by J. T. Edson
Taking sufficient time only for a drink of water and to compose himself on leaving the ferryboat, Tommy had told of his activities since parting company from his employer. One important point had been his suspicion that the Mexican officer with whom they had originally been in contact appeared to have assumed command of the Regiment following the death of its previous colonel. If that was the case, unless Ole Devil was mistaken, he would be more determined than any of his fellow officers to continue the pursuit and have a reckoning with them.
Having seen the party of braves setting off, while the remainder of the Regiment were making preparations to march, Tommy had guessed their purpose. Returning to his horse he had ridden in the direction from which he had come. Smaller, lighter and better mounted than any of the men he was seeking to avoid, he had increased his lead over them and, to the best of his knowledge, his presence ahead had not been discovered by the time he was at the river in the woodland.
Although, Tommy said, he had considered trying to delay the scouting party at the crossing, he had decided against putting his idea into effect. Prudence had dictated this decision.
His supply of arrows was rapidly diminishing. While he had retrieved the shaft that had ruined the Hopi’s bow and could use it again, the second that he had discharged had disappeared into the woodland and he could not delay moving on to search for it. Nor was there any other way in which he could obtain a fresh supply until he had rejoined the main body of the Texas Light Cavalry and replenished his quiver from the stock he had left with the baggage train. As his own were forty inches in length and had points peculiar to Japanese archery lxiv to influence their weight and balance, he could not substitute them with the shorter and—in his opinion—vastly inferior arrows both in construction and utility which he could have taken from the dead warriors at Santa Cristóbal Bay.
As an added inducement to caution, the little Oriental had realized that his employer must be informed as quickly as possible that the enemy were so close and in much greater strength than had been anticipated. With that in mind, he had continued to travel at the best speed his mount could produce. The big blue roan gelding had brio Escondido lxv and needed it to cover the miles separating him from his destination.
Shortly before reaching Hickert’s Landing, Tommy had climbed to the top of a hill. Searching his back trail with the aid of the telescope, he had not seen the Hopis’ advance party. That had meant they were at least three miles away.
Accepting the little Oriental’s summation, Moses Hickert had set about making preparations for departure. However, at his suggestion, Ole Devil had not waited until the work was completed. Leaving the owner and his family to carry out what was hopefully only the temporary disablement of the ferry, he had set off to rejoin the mule train. Fortunately, they had had sufficient saddles horses to supply Tommy, Mangrove Hallistead and himself with fresh mounts. The entertainer had offered his services in the defense of the consignment, but Ole Devil had convinced him that he would be better employed in ensuring that Major General Samuel Houston was informed of what had happened at San Patricio. So he was to accompany the Hickerts, with his wife riding in one of their wagons, when they set off to the northwest in search of the Republic of Texas’s Army. Tommy had also stayed behind, so that he could get some badly needed rest and keep watch at the San Bernard River.
Traveling hard, in spite of the fatigue that assailed him, Ole Devil had taken only sufficient pauses to allow his three horse relay—two from the Hickerts and his line-backed dun gelding, which he had not ridden—to rest. He had caught up with the mule train shortly before noon that day. After telling Diamond-Hitch Brindley, Sergeant Smith and Joe Galton of the latest developments, he had sent Tom Wolf—who had returned from a successful visit to San Phillipe—and three more of the Tejas Indian scouts to relieve the little Oriental. That had been three hours ago. Now, having ridden one of his borrowed horses into the ground and reduced the second to a state of near exhaustion, Tommy was coming to where the Texian was waiting. The tidings he brought were a mixture of good and bad.
Shortly before night had fallen, the Hopis’ advance party had come into sight of Hickert’s Landing. However, by that time the owner and his sons had taken and sunk the boat in the middle of the river. Although they had still been removing the cable, having no firearms, the braves had not attempted to interfere in any way. The Hickerts and the Hallisteads had taken their departure in the darkness, but the warriors had not offered to try and cross the river. Instead, they had waited on the western bank until the rest of their Regiment arrived the following morning.
