by J. T. Edson
Hissing more like an enraged bobcat than a human being, Irène followed the red head and essayed a backhand horizontal slash. A desperate bound carried Calamity not only clear of the blow but in the direction of the lance. Snatching it up in both hands, she swiveled and jabbed at her approaching opponent. Now it was the Metis’ turn to be on the defensive, but she showed no sign of being frightened by the prospect. Jumping away from the needle sharp diamond section head as it lunged in her direction, her lips were drawn back in a snarl of hatred made even more hideous by the effect of the war paint.
The girls circled each other for several seconds, with Calamity jabbing and swinging the lance and Irène unable to do anything more than use her agility to evade it. Soon their breath was hissing in short pants and perspiration flowed freely. Too freely as far as the Metis was concerned. While her wig remained in place in spite of all that had happened so far, streaks appeared as the walnut juice stain used to darken her skin began to be washed away.
While it appeared on the surface that the red head had the advantage, she was unaccustomed to handling the lance and its length, ideal when mounted as it was intended to be used, made it cumbersome to wield when on foot. Realizing her difficulties, she took a desperate chance. Making what appeared to be another jab, she threw the weapon at the Metis. As Irène’s right hand knocked it aside, Calamity plunged forward in a dive to tackle her around the knees and toppled her on to her back. Losing her hold of the knife as her shoulders thudded on to the ground, her reaction to being in such close contact with her opponent was purely feminine. Almost of their own volition, her fingers sank into the sweat-soddened red curls. Tugging with all her might, she put such vigor into the effort that she hauled Calamity along her own recumbent body.
Feeling as if the top of her skull was bursting into flames and on the point of being torn away, the red head’s response was just as instinctive. Her own hands went for hair, but what she grabbed was a well-made wig. It came away in her grasp. As she was flinging it aside to snatch at the genuine article, she heard startled and furious yells from the Indians.
As if in echo to the chiefs’ shouts, Calamity heard Cavallier yelling something in his native tongue. Being unable to speak French, she did not know what the words were:
‘Die, you English bastard!’
Chapter Seventeen – The Jan-Dark Hasn’t Come
Noticing how Irène Beauville’s body stain was beginning to wash away as a result of her exertions, Arnaud Cavallier was aware of the danger arising from its removal. He knew that if she should be exposed as a fake, his own life would be placed in jeopardy. Those six arrogant young Indian war chiefs would show no mercy to a man who had tried to mislead them and, by doing so, would make them a laughing-stock among the members of their respective nations when – as he did not doubt Jerry Potts and Sandy Mackintosh would see it did – the news was passed around.
When le Loup-Garou saw Calamity Jane and the bogus Jan-Dark crashing to the ground and how the latter acted on landing, he guessed what would happen. So his right hand was reaching for the hilt of the J. Russell & Co. ‘Green River’ knife, a weapon with which he was more proficient than his Colt Civilian Model Peacemaker. If he had doubted his summations, they were verified by the Indians’ response to the sight of Irène’s wig being torn away to expose her short tawny colored hair. Furiously indignant yells burst from them and they turned their angry faces in his direction.
To give Cavallier his due, cowardice could not be listed among his many faults. Faced with not only the ruination of all his dreams, but also death – or at least arrest, which was almost certain to end in his execution – he did not hesitate in deciding how he wished to meet his end. There was also, he considered, a slight possibility that he might yet salvage something from the deteriorated situation. If not, he preferred to go out fighting and his savage nature demanded that he was avenged upon the man who had done most to bring about his downfall.
‘Die, you English bastard!’ le Loup-Garou roared in French, snatching the knife from its sheath and springing towards Captain Patrick Reeder.
Having drawn similar conclusions to those of his leader, Roland Boniface arrived at a different solution to his dilemma. He had no desire to die. Wanting to escape and being cognizant of the difficulties doing so entailed, he decided his best chance lay in using the slender “blonde” as a hostage. Once he had a grip on her and his knife at her throat, he could compel Jerry Potts and Sandy Mackintosh to protect him from the Indians. In doing so, they would also be too occupied to oppose his departure themselves.
