by J. T. Edson
‘Damned if that fool dog isn’t good for something on occasional,’ Alvin drawled. Deducing from the nods of approval which had followed his explanation that it met with his companions’ approbation, he became more sober and continued, ‘Trouble was that I got so riled thinking how it caused that cowhand to be killed when I figured out what had knocked the other fellers down, I yelled I knew and that’s what set off the whole shooting match.’
‘Day you stop getting riled when some innocent and law-abiding feller’s murdered by owlhoots is when I’ll start worrying about you,’ Tragg declared and there was a general rumble of concurrence from the rest of the men.
‘Gracias, sir,’ Alvin replied gratefully, but the words were intended as much for his companions as his superior.
‘It’s almost a pity we’ll have to have that place blown up,’ Tragg remarked, after telling his men the arrangements which were being made to prevent their intervention from receiving too much attention. ‘Anyways, I’ve had a call from the Attorney General this morning. He says there’s a feller the New York Police want to talk to hiding out in Juarez. Jubal, you and Alvin head down that way and see if you can persuade him to come back across the border.’ [75]
‘Straight away?’ the small Texan asked, despite realizing he and his partner were selected to prevent the truth about his visit to Grouperville being made public.
‘Why sure,’ the Major confirmed, smiling. ‘You’ve stopped having the easy life of a deputy sheriff now you’re a Texas Ranger, Alvin Fog.’
Seeing the grins and nods of agreement from the rest of the sergeants which followed their commanding officer’s last words, the small Texan knew he had won his acceptance as a Texas Ranger and a member of Company “Z”.
About the Author
J.T. Edson was a former British Army dog-handler who wrote more than 130 Western novels, accounting for some 27 million sales in paperback. Edson’s works - produced on a word processor in an Edwardian semi at Melton Mowbray - contain clear, crisp action in the traditions of B-movies and Western television series. What they lack in psychological depth is made up for by at least twelve good fights per volume. Each portrays a vivid, idealized “West That Never Was”, at a pace that rarely slackens.
If you enjoyed the westerns of J. T. EDSON, you may also enjoy the westerns of
BEN BRIDGES and MIKE STOTTER:
BEN BRIDGES:
APACHERIA SERIES:
Apacheria
Lockwood’s Law
ASH COLTER SERIES:
Gunsmoke Legend
Ride the High Lines
Storm in the Saddle
COMPANY C SERIES:
Hit ’em Hard!
To the Death!
HELLER SERIES
Heller
Heller in the Rockies
JIM ALLISON SERIES:
Rattler Creek
Blood Canyon
Thunder Gorge
JUDGE AND DURY SERIES:
Hang ‘em All
Riding for Justice
Law of the Gun
Trial by Fire
Barbed Wire Noose
Judgment Day
MOVIE TIE-INS:
Day of the Gun
O’BRIEN SERIES:
The Silver Trail
Hard as Nails
Mexico Breakout
Hangman’s Noose
The Deadly Dollars
Squaw Man
North of the Border
Shoot to Kill
Hell for Leather
Marked for Death
Gunsmoke is Gray
Cold Steel
Mean as Hell
Draw Down the Lightning
Flame and Thunder
THREE GUNS WEST (Writing with Steve Hayes):
Three Rode Together
Three Ride Again
Hang Shadow Horse!
WESTERN LEGENDS (Writing with Steve Hayes):
The Oklahombres
The Plainsman
THE WILDE BOYS SERIES:
The Wilde Boys
Wilde Fire
Wilde’s Law
Aces Wilde
STAND-ALONE WESTERNS:
Ride for the Rio!
Back With a Vengeance
Blaze of Glory
Tanner’s Guns
Coffin Creek
The Spurlock Gun
All Guns Blazing
Cannon for Hire
Montana Gunsmoke
Starpacker
Cougar Valley
SHORT STORIES:
Five Shots Left
MIKE STOTTER
McKINNEY WESTERNS:
McKinney’s Revenge
McKinney’s Law
BRANDON AND SLATE SERIES:
Tombstone Showdown
Tucson Justice
STAND ALONE WESTERNS:
Death in the Canyon
SHORT STORIES:
Six Trails West
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More on J. T. EDSON
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[1] Just how many years this has been, was brought home to me recently. I was standing at the bar of my ‘spiritual’ home, the White Lion Hotel in Melton Mowbray, one evening when one of the Women’s Royal Army Corps’ dog trainers from the Royal Army Veterinary Corps’ Depot came up and asked, ‘Are you J. T. Edson?’ When I modestly admitted I was, she went on, ‘ My dad was reading your books when I was in kindergarten.’
[2] As Cap Fog’s clothes clearly came from there, I suspect that the management of Luskey’s Western Stores, Inc., of Fort Worth may have helped organize the meeting, but neither Ellen Kurtzman nor David Luskey will confirm my supposition.
