Ole Devil and the caplocks

by Edson, John Thomas

  "Did you run into trouble, Devil?" Rassendyll inquired, swinging around to look at the Texian.

  "Some," Ole Devil admitted, but nothing could be read from his Mesphistophelian features to suggest just how serious the trouble might have been. "With any luck, it's all over now."

  "Huh!" snorted Di. "The way those damned renegades lit out, they won't dare come back and, after what Tommy did to it, that blasted Mexican ship'U not be able to."

  "Renegades," the supercargo repeated. ''Ship!"

  "There were a bunch of renegades around," Ole Devil explained. "But Cousin Mannen arrived with Company 'C and drove them off. We found a ten-gun brig taking on water in the bay, but we tricked its captain into leaving. It went south and, provided we don't have any delays, we should have finished here and the ship'll be gone before it could beat back."

  "If I know Captain Adams, there won't be any delays. He knows too well what will happen to him if he's caught," Ras-sendyll stated, then glanced at the men with the horses. Knowing something of the Republic of Texas's newly formed army, he continued, "Is that your full company?"

  "Less than half of it," Ole Devil answered in a reassuring manner. "I've sent twenty-five men to the mule train in case they should be needed. The rest are beyond the rim, some keeping watch from the cliffs in case that Mexican brig comes back, the rest acting as pickets on the range."

  "Good," Rassendyll praised, finding that his misgivings about the small size of the escort were groundless. "If you'll bring the mules down, we can start loading them as soon as the consignment arrives from the brig."

  "It's not that easy," Di warned. "You can't move pack mules as quickly as riding bosses. So Grandpappy Ewart won't be able to get 'em here afore sundown at the soonest."

  "Sundown?" Rassendyll repeated, glancing at the sky as if

  to estimate how much longer they would have to wait. "Adams won't agree to stay in the bay until then."

  "He doesn't need to," Ole Devil replied. "In fact, he can leave as soon as he's sent the consignment ashore. One of the reasons we came on ahead of the mule train was so he could land it and set sail again with the minimum of delay."

  "On top of that," Di went on, bristling a little at what she regarded as the supercargo's implied criticism of their arrangements, "we figure on having the rifles packed ready for moving when Grandpappy Ewart gets here."

  "There's no need for that,'' Rassendyll protested. "We aren't carrying them loose, they're in boxes of twenty-four."

  "Our mules can tote twenty-four apiece all right, but not while they're in a wooden box," Di countered, and the supercargo could sense that the conversation was doing nothing to improve her opinion of him. "So we aim to take 'em out and put 'em in bundles of twelve."

  "Can you get us enough canvas from the ship to wrap them in, Beau?" Ole Devil inquired, hiding the amusement he was feeling over having noticed the girl's attitude toward his friend and recollecting that she had treated him in a similar fashion on their first meeting. "We were traveling fast and couldn't bring anything with us to make up the bundles."

  "I'll ask the captain to send some over," Rassendyll promised. "I was told that I could make any purchases which might be necessary."

  "Bueno," Ole Devil drawled.

  "You called it right, Beau," Mannen put in, before his cousin could continue. "They're surely not wasting any time. Here comes the first load."

  Propelled by four sailors, a boat was making a swift passage between the Bostonian Lady and the shore. At Ole Devil's signal, the men of his company left their horses standing ground-hitched by allowing the split-ended reins to dan-

  gle and walked to the beach. Without needing orders, they waded to where the boat had been brought to a halt. Taking hold of an oblong box's rope handles, two of them lifted and carried it on to dry land.

  "Open them up, Sergeant Grayne," Ole Devil instructed to a stocky, bearded man who had no insignia of rank but was standing aside with a short crowbar in his hand.

  "Yo!" the non-com replied, giving what was already the accepted cavalryman's response to an order.

