute.

  “Captain, uh, I mean General, do you have any particular time when you want me to have Hawkins to blow Assembly on his bugle?”

  “Are most of the men at home with their families now?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Then let’s give them at least another hour. With what is in front of them, the more time they can spend with their families, the better it will be.”

  “Yes, sir,” Morley said, saluting once more before leaving.

  McGregor and Campbell left soon after Morley departed, leaving Duff and the others to linger at the table for another cup of coffee.

  Duff stared into his coffee for a long moment, as if steeling himself to ask a question of Meagan. Finally, he said, “Meagan, have ye ever heard the name Angus Pugh?”

  She smiled. “Angus Pugh? Yes, of course I have.”

  “And would ye be for telling me lass, where ’tis that ye have heard the name?”

  “Why, Duff, you know as well as I do where I heard the name. Angus Pugh is the villain in the book I’m reading now, Pirates at Ebb Tide.” Having brought the book with her, she held it up to show him. “Here, I’ll read a bit to you.

  The moon, waxing crescent, was little more than a silver sliver in the midnight sky, sometimes emerging, sometimes slipping behind high, fleecy clouds. The USS Intrepid, a fairly small, two-masted, gaff-rigged, square tops’l ketch, slipped through the night. The whisper of wind spilling from the sails and the quiet ripple of water along its sleek hull made the only sound.

  At the bow of the ship, Lucas McKenzie kept a sharp eye for hidden reefs. Six months earlier a French Naval Ship, Victoire Ailée had run aground on such a reef. Now that formidable vessel, which boasted twenty-three eighteen-pound guns and sixteen carronades capable of shooting thirty-two-pound cannonballs, was flying the black flag of the pirate Angus Pugh.

  Meagan looked up from the book. “Angus Pugh, the pirate.”

  “Angus Pugh is the name of our traitor,” Duff said.

  “Why, Duff, you know that Angus Pugh isn’t a real person. He is but a character in a book that Charles McGregor wrote.”

  “Aye,” Duff said with a saturnine nod of his head. “I well know who wrote the book, and where the name comes from.”

  * * *

  “Prime Director?” Libby said, approaching Schofield at headquarters when nobody else was around.

  “Yes, what is it?”

  “This here Pugh feller, the one that throwed in keys and the note?”

  “Yes, what about him?”

  “They was actual two notes, the one you read before, ’n the one was in this envelope.”

  “Why are you just now giving it to me?”

  “On account of what it says on the outside of the envelope,” Libby replied, handing the missive over to Schofield.

  Private message for Schofield only

  Schofield took the envelope, then looked pointedly at Libby. For a moment Libby didn’t understand why Schofield was staring at him so intently, then he realized that he was being told to go away.

  “I’ll, uh, leave you to read your letter,” Libby said.

  Schofield waited until Libby was gone, then he opened the envelope and took out the letter.

  Schofield,

  MacCallister plans an attack on your positions at Cottonwood Springs. It is my belief that he now has enough well-armed men to successfully dislodge you. Should you see that happening, I would suggest that you abandon the field of battle, leaving your men behind to cover your withdrawal. You can always recruit more men, but without you, the revolution will fail.

  Just north of the San Simon Ridge is an abandoned cabin at the base of the Pyramid Mountains. There is water nearby. I have stocked the cabin with bacon, beans, flour, and coffee. Should it be necessary for you to escape, I will meet you there, and we will discuss our future options. I will, of course, identify myself with the challenge and password we have established.

  Angus Pugh

  Chapter Thirty-one

  “He will, in all likelihood, put his guns here.” In the dining room of the hotel, General Culpepper pointed out a position on the map Wang had drawn. “This will give them a field of fire toward advancing troops, and, because the guns are set up in a densely populated area, it will be difficult to return fire without endangering innocent civilians.”

  “Aye,” Duff said with a nod of his head. “He is just evil enough to do that very thing.”

  Culpepper examined the map a bit longer. “Here and here”—he pointed to two more places—“are natural choke points because the streets lead you here.” Culpepper smiled. “He will be attempting to use our own tactics against us, because we will have an easy go of it until you reach here. Then he can quite easily establish an ambuscade that will prevent you from going any farther forward, or even from withdrawing, without being subjected to extremely heavy fire. And, as Schofield will have no particular concern as to what might happen to innocents who may be caught in the crossfire, I have no doubt but that he will employ his cannons here.” He pointed again. “And since they are smooth bores, he will undoubtedly have some scrap metal cut up for the shot. At close range one gun can be devastating.”

  “Aye, I’ve seen cannon deployed in such a way before. Seems to me like the most important thing we can do is take care of the guns before we start our attack.”

  “Have you any idea as to how you might do that?” General Culpepper asked.

  “Nae, but I’ll be giving it some thought,” Duff said.

  * * *

  Schofield and Peterson were eating apple pie that Frederica had baked for them when Fillion came into what had been Mayor Gilbert’s house in Cottonwood Springs.

  “Prime Director, General,” Fillion said. “They’re here”

  “Where are they?” Schofield asked as he lifted a bite to his mouth.

  “They are no more than five hundred yards south of town,” Fillion said. “They’re in easy range for the cannons, and they are making no effort whatever to advance any farther or to go to cover. I think we should take them under cannon fire.”

  “No,” Schofield said. “That is exactly what they want us to do. If we use our guns on them, we’ll not only give away their position, we would not be able to use our grapeshot loads, for they would lack the range we would need. It is best to wait.”

  “You mean we’re just goin’ to let them stay out there?”

  “Yes, Lieutenant, we are just going to let them stay out there,” Peterson said. “Can’t you see what they are doing? They are trying to lure us out after them, or at the very least draw cannon fire from us.
That would compromise our position. The Prime Director is right. We’ll just wait them out.”

  “Of course I am right, General,” Schofield said in a voice that showed his irritation. “And in the future, it will not be necessary for you to validate anything that I might say. The simple fact that it is I, saying it, is validation enough.”

  “Yes, Prime Director,” Peterson replied.

  * * *

  “Captain Morley, you know what to do,” Duff said from the steps of the Dunn Hotel.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You may begin.”

  “Bugler!” Morley called. “Begin the sequence of calls.”

  Hawkins blew “First Call,” then “Reveille,” “Assembly,” then “Guard Mount,” “First Sergeant’s Call,” then “Dismounted Drill,” then “To Arms” and “Tattoo.” Then he played them all over again. With every bugle call the assembled troops fell out, moved from one position to another, then reassembled in a new formation in a new location, doing so with shouts and hoorahs.

  * * *

  “What the hell are they doing?” First Sergeant Cobb asked from south of town.

  “It looks like they are trying to coax us into attacking them,” Fillion said. “They are wanting to draw us out.”

  “That is correct,” Schofield agreed. “Pass the word for everyone to remain in position. We will not fall for their trick.”

  “Yes, sir, Prime Director,” Fillion replied. Then he shouted to the others. “Hold your position, men! We are well defended here and will make them come to us. When they do attack, kill as many as you can.”

  * * *

  With Schofield and his men occupied by the diversionary maneuvers being conducted by Morley and the rest of the Antelope Wells Home Guard, Duff, Elmer, and Wang circled the town unseen, then snuck in from the north, which was the opposite end from where Schofield and the legionnaires waited for what they were certain was an impending attack.

  Schofield’s three heavy guns were set up in the middle of the main street, purposely placed there so any artillery fire directed toward them would endanger the town itself. The gun crews stood by their guns, looking to the south end of town, awaiting the order to fire. Because of that, none of them noticed Duff, Elmer, and Wang as they approached.