[3] Tommy Okasi is not the man in question’s real name. It is an Americanized corruption of the one he gave when rescued from a derelict vessel in the China Seas by a ship under the command of the father of General Jackson Baines ‘Ole Devil’ Hardin, C.S.A. Details of the General’s and Tommy’s early careers are given in the author’s Ole Devil Hardin series.
[4] A samurai was a member of the Japanese lower nobility’s elite warrior class and who usually acted as a retainer for the Daimyos, the hereditary feudal barons. A masterless samurai who became a mercenary was known as a ronin. During the mid-Nineteenth Century, shortly after Tommy Okasi’s departure, an increasing contact with the Western World was bringing an ever growing realization that the retention of a hereditary and privileged warrior class was not compatible with the formation of a modern and industrialized society. Therefore, various edicts issued by the Emperor between 1873 and ’76 abolished the special rights of the samurai and, although some of their traditions and concepts were retained, they ceased to exist.
[5] Told in: ROOM 13, THE MIND OF MR. J. G. REEDER, RED ACES, MR. J. G. REEDER RETURNS and TERROR KEEP, by Edgar Wallace.
[6] I subsequently did as Cap Fog suggested. In addition to giving me permission to publish what became CAP FOG AND J. G. REEDER, Ms. Penelope Wallace presented me with the notes her father had made concerning the affair. She also introduced me to Mr. James Garfield Reeder at the pre-opening reception of the Edgar Wallace Pub on Essex Street, London W.C. 2 and he added his own details.
[7] These include: SET A-FOOT, BEGUINAGE, BEGUINAGE IS DEAD!, THE REMITTANCE KID, THE WHIP AND THE WAR LANCE, THE GENTLE GIANT, plus Belle ‘the Rebel Spy’ Boyd, Martha ‘Calamity Jane’ Canary and Betty Hardin episodes of J.T.’s LADIES.
[8] Although Jackson Marsden Fog has not received the acclaim accorded to his father, Dustine Edward Marsden ‘Dusty’ —details of whose career are given in the author’s Civil War and Floating Outfit series—or his son, Alvin Dustine, the records of his exploits as the sheriff of Rio Hondo County prove he was equally competent as either a peace offic
er or a gunfighter.
[9] How this was brought about is told in: GOODNIGHT’S DREAM; FROM HIDE AND HORN; SET TEXAS BACK ON HER FEET and THE HIDE AND TALLOW MEN.
[10] The author suspects that the trend in movies made since the mid-Sixties to portray cowhands as long haired and filthy had risen less from the producers’ desire for ‘realism’ than because that was the only kind of performers available. In our extensive reference library, we cannot find a dozen photographs of cowboys—as opposed to mountain-men, Army scouts or prospectors—who have long hair and bushy beards. In fact, our reading on the subject has lead us to assume that the term ‘long hair’ was one of derision and opprobrium in the cattle country then as it is today.
[11] And, as is demonstrated in the author’s Rockabye County series covering the work of a present day Texas sheriff’s office, still are. Some details of two earlier members of the Tragg family who served as peace officers in the Old West are given in: SET A-FOOT and BEGUINAGE IS DEAD
[12] A description of hunting big game with a pack of hounds and of some of the other breeds which are used is given in: HOUND DOG MAN.
[13] As was the case with master cattlemen Charles Goodnight, Captain Dustine Edward Marsden ‘Dusty’ Fog, C.S.A., never attained the rank of Colonel. It was a term of respect given in his later years, gained by his courage, integrity, and ability as a fighting man and leader. See Chapter Four ‘The Death Bringer’s Orders’ SIDEWINDER.
[14] Lady Winifred Amelia ‘Freddie Woods’ Besgrove-Woodstole. How she and Dusty Fog met is told in: THE MAKING OF A LAWMAN and THE TROUBLE BUSTERS.
[15] Soft-shells and liberadicals are left wing intellectuals, or liberals of radical persuasion.
[16] A description of how dangerous a failure to take such a precaution could be is given in: THE FAST GUN.
[17] The Colt Frontier is the name given to a Peacemaker chambered for the Winchester .44-40 bullet—caliber .44 of an inch and with a forty grain powder charge—permitting the same ammunition to be used in the revolver and the Model of 1873 rifle.
[18] See Part Two ‘Jubal Branch’s Lucky B.A.R’ of this volume.
[19] It was not until the author received the notes upon which this volume is based that he learned a nephew of Tommy Okasi, who was also trained as a samurai warrior, had come to the United States and taught Alvin Fog ju jitsu and karate.
[20] According to the legend, arriving alone in a town which had requested assistance to quell a riot, a Texas Ranger was asked how many more of his companions were coming. ‘None,’ the Ranger replied. ‘There’s only one riot, isn’t there?’
[21] As yet, the term “fighter” had not come into general usage. Despite an ever increasing employment for aerial combat, aeroplanes designed specifically for such duties were still referred to as scouts, which had been their original function during the earlier days of World War I.