Once he had come on the scene, the self-appointed Colonel Abrahan Phillipe Gonzales de Villena Danvila had wasted no time in setting about the task of going over the water. For all that, there had been a considerable delay before his Regiment could accomplish the crossing. Watched by Tommy from a distance, a party had swum to the eastern bank and, using timber wrested from the buildings, had started to construct rafts. However, once over, they had followed the consignment and ignored the tracks of the Hickerts’ small party.
‘They’re after us,’ the little Oriental finished, looking at his audience of Ole Devil, Di, Smith and Galton. ‘And they coming faster than the mules are moving.’
‘That figures, with Villena in command,’ the Texian replied. ‘A man like him won’t easily forget, or forgive, us for making him leave his sword when he ran away.’
‘What’ll we do, Devil?’ Di asked. ‘The Brazos’s only a couple of miles on, but I don’t see how we can get across it hereabouts. There’s no timber for us to make rafts and float the consignment over and she’s sure’s hell too deep and wide to take it across on the mules.’
‘There isn’t any chance of finding a boat we could use?’ Ole Devil asked, although he could guess what the answer was going to be.
‘Not’s I know of,’ the girl replied. ‘We could maybe go and take a look.’
‘That’s what we’ll do,’ Ole Devil agreed, getting to his feet. ‘You’d best come with me, Sergeant Smith.’
‘Yo!’ the non-com answered.
‘And you, if you will, Di,’ Ole Devil continued.
‘Sure,’ the girl assented.
Tired as he was, the young Texian knew that there was an urgent need to survey the situation and he was the one best equipped to carry it out. They had no hope of outrunning their pursuers. Nor could they reach safety before being overtaken. So, unless they could find some means of crossing the Brazos River, they would have no choice but to stop and fight. If that was the only choice, he wanted to select the best place for them to do it.
The mule train had been kept moving while the council of war had taken place. Catching up with it, Ole Devil left Galton in charge and pushed on with Di, Tommy and Smith. Studying the terrain as they were riding along, he concluded that the girl was correct. Although there were a few scattered trees, he could not see sufficient for them to be able to make rafts. However, on reaching the river, he decided that luck had not entirely deserted them.
Having passed through a deep gorge, some freak of nature caused the river on merging to make a U-shaped bend to the east forming a sizeable basin of land on the inside of the curve. There was a high and sheer cliff at the upstream arm of the ‘U’ and steeply sloping, rocky but otherwise fairly open ground on the lower side over which horses could only gallop with great difficulty and at considerable risk to their riders.
Gazing around, Ole Devil knew that no body of horsemen as large as the seven Companies of the Arizona Hopi Activos Regiment would be able to come closer than half a mile from the edge of the river without being detected. Furthermore, any mass attack down the sole means of easy access would have to be launched from a front slightly less than five hundred yards in width.
Against those advantages, there was only scanty natural cover for the defenders and the hard, rocky nature of the soil at the bottom of the basin, where they must take up their position, precluded the digging of other than very sha
llow rifle pits. In addition, unlike on the previous occasion when they had fought against the Hopis, not only was the size of their force drastically reduced but they would not have any element of surprise in their favor. Sufficient of the former attackers had survived and rejoined their companions to prevent a similar mistake being made. They would have been warned that the tactics upon which they had relied had failed due to the unexpected ability of the proposed victims’ weapons to fire in what should have been adverse, or at least, unfavorable, weather conditions.
Although there had been and might still be one possibility of salvation for the consignment, he did not intend to rely upon it materializing. He decided that, more in hope than expectancy, he would ask Tom Wolf—if the chief returned in time—or Di, for permission to send one of the Tejas scouts in each direction to seek and bring it to him if it should be available.
‘You’ve been along here before, haven’t you, Di?’ Ole Devil inquired, after he had explained the good and bad points of the hollow.
‘More’n once,’ the girl admitted.