  Prying open the box's lid, Grayne exposed its contents to view. Twenty-four rifles lay inside, their butts in alternating directions. Lifting one out, the girl examined it without worrying about the grease with which it was coated. About four foot in length, with a barrel thirty-six inches long and .53 in caliber, it looked a typical "plains" rifle developed with the needs of travelers west of the Mississippi River in mind. However, she noticed that there were three main differences between it and the weapons to which she was accustomed. Most obvious, at the breech, the hammer had a flattened head with no jaws for holding a flint and, instead of a frizzen pan, there was only a small protuberance with a nipple on top as a means of igniting the powder charge in the chamber. The third difference was a metal stud on the side of the barrel slightly over an inch from the muzzle.

  "It's a fair piece," Di stated with the air of a connoisseur after several seconds, and she indicated the stud. "But I've never seen a doohickey like this afore."

  "It's to fix a bayonet on, there's one for each of them in the bottom of the boxes," Rassendyll explained. "A company in the United States made them, hoping to sell them to the army, but the generals didn't want anything as newfangled as caplocks."

  "Which is lucky for Texas," Ole Devil declared. "Provided

  J. T. EDSON

  we can get them to General Houston, they could change history."

  "Then we'd best be getting to doing something more than standing and talking," Di announced, replacing the rifle and wiping her hands on her thighs.

  "I'll go and make arrangements for the canvas," Ras-sendyll offered.

  "Bueno," the girl replied. "We can start splitting 'em into twelves. Devil."

  Crossing to the Bostonian Lady in the jolly boat, Ras-sendyll bought sufficient canvas for Di's purpose. On his return to the shore, he found the work of making the consignment ready for onwards transportation was being carried out. So he took the opportunity to pass on some private information which he was sure Ole Devil would be very pleased to receive.

  "Kerry Vanderlyne has proved who killed Saul Beaucoup, Devil," the supercargo said, having taken his friend beyond the hearing of the rest of the party. "That clears your name. There's nothing to stop you going back to Louisiana."

  THERE COULD BE NO GOING BACK!

  "That clears your name. There's nothing to stop you going back to Louisiana."

  Beauregard Rassendyll's words still seemed to be keeping time with the big linebacked dun gelding's two-beat gait— wherein the off fore and near hind and the near fore and off hind alternately struck the ground at the same time—and Ole Devil Hardin tried to shake them from his thoughts as he rode "posting the trot"* into an area of woodland some five miles southwest of Santa Cristobal Bay. They had been so perturbing that, wanting to consider them without distraction, he had left Diamond-Hitch Brindley, Mannen Blaze and the supercargo to attend to the consignment of caplock rifles while he, ostensibly, made the rounds of the pickets.

  While Rassendyll's news had been very welcome in one respect, from another it had presented its recipient with the making of a very difficult decision.

  *A detailed description of how to ride "posting the trot" is given in the "The Scout" episode of UNDER THE STARS AND BARS.

  From the beginning of the affair that had caused Ole Devil to come to Texas, but he could have proved that he was innocent of Saul Beaucoup's murder but for one vitally important detail. He had had a perfect alibi, except that he could only use it by besmirching the honor of the woman he loved and creating a situation which could have had grave repercussions throughout the whole State of Louisiana.

  Not that Melissa Comforth would have objected, or refused to help Ole Devil. In fact, she had begged him to ignore the consequences and allow her to do so. Despite the precarious nature of his position, he had declined to accept her suggestion. He had appreciated the ramifications of permitting her to compromise
herself. They went far beyond the disastrous effect which such an action would have had upon her social standing and future.

  As was frequently done by upper-class Southrons, Melissa's parents had arranged what they considered to be a suitable and mutually advantageous marriage for her. Apart from one factor, she would have been content to conform with their wishes. The man in question was Kerry Vander-lyne, whom she had known since they were children. He was handsome and, while there had been no romantic feeling between them, she had always been on the best of terms with him. Unfortunately, shortly before their betrothal was announced, she had met and fallen in love with his best friend —Jackson Baines Hardin.