[22] Strafing: to attack troops, emplacements and other enemy positions with machine-gun fire and, later, bombs or rockets, delivered by low flying aircraft. From the German word strafen, to punish.
[23] Developed by Colonel Isaac Newton Lewis, U.S.A., from a design invented by Samuel McClean, the Lewis was one of the earliest and most successful light machine guns. Although by 1918 a stripped down version had been produced for use in aircraft, it had been discovered that—lacking the slipstream to produce the effect—the ground model required a cooling system to prevent jams being caused by the mechanism overheating. This gave a weighty inclusive of the bipod mounting and drum magazine filled to its forty-seven round capacity, of up to thirty-seven pounds. Believing that the Lewis gun could not handle the chamber pressures and velocity of the .30-06 cartridge in general service, the United States Army refused to accept it and it was put into use by Great Britain but not by the American Expeditionary Force.
[24] Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, the countries opposing the Allied Nations, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the United States, etc., in World War I.
[25] Although in general the male members of the Fog family were shortish in stature, those with Jackson Marsden’s build occasionally cropped up. His grandfather, Alvin Baines ‘Hondo’ Fog, was another example of this divergence.
[26] In military parlance, a carbine was an arm designed for use by cavalry and other mounted troops. The Kar’s was actually a slightly shortened rifle.
[27] The signal shouted by Lieutenant Jackson Fog was the battle cry given when his father and other members of the Texas Light Cavalry were attacking the Yankees in the War Between the States. See the various volumes of the author’s Civil War series.
[28] In the course of his lifetime, John Moses Browning (1855—1926) designed some sixty-four types of firearms ranging from single shot rifles via the Colt Government Model automatic pistol, pump action and semi-automatic shotguns, to 57mm. aircraft cannon, the majority of which had different principles of operation. He makes a guest appearance in the author’s CALAMITY SPELLS TROUBLE.
[29] Walking fire: the concept of a line of men advancing with hand-held weapons capable of maintaining a fully automatic sustained fire so that it would literally sweep the enemy out of the way.
[30] The change lever was pushed forward to the letter ‘F’ to fire single shots.
[31] See Case One: Alvin Fog’s Mistake in this volume.
[32] As is recorded in .44 CALIBER MAN and A HORSE CALLED MOGOLLON, Tam, Sergeant Colin Breda’s paternal grandfather also had been a peace officer in Texas.
[33] Local tradition stipulates that only those citizens who have been residing for at least five years in San Antonio, Texas, are entitled to employ the colloquial name San Antone.
[34] In London, although the sets could only receive, the Metropolitan Police had had the first of their vehicles equipped with radios in 1922.
[35] Two-way communication is only between the dispatcher’s transmitter and a vehicle, but with three-way communication messages can be passed between the dispatcher and a vehicle or between one vehicle and any other with similar equipment.
[36] During the campaign against Communist terrorists in Malaya, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps used ambush breaking dogs in a similar fashion. Selected for size and aggressiveness, the dogs were trained to attack when a shot was fired in their direction and, by doing so, create a diversion which would allow the handler and his patrol to locate, then deal with the assailants.
[37] Benjamin Woodwedge would have been disappointed if he had reached his destination. Hearing further shooting after the B.A.R’s solitary discharge, Toby Minehead deduced that Cranston Scargill had failed to deal with whoever was beyond the bend. So he had turned their vehicle without waiting for confirmation of his supposition, or to see whether his companions would join him. Setting off in the direction from which he had come, he was intercepted by two police cars dispatched out of San Antonio and surrendered without a fight.
[38] An example of the way in which Sergeants Alvin Fog and Jubal Branch could act in complete accord and without needing discussion is given in: Part Ten, Alvin Dustine ‘Cap’ Fog, ‘A Chore For Company “Z”.’ in J.T.’S HUNDREDTH.
[39] Bomber Boy, also known as a ‘revenuer’: an investigator in the Enforcement Branch of the Inland Revenue Service’s Alcohol & Tobacco Tax Division.
[40] Further information regarding the proclivity of Jack County’s citizens for operating illicit liquor stills is given in: THE LAW OF THE GUN and Part Three, ‘The Trouble With Wearing Boots’ THE FLOATING OUTFIT.
[41] Ole Yellowboy was the colloquial name for the Winchester Model of 1866 rifle derived from the color of its brass frame.
[42] Apache used in this context does not mean the Indian nation of that name. Pronounced ‘a-pash’, it is the name given by Parisians to a class of small-time criminals who once infested the city’s streets. They are best known for the apache dance which it is claimed they originated. In this, the man throws his female partner around the room and drags her across the floor by the hair.
[44] Mountain cur: a mongrel with a mixture of coonhound blood, generally used for hunting small game such as raccoon which take to the trees when pursued.