With that in mind, the Metis sent his right hand to his knife and lunged in Belle Boyd’s direction with the left stretching out to catch hold of her.
Although Calamity heard the commotion, she paid no attention to it. Already she was aware that the bogus Jan-Dark was as strong an antagonist as she had ever encountered. What was more, unlike almost every other brawl in which she had participated, this would be a fight to the death as far as her opponent was concerned. She could not spare as much as a glance to try to find out how her friends were faring. Instead, as she just managed to move her face far enough to avoid the bite aimed at it and was rolled from the upper position, she gave thought to doing something more effective than trying to make Irène’s hair suffer the same fate as the wig.
During their association, the Remittance Kid had studied and formed an accurate assessment of Cavallier’s character. From what he had learned, he had been able to make an accurate guess at how the Metis would react in the kind of situation that was developing. Aware that he would be the target, he had not allowed himself to become engrossed in watching the fight to the exclusion of everything else. Keeping le Loup-Garou under observation from the corner of the eye, he had seen the Green River knife leave its sheath and was already drawing his badik when the attack was launched.
As Irène had done, Cavallier was handling his knife in the Indian fashion. Hoping to take his intended victim unawares, he swung it above his right shoulder for the powerful downwards slash which could prove so effective. Or, depending upon the circumstances, so dangerous to the one making it. Just an instant too late, he discovered that he was not achieving the surprise he wanted. Swinging around and stepping to meet him, the Kid was producing the badik in the manner of a gun fighter performing a cross draw. Unable to halt the impetuous rush, or even try to turn aside, le Loup-Garou began to bring the knife over and down in a desperate bid to sink home its blade.
Startled exclamations broke from the two scouts as they realized what Boniface had in mind. Before either could begin to bring his rifle into a position where it could be used to deter the Metis, Belle took the matter out of their hands. Seeing her start to turn her back on him, Boniface assumed – as he had anticipated might happen – she intended to escape his attentions by running away.
Such, however, was not the case.
Looking over her left shoulder, Belle bent forward and dropped her hands to the ground. Although Boniface believed that, instead of flight, she was trying to pick up the revolver she had laid aside when meaning to challenge Irène, he discovered he was once again in error with regards to her intentions. Taking her weight on the hands, she propelled both legs into the air and thrust them backwards. The soles of her Hessian boots rammed into the center of his chest. Such was the strength of her slender, wiry frame that he was sent staggering backwards and the knife flew from his hand. He did not go down and, snarling with rage as he managed to halt the involuntary retreat, he snatched at the Colt 1860 Army revolver in his open topped cavalry pattern holster.
Sharing Calamity’s awareness of the risks involved in trying to catch the descending arm with one hand, the Kid also employed his left forearm to block the blow. While doing so, he directed the badik in the manner to which its design was ideally suited. Held horizontally, the butterfly blade shot forward to pass between Cavallier’s left ribs. Combined with its recipient’s impetus, the force of the “pinch grip” thrust caused th
e knife to penetrate the chest cavity to the depth of thumb and forefinger. Killed as the razor sharp steel ripped open his heart, le Loup-Garou went down. With him died his dream of establishing an independent Metis nation over which he would have made himself a dictatorial ruler.
Still watching Boniface as she was dropping her feet to the ground, Belle threw herself sideways in a rolling dive. Her right hand closed on the ivory handle of the revolver which had been presented to her during the War Between the States by the Confederate arms’ manufacturers, Dance & Bros., of Columbia, Texas. Jerking it from its contoured holster in passing, she ended her roll on her back. Sitting up, she grasped the smooth butt – modeled on that of the Colt 1851 Navy and, arguably, the finest pointing grip ever fitted to a revolver – in both hands for greater steadiness and, drawing back the hammer with her thumbs, sighted along the seven and a half inches round barrel.