  Hoping to find some way of resolving the situation without hurting or embarrassing Vanderlyne, of whom they were both fond, Melissa and Ole Devil had met secretly to discuss it in an unoccupied cabin on the boundary separating her parents' and his uncle's plantations. Caught by an unexpected and violent thunderstorm, they were compelled to spend the night there. Although Melissa had contrived to return home

  the following morning without anybody discovering what had happened, a serious complication had arisen.

  During the night, a wealthy Iberville Parish* bully and trouble-causer, Saul Beaucoup, had been murdered in Crown Bayou.

  In spite of his family's social prominence, Kerry Vander-lyne, having become interested in law enforcement, was serving as town constable and deputy sheriff in Crown Bayou. So it had fallen upon him to conduct the investigation. All the available evidence had suggested that Ole Devil was the culprit. There was known to be ill will between him and Beaucoup and a sword belonging to him was buried in the other's back. What was more, while unable to make a positive identification, a witness claimed to have seen a man answering to Ole Devil's general description hurrying away from the scene of the crime at about eleven o'clock the previous evening.

  When questioned by Vanderlyne, Ole Devil had stated he was innocent. The sword was one of half a dozen he had brought with him and had been in the salle de armes at the Blaze plantation from where it could easily have been removed without the loss being noticed. However, he had refused to account for his movements at the time that the murder was being committed.

  There had been excellent reasons for Ole Devil's reticence and refusal to let Melissa speak on his behalf. When her parents heard what had happened, they would never forgive him even if he married her. Nor, no matter how Vanderlyne accepted the loss of his fiancee, would the rest of his kin. As the two families formed a powerful support for the Hardin, Fog and Blaze clan in the state's affairs, he had no desire to

  * The State of Louisiana uses the term "parish " instead of "county. "

  bring such an advantageous alliance to an end if it could be avoided.

  Although convinced of Ole Devil's innocence, Vanderlyne had been forced to take him into custody. Failure to have done so would have been contrary to the oath the young man had sworn on becoming a peace officer. In addition, it would have antagonized the Beaucoup family and their friends who were hinting that justice would not be done. So a refusal would have embroiled the citizens of Crown Bayou and the parish seat, Plaguemine, in the controversy. With so many influential people involved, most of Louisiana's population would probably have taken sides. Once that had happened, a feud of statewide proportions and costing many lives was almost certain to have developed.

  Being an intelligent giri, Melissa had not blamed Vanderlyne for arresting Ole Devil. She had also understood the latter's reason for insisting that she did not become involved, even to prove his innocence. Yet, with so much of the evidence suggesting that he was guilty, she was determined to save him. Taking Mannen Blaze into her confidence, she had found that he was willing to help her. However, neither of them had been able to decide what to do. The arrival of one of Melissa's cousins had provided them with a solution. Telling Rezin Pleasant Bowie* the full story, she had obtained his support. A shrewd man, he had produced a plan. Aided by Mannen, he had broken Ole Devil out of jail. No suspicion of his part had fallen upon Bowie. The cousins had fled to Texas, joining others of their kin who had already settled there and were taking an active interest in that area of Mexico's affairs, t

  * Rezin Pleasant Bowie, elder brother of James, q.v., and believed by many authorities to have been the actual designer of the "bowie" knife. t During the period in question, Texas was regarded by the Mexican Government as being a Territory of the State of CoahuUa. Santa Anna's refusal

  While the Beaucoup faction had been furious when they heard of the escape and had offered a large reward for the capture of Ole Devil and Mannen, nothing worse had happened. Tactfully, as the bounty said "Alive Only," the Hardin, Fog and Blaze clan had not protested at its issue. So, having no desire to antagonize such a powerful confederation, the Beaucoups had announced publicly that they accepted that the jail-delivery had been engineered by the two young men without the knowledge, authority or assistance of their family. With an apology from Ole Devil's and Mannen's fathers, made without any admission that the former might have been guilty, the affair had been allowed to come to a peaceful end.**

  As Vanderlyne had been handling a matter of law enforcement on the Beaucoups' behalf some distance from Crown Bayou at the time of the escape, one of the factors which Bowie had taken into consideration, his career as a peace officer, had not suffered on account of it. Not only was he retained in office—much to the annoyance of his father, who did not approve of him carrying out such work—but two years later he had been elected sheriff of Iberville Parish. He had continued to search for the truth about the killing, believing that—in spite of Ole Devil's escape and flight—some other person was responsible.

