Ole Devil and the Mule Train (An Ole Devil Western Book 3)
Page 19
liv Being in a hurry to rejoin the mule train, Ole Devil Hardin and Tommy Okasi had not taken the epee de combat as neither had wished to be encumbered by carrying it without a sheath.
lv Possibly so that, in the event of anything going wrong, there would be a scapegoat other than his son, Villena’s father had appointed an older man with military training - who had subsequently fallen during the battle at Santa Cristóbal Bay - to be the commanding officer of the Arizona Hopi Activos Regiment.
lviColonel José Gonzales de Villena y Danvila, see Chapter XIII of A Ship of the Line by C S. Forester.
lvii The second Mexican column was the Tamaulipa Brigade under the command of General José Urrea, who was to gain notoriety for his inhuman treatment of prisoners. In addition to having the twenty-one surrenderees executed at San Patricio, he later ordered the coldblooded slaughter of almost four hundred Texians who had fallen into his hands at Goliad.
lviii Conestoga wagon: one that is large, very heavily built, with its bed higher at each end than in the middle so that its contents would not spill out when going up and down hills. Its dull white canvas cover had a similar curve, but to a more pronounced degree. The wheels were broad, as an aid to going across country where there were no trails. Also called a ‘scoop’ wagon.
lix Compass system ferry: instead of being hauled across the river in a straight line, the boat was held at the required angle by guy ropes at each end and utilized the pressure of the current against the sides to swing it in an arc from one bank to the other. It could only be used on comparatively narrow rivers, but was cheaper as it did not need any other form of motive power.
lx Stentor: according to Grecian mythology and Homer’s Iliad, a Greek herald in the Trojan War whose voice had the volume of fifty men.
lxi The State of Louisiana uses the word ‘Parish’ instead of ‘County’.
lxii Share-cropper: a tenant farmer who contracts to pay a share of his produce as his rent instead of money.
lxiii Due to an inspired piece of trickery causing a change in both sides’ strategy, the Texians finally crossed the Brazos River some miles south of Washington-on-the-Brazos, at what was then known as Groce’s Place, on April 12th and 13th, 1836. Having captured two canoes and a flatboat at Thompson’s Ferry - which later became the town of Richmond, seat of Fort Bend County, Texas - the Mexicans went over on April 14th, paving the way for the final battle. Further details of how all this came about and the result are given in Ole Devil at San Jacinto.
lxiv Details of the special Japanese archery points and their use is given in Ole Devil at San Jacinto.
lxv Brio escondido: ‘hidden vigour’, stamina and endurance of an exceptional standard.
lxvi Shogun: the hereditary commander-in-chief of the Japanese Army until the post was rescinded in 1868. Corrupted by foreigners to ‘tycoon’, the name added another word to the English language.
lxvii ‘Quick-match’: a cord impregnated with black powder to produce an exceptionally fast burning fuse for igniting flares, fireworks and explosive charges.
lxviii The Battle of New Orleans: the final engagement of the U.S. War of 1812, fought on January 8th, 1815, ending in a decisive victory for the United States. For a loss of seventy-one casualties, they killed almost two thousand troops including Major-General Sir Edward Pakenham, who had commanded the ill-fated expedition. This is an even more glaring example than is given in the endnote regarding the effect of slow communications. Peace had been signed in Ghent, Belgium, fifteen days earlier, but the news of this had not been received by the combatants.
lxix House-Indians: unlike the nomadic, hunting and raiding tribes, the predominantly pastoral and agriculturalist Hopi, Zuni and kindred nations tended to build and live in permanent houses instead of using transportable lodges and tipis.
lxx Morpheus: in Grecian mythology the son of Hypnos, God of Sleep and God of Dreams in his own right.
lxxi Ole Devil Hardin could not present all of the scouts with a caplock rifle as, in their eyes, this would have lessened the honor and respect he was paying to the chief by making the gift.
lxxii This is a trait shared by warrant and non-commissioned officers who served in the now disbanded Kings African Rifles Regiments. One with whom I worked for several months during the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya had been to England and taken the Drill Instructors’ Course at the Brigade of Guards Depot, Pirbright, Surrey, shortly after World War II - during which he had served with distinction in, among other places, Burma. Although he could understand verbal instructions and read in English, it was only with reluctance that he would speak anything other than his tribal language, Wa-Kamba or the simplified form of Swahili that was the lingua franca of East Africa.
lxxiii On December 6th, 1835, at the end of a battle lasting for six days, General Martin Perfecto de Cós - brother-in-law of Presidente Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna - and his force of eleven hundred men had surrendered to the Texians at San Antonio de Bexar. Although Cós had accepted similar terms to those Ole Devil Hardin had been offered by Major Mendez-Castillo, he had broken his parole and was accompanying the Mexican Army which el Presidente was leading to crush the rebellion.
lxxiv Royal straight flush: ace, king, queen, jack and ten all of the same suit.
lxxv Up-cards: in stud poker, each player’s first or ‘hole’ card is dealt face down and the remainder - usually four, but there can be more depending upon the variation being played - are exposed.
lxxvi Further details of the importance set by Indian warriors to carrying a war lance are given in Sidewinder.
lxxvii Canister: a number of small balls packed in a metallic cylinder for ease of loading, but which spread like the charge from a shotgun on being fired.
lxxviii Having met with Mannen Blaze’s party while on a routine patrol, the captain of the Yellow Stone had agreed to go in search of the mule train. He had been contacted by the Tejas scout whom Ole Devil had sent to rind him and, learning of the danger, had come prepared to deal with it. Guessing that the Hopis would never have seen a steamboat, he had added to its shock value by blowing the whistle and causing the flames, extra thick smoke and sparks to be, given out.