‘Is there anywhere else that would be better that we could reach before the Hopis catch us?’ Smith asked, guessing what his superior was considering.
‘Nope, not’s comes to mind off hand,’ Di decided, having screwed up her pretty face in concentration and visualized what she could remember of that particular section of the Brazos River. ‘There’s nothing but open and level ground both ways from here on for maybe two days’ travel.’
‘They’ll be on to us before then,’ Ole Devil warned, and glanced into the hollow. ‘So this’s where we make our stand. Let’s go back and fetch the train up.’
‘Shucks!’ the girl sniffed, studying the Texian’s and the little Oriental’s haggard and tired faces. ‘Ain’t no call for us all going. I reckon Smithie ’n’ me can ’tend to that. You pair stay here and rest up until we get back.’
‘You do that, Tommy,’ Ole Devil began.
‘And you, damn it!’ Di injected.
‘If I stop and sit down, I’m likely to fall asleep,’ Ole Devil protested. ‘And there’s too much to be done before I can let that happen.’
‘All right then,’ the girl answered, with an air of brooking no interference or refusal, but realizing that she had heard the truth. ‘You head back, Smithie. I’ll stop here ’n’ help you keep awake, Devil.’
‘Sure, Di,’ the sergeant agreed, for once not looking to his superior for guidance. ‘Have you any orders before I go, sir?’
‘Only one,’ Ole Devil replied, noticing that the non-com had said ‘before I go’ instead of asking if he could leave, but making no comment or protest. Knowing that the other was acting with his best interests at heart, he decided it was not the time to stand on the formalities that should be due to his rank. Having received permission from Di to use the scouts as he had envisaged, he went on, ‘And gracias, the pair of you.’
‘Es nada,’ Di drawled. ‘I’m used to having to talk sense to fool menfolks.’ Her gaze swung to Tommy and she continued, ‘And here’s an old ’n’ wise Texian saying’s I’ve just now made up. A feller’s looks as dad-blasted tired’s you do’d best get down and take some rest afore he falls down.’
‘Now I know it’s time for me to brave the Shogun’s lxvi wrath and go home,’ the little Oriental informed his employer.
‘Get some rest afore you go,’ the girl advised, apparently unmoved by the baleful glance at her that had accompanied Tommy’s words. ‘If you don’t, you’ll never make it.’
‘She’s right, amigo, much as I hate to have to say it,’ Ole Devil went on. ‘Go and have some sleep. I wish I could.’
‘How’d you fix to handle things, Devil?’ Di asked, watching the slump-shouldered and swaying little Oriental riding away and realizing just how close to complete exhaustion he must be. If anything, his exertions recently had been even greater than those of his employer.
‘Like I said, make a stand on the banks down there,’ the Texian replied, speaking slowly as he struggled to remain awake and thinking. ‘We’ll make the Hopis suffer the heaviest casualties possible and still stop them taking the consignment.’
‘How do you figure on doing that, take it across the river?’
‘I doubt if there’s any way we could do that in the time. Nor is there much chance of us moving the ammunition over without it getting ruined by the water. Even if we did, with the hatred he has for us, Villena would keep after us. No. I intend to stop him here—or make him believe there’s no point in continuing the pursuit.’
‘How?’ Di demanded.
‘As soon as the mules get here, I want you to have them unloaded and moved across the river,’ Ole Devil explained, being aware that at least one of his subsequent proposals was going to meet with considerable opposition when the girl heard it but equally determined it would be carried out. ‘We’ll move over as many of the caplocks as we can. They’ll not take any harm if they get wet, greased up as they are. I’ll keep, say four, loaded and ready to be used for every man who volunteers to stay with me—’
‘Volunteers?’ Di repeated.
‘There’ll be no way that anybody who stays with me can escape,’ Ole Devil elaborated. ‘I won’t order my men to do it on those terms.’
‘Knowing them, there’s not one who’ll say “no”,’ Di stated.