With Boniface’s Army Colt clearing leather and starting to turn in her direction, the Rebel Spy squeezed the Dance’s trigger. Flying to the point at which it was aimed, the .36 caliber round soft head bullet made its entry in the center of his forehead to kill him instantly and burst out at the back of his skull. Although his last effort before death took him was to fire a shot, it flew harmlessly into the woodland beyond the edge of the clearing.
Cocking the Dance as she came to her feet. Belle looked around and decided she had had no need to do so. To her relief, she discovered that the Kid was unharmed. The blade of his badik was smothered in blood along its entire length and Cavallier sprawled motionless at his feet. None of the Indians was displaying hostility. Having looked around when the two Metis had launched the attacks upon herself and the Englishmen, they were returning their attention to where Calamity and Irène were continuing to fight without a thought for anything except one another.
‘Let’s stop them, Rem!’ Belle suggested, coming to her feet.
‘Leave them be, Colonel Boyd!’ Mackintosh ordered and Jerry Potts nodded vehement agreement. ‘Yon lassie of yours’s called the play and she’s got to see it through – And she’d better win, so the Indians will know for sure the Jan-Dark hasn’t come.’
Much as doing so went against the grain, the Rebel Spy and the Kid accepted the scout’s assessment of the situation. Standing side by side, they watched as savage and vicious a fight as either had ever witnessed.
For the next fifteen minutes without a pause, Calamity and Irène went at each other with complete and unabated fury. Rolling over and over locked in each other’s grasp, kneeling to trade punches and slaps indiscriminately at faces, shoulders, breasts and stomachs, coming to their feet to punch, kick, or wrestle, they went across the clearing from side to side and back in the direction of the fire. Neither could gain more than a brief ascendancy throughout the whole period, being so evenly matched in size, strength, weight and skill.
If Irène had expected her not inconsiderable knowledge of savate would give her an advantage, she was soon dissuaded. During the visit to New Orleans Calamity had mentioned to Cavallier, she had been embroiled in conflict with a girl who employed such methods and was able to cope with it. Nor did the red head’s training in using her fists stand her in as good stead as it had against her opponents during the brawl at the Worn Out Tie Saloon. She landed some good punches on the Metis, but received almost as many equally well thrown in return.
Attaining the upper position after a vigorous period of thrashing over and over on the ground in a wild mill of flailing or intertwining arms and legs, Irène managed to press her left knee into the supine Calamity’s stomach and her right fist clawed up her knife. Writhing desperately to try to break the pin, the red head grabbed for and caught the Metis’ wrist in both hands before she could bring the retrieved weapon into use. Grinding with the knee, Irène sank her left fingers and thumb like the talons of an eagle into Calamity’s right breast, crushing and twisting the mound of flesh savagely.
In spite of the terrible torment being inflicted upon her, the red head retained some semblance of conscious thought. While she put her left hand to trying to drag the fingers from her bosom, the right continued to cling to the wrist and hold the knife away. Shaking her head from side to side in agony, something familiar nearby caught her eye and caused her to remove the left hand from its abortive task. Clawing wildly, her fingers found and enfolded the plaited leather of the bull whip. Grasping it where the two foot long handle joined the lash, she raised and swung it to catch her assailant at the side of the head with the counterweight knob on the end.
Although the blow was not delivered with Calamity’s full strength, it arrived hard enough when combined with a surging, back arching heave, to dislodge Irène. Thrown clear of the red head, she did not drop the knife. They came to their feet almost simultaneously. Swaying in exhaustion, croaking in their desperate attempts to replenish tormented lungs with air, they stood on spread apart legs for a few seconds. Then, as the whip slipped from Calamity’s grasp, Irène gave what should have been a shriek of rage – but which emerged as a whistling gasp – and, raising the knife, staggered forward.