  The discovery that he had finally been proven innocent was a great relief to Ole Devil. Not only had his conscience been troubled by his having escaped from jail, although he had had more than his own welfare in mind when agreeing,

  to make it a State in its own right, with full representation in the national government, was one of the reasons for the Texians' resentment and bitterness.

  **In the author's opinion, the fact that the Beaucoup family did not take the matter any further suggests they suspected — or knew — the wrong man was being blamed.

  J. T. EDSON

  but he had hated the stigma which he felt his actions had put upon his name. On learning of the price which had been put on his head by the Beaucoups, he had adopted the hornlike style for his hair and cultivated the mustache and beard. He had always been aware of his features' somewhat Mephisto-phelian characteristics. So he had sought to emphasize them in spite of warnings from others of his family that they would draw attention and remind people of his nickname. It had not been a mere act of braggadocio, but was a subconscious wish to prove that—although he might have "gone to Texas"*—^he had no reason to conceal his true identity.

  However, the rest of Rassendyll's news had caused the young Texian considerable mental turmoil and heart-searching.

  Being aware of the consequences if he should return to Louisiana with the murder charge still hanging over him and having had no hope that his name would be cleared by the discovery of the real culprit's identity, Ole Devil had reconciled himself to making his home in Texas. Nor was there any chance of Melissa joining him. They had decided that at their last meeting, on the road west out of Crown Bayou just after he had made his escape from the town's jail. For her to have followed him would have meant the end of her engagement with Vanderlyne and the creation of the dissension between their respective families which they were trying to prevent. So they had put their duty to their kinfolk before their love for each other and had parted. Nor had they made any attempt to communicate and he had heard little about her until Rassendyll's arrival.

  While far from being promiscuous, having accepted that Melissa was in all probability lost to him, Ole Devil had not

  * ''Gone to Texas": at odds with the law in the United States. Many wanted men entered Texas in the period before annexation,
knowing that there was little danger of them being caught and extradited by the Mexican authorities.

  entirely shunned contact with members of the opposite sex since settling in Texas. Nor had the opportunity to meet them been lacking. Despite knowing why he had been compelled to leave Louisiana, or at least such of the facts as had been made public, he was still considered an eligible bachelor by virtue of his influential connections. More than one family had sought to interest him in its unmarried daughters, cousins or nieces. However, not one of the young ladies with whom he had become acquainted had drawn even close to replacing Melissa in his affections. What was more, according to the supercargo's story, there was a chance that she reciprocated his feelings.

  Although Melissa and Vanderlyne were still engaged, it had been announced that they did not intend to marry until he was in a position to support her in something close to the manner to which she was accustomed. The reason for the delay was that he had become estranged from his father by his insistence on remaining a peace officer and refusing to accept financial assistance from her parents. He had been so successful during his period in the capacity of sheriff of Iberville Parish that he was to be appointed U.S. Marshal for the State of Louisiana. Such an important post had brought a reconciliation with his father and would also allow him to take Melissa for his bride.

  The date set for Vanderlyne's appointment was the thirty-first of March!

  Everybody who knew the couple was expecting that their wedding would follow shortly, probably before the end of April!

  With his innocence established, Ole Devil was free to return to Louisiana and renew his relationship with the only woman he had ever loved. However, apart from any other consideration, he would have to leave Texas as soon as possi-

  J. T. EDSON

  ble if he wanted to arrive before she was lost to him forever by becoming Vanderiyne's wife.