‘It will be their choice,’ Ole Devil replied and felt sure that the girl was correct in her assumption. ‘We’ll stack up all the remaining ammunition behind our positions and cover it with a tarpaulin so that it looks as if the whole consignment’s there ready to be taken.’
‘Only it’ll be fixed so’s they can’t lay their cotton-picking hands on it happen they whup us,’ Di guessed, although—having already seen several examples of the young Texian’s skill at making plans to take care of possible contingencies—the words came out more as a statement.
‘There’ll be a powder flask in the middle, with a piece of quick-match fixed down its nozzle and taken to the back of the pile,’ Ole Devil confirmed. ‘When there’s no further hope of holding them off, Sergeant Smith will set fire to it and take some more of them with us.’
‘There’s some’s might say that’s a real sneaky trick to pull on them poor Injuns,’ Di commented dryly, but she was even more impressed by the further evidence of her companion’s forethought. Realizing that the need might arise to prevent the consignment from falling into the wrong hands, he had the presence of mind to procure a length of ‘quick-match’ lxvii fuse cord from General Houston’s headquarters and carry it with him.
‘We’ll sure teach them varmints a lesson they’ll not soon forget.’
‘Yes,’ Ole Devil agreed, and he dismounted, ready for the storm which he knew would soon be breaking. ‘You can count on my men and I to do that.’
Swinging from her saddle, so as to join the Texian on the ground, Di suddenly realized how his comment had been worded.
‘What’s all this about you and your men?’ the girl asked grimly, stepping to confront the young man. ‘Just where in hell do you reckon me ’n’ my boys’ll be at while you’re doing it?’
‘Across the river, with the mules,’ Ole Devil replied.
‘Like hell we will!’ Di blazed. ‘If you reckon we’re going to sit on our butts over there while you and those boys of your’n’re getting killed—’
‘That’s the way it has to be,’ Ole Devil said, seeming to grow calmer as the girl became more heated and indignant.
‘If you think because I’m a woman—!’ Di burst out.
‘That’s got nothing to do with it,’ Ole Devil interrupted, placing his hands on her shoulders. ‘And you know it.’
‘God damn it, Devil!’ Di almost shouted, feeling his grasp tighten slightly as she tried to step away. Seeing the tension on his face, she refrained from continuing the attempt and her voice became milder as she went on, ‘You can’t ask me to leave you and your boys—not with what you’re asking them to do.’
‘You’
re wrong, Di,’ Ole Devil contradicted, but gently, looking straight into her eyes. ‘If I can ask them to die, I can ask you to live.’
‘But—!’ the girl began, wishing she could turn her head and avoid his disconcerting gaze.
‘My men and I are soldiers,’ Ole Devil went on. ‘It’s our duty to fight and, if need be, get killed—’
‘You let me side them at the top of Santa Cristóbal Bay,’ the girl protested, but with far less vehemence than previously.
‘That was to shame the Dragoons into doing things the way I wanted,’ Ole Devil pointed out, and his voice took on a slightly harder edge. ‘I’d not take kindly to you thinking my men needed that sort of inducement to make them fight.’
‘Such a thought never entered my head!’ Di objected indignantly. ‘Those boys of your’n—’
‘Will do their duty,’ Ole Devil finished for her, resuming his previous almost emotionless drawl. ‘And I’m counting on you to do yours.’
‘Then let—’
‘Even if you didn’t have to deliver all the caplocks we can get across the river to General Houston, those trained packers an’ mules are too valuable to him for you to lose them here.’
‘But with me and my boys helping you—’ the girl commenced hopefully.
‘The result would be just the same,’ Ole Devil interrupted and took his hands from her shoulders. Glancing down the slope, he found that Tommy was already lying on the ground, wrapped in a blanket and, using his saddle for a pillow, asleep. ‘I’m not selling your men short as fighters, Di. With them at our side, we’ll delay and kill more of the Hopis, but the rest will swamp us under by sheer weight of numbers. Believe me, I don’t want to do it this way. But there’s no other. So will you do as I’m asking—please?’