Instinct rather than thoughtful planning caused Calamity’s response, but it proved nonetheless effective for that. Placing the thumb of her left hand along the back of the right and forming a hollow U-shape with her fingers, she threw them up. As Irène’s wrist descended into them, they closed about it and, twisting her body aside, she jerked downwards. Missing its intended target, the Metis could do nothing to halt the now undesirable descent and it curved around to bury the blade deep into her own stomach. Giving as near a scream of agony as her depleted lungs could utter, she tore herself free from the red head’s grasp. With her hands trying to withdraw the weapon, she staggered onwards for a few steps. Then her legs buckled and she fell forward to drive it in again.
Turning and swaying, Calamity stared at Irène for a moment. Raising her eyes, she saw Belle, the Kid and the two scouts running towards her. Her last thought as she collapsed, fainting with exhaustion, was that the Indians now knew the Jan-Dark was an impostor and the threat of a mass uprising of Indians and Metis was at an end.
Appendix
As in the British game of pontoon, the object of the game of blackjack is to get a higher count – the total value of cards in hand – than the ‘banker’, who also deals, up to but not exceeding twenty-one. The jack, king and queen each score ten and the ace, at the player’s discretion, one or eleven. Should the player draw cards taking his total over twenty-one, he sacrifices any chance to beat, or tie with, the banker. The main differences between pontoon and blackjack are:
In pontoon the first and second cards are dealt face down. In blackjack, the banker deals each of the players’ first card face down, but turns his first face up. Then he deals the second card to each player face up, but leaves his second face down.
In pontoon, after receiving the second card, the player can either ‘stick’ with what he has, ‘twist’ and obtain another card or more to bring his total closer to twenty-one without any increase on the amount wagered upon the first two, wherein he receives the additional cards face up; or he can ‘buy’, increase the wager, and is dealt the additional cards face down. In blackjack, one can only ‘buy’ extra cards and these are dealt face up.
In a private game, unless the rules stipulate otherwise, any player dealt a ‘natural’ – an ace and any card valued at ten – is entitled to take over the ‘bank’ and becomes the dealer. If allowed by the rules, the following alternative bets are allowed:
‘Insurance’: made when the dealer’s up-faced card is an ace. A player may elect to wager up to one half of his original stake that the ‘banker’s’ next card will be a ten, jack, queen, or king. If a ‘natural’ eventuates, the bank collects the player’s original bet, but pays out ‘insurance’ at two to one.
(b) ‘Double down’: if a player’s count for two cards is nine, ten, or eleven, he may double his bet, but must turn all his cards face up and can only draw one more card face down, u
nless he has a count of nine and draws a deuce. In this case, he may double the doubled bet and draw again.
(c) Splitting pairs: when the player is dealt two cards of the same value – it can only be two jacks, queens, or kings, not two of different denominations which score ten – on the initial round, he may ‘split’ them and play each as an individual hand. If he does, he has to duplicate his original bet on the second hand. Should he make another pair with the cards he receives, he is entitled to split again.
In any game, the ‘bank’ always plays last. If no players have survived, he merely takes in all the bets without continuing himself. If players are left, he must face his ‘hole’ card and, should his count be less than sixteen, he must take another. Then he can decide, as he must if the original count was seventeen or over, whether to try to get closer to twenty-one. He wins from all those whose score is lower than that upon which he stands, loses to those who are higher, up to twenty-one, but any which tie ‘stand off’, no one collects, no one loses. In the event of the banker being dealt a ‘natural’, he takes all stake monies without further action, the exception being any player who had also been dealt a ‘natural’ and whose bet stands off.
In casino games, where the house is also the ‘bank’ regardless of players’ ‘naturals’, ‘propositions’ on the following lines are offered:
Two nines and three aces in one hand pays a bonus of twenty-five dollars on any bet larger than the limit’s minimum, the latter stipulation applying in all cases.