Ole Devil at San Jacinto (Old Devil Hardin Western Book 4)

by J. T. Edson

  When the two intruders had satisfied themselves on the latter point, and when several minutes had gone by without any more Mexicans leaving the woodland, they had resumed their withdrawal. The passage through the trees had been without incident and, approaching the rendezvous, Ole Devil had warned Dimmock of their pending arrival by whistling a few bars of the popular ballad, ‘Will You Come To The Bower I Have Shaded For You?’

  As an added example of the young captain’s forethought, the countersign had been for the lieutenant to respond with the thrilling, if bloodcurdling, strains of the ‘Deguello’. This was the traditional Spanish ‘March of No Quarter’, warning of throat-cutting or other forms of merciless death and it was said to have been played continuously all through the final assault upon the Alamo Mission to inform the defenders of their forthcoming fate. So it was one tune no Mexican would expect a Texian to use.

  Checking to make sure they were not being followed, Ole Devil and Tommy had accompanied Dimmock to the bottom of the fold. However, for all their awareness of the lieutenant’s interest in their activities, they had made preparations for spending the night in what comfort was possible before offering to satisfy his curiosity.

  ‘How will that affect us tomorrow?’ Dimmock asked, deciding that his superior’s estimation of Santa Anna’s state of mind was accurate. ‘He’s going to be madder than a bobcat dropped on the lid of a red hot stove and just as likely to come up spitting and clawing.’

  ‘But he won’t be sure who he should start doing the spitting and clawing at,’ Ole Devil guessed. ‘We didn’t leave any of the “reward posters”, or our “letter from the Government”. So he’ll not know whether it’s us, or some of his own men, who are after his hide.’

  ‘He’ll make sure that his bodyguard are a lot more watchful tomorrow, though,’ Dimmock pointed out.

  ‘Nobody in the camp will be getting much sleep tonight,’ Tommy commented, being occupied with removing the string from his bow after spreading his bedroll and laying the depleted quiver of arrows on it. ‘And, according to an ancient and wise Nipponese saying—’

  ‘Which he’s just now making up,’ the lieutenant sighed, although he was too wise to discount any summations made by the little Oriental, even when they were delivered in such a guise.

  ‘Man whose night has been disturbed is less wary than one who slept well and woke refreshed,’ Tommy finished, unabashed by the interruption. ‘Unworthy bodyguard of dishonorable warlord may be more wary tomorrow, but illustrious gentleman should be able to carry out his duty in spite of that.’

  ‘So now you know,’ Ole Devil said dryly. ‘Which of those heathenish devices did you use on the second sentry, Tommy?’

  ‘A wata-kusi,’ the little Oriental replied, after checking the contents of his quiver. ‘There wasn’t time to pick and choose, I just took the first that came to hand.’

  ‘I’m pleased you did,’ Ole Devil declared. ‘After seeing what one’s capable of doing, his amigos won’t be any too eager to face up to more like it. Let’s get some sleep. We’ve another hard day tomorrow.’

  ‘Is there any danger of patrols being sent out to look for you?’ Dimmock asked.

  ‘It’s not likely,’ Ole Devil guessed. ‘Like I said, Santa Anna doesn’t know who tried to kill him and I think he’d rather believe it’s somebody in his command than that we “foreign land thieves” would dare to try. And, even if he does send out search parties, the way some of his men were shooting, they’ll not be too eager to be wandering around in the darkness.’

  ‘I thought they were shooting at you,’ Dimmock said, having heard rifle fire from beyond the trees before his companions returned.

  ‘They may have thought they were,’ Ole Devil grinned. ‘But we weren’t where the shooting was being done. No, I don’t think we’ll have any trouble tonight.’

  ‘In that case,’ the lieutenant drawled, straightening up with an attitude of just too casual an ease. ‘I’ll put the “reward posters” and the “Government’s letter” in my saddlebags ready for tomorrow and grab me some sleep.’

  Watching Dimmock walk away and having caught the undertone of tension in his voice, Ole Devil put it down to a slight apprehension over the task which he was to carry out on the following day. However, the captain was convinced that, when the time came, he could be counted upon to behave in a satisfactory manner. When he had accomplished the assignment, he would never again need to worry about anybody casting aspersions on his courage.

  Equally observant and even more perceptive than his employer, Tommy drew a different conclusion from Dimmock’s attitude.

  ~*~

  At about the time that the two Texians and the little Oriental were settling down for the night, a council of war was commencing in Santa Anna’s striped marquee. However, there was no longer any trace of the evening’s earlier festivities. Although the table was now set on its legs, the lace cloth and its other fittings had been removed. Along with the gash left in the rear wall by the first wata-kusi arrow, only the holes in the roof and the top of the table served as reminders of what had happened.

  Not that any such aids to memory were necessary!

  Looking at el Presidente’s scowling face, none of the assembled officers believed he had forgotten, nor that he would be inclined to forgive after he had been brought so close to death.

  ‘I’m sorry, Your Excellency,’ Colonel Juan Almonte said, opening the proceedings reluctantly as every eye turned in his direction. He was standing rigidly at attention and had the appearance of a man who expected a storm to break over his head at any moment. ‘But we haven’t been able to find a trace of whoever tried to kill you.’

  ‘What was all that shooting we heard not long ago?’ General Filisola inquired, before his florid faced and fuming superior could speak.

  ‘It started when some damned fool in one of the bivouacs opened fire on us by accident,’ Almonte answered and, hearing a muffled snigger, he darted a baleful glare to where Ramon Caro was sitting at the elegant little portable escritoire which always accompanied el Presidente on his travels. There was little love lost between them and, under the circumstances, the secretary’s sneer was annoying in the extreme. ‘At least, it had better have been by accident, or—’

  ‘His Excellency was nearly killed just now,’ Caro pointed out, delighted over his hated rival’s discomfiture and determined to wring every possible benefit from it. ‘And that wasn’t by accident.’

  ‘I’m aware what happened without having any inky-fingered letter scribbler tell me!’ Almonte spat back. ‘Two of my men were killed—’

  ‘And what kind of watch do these men of yours keep?’ the secretary demanded, almost in a screech. He was furious at the way in which he had been described, but he lacked the courage to demand satisfaction for the insult. ‘The one who was knifed—’

  ‘Has been doing a lot of little jobs for you just recently,’ Almonte interrupted, seeing a way to turn the tables on his antagonist. ‘Perhaps he’d have been more alert—’

  ‘That’s enough!’ Santa Anna barked. Normally, he encouraged the hostility which existed among the members of his staff and turned it to his advantage. With the possibility of there being a plot to assassinate him organized by somebody under his command, he wanted nothing to distract them from the main issue. ‘This is no time for petty bickering among ourselves.’

  ‘Did the wounded sentry recover and talk, Your Excellency?’ Filisola asked, as the rivals relapsed into sulky silence.

  ‘He did,’ Santa Anna admitted, studying each of the faces around him carefully to see if any showed concern. There was none that he could discern, so he continued. ‘But all he could say was something about an Indian having killed him.’

  ‘An Indian?’ Almonte repeated, for there were a number of soldiers in the column who qualified for such a description, and it had been near the camp of one such group where the firing had started.

  ‘Considering that a bow and arrows were used,’ Caro sneere
d, ‘that isn’t very surprising.’

  ‘You wouldn’t know about such things,’ Almonte countered viciously. ‘But some of us who do have never seen Indian arrows looking like those which were used.’

  ‘Yes, but—’ the secretary began, angered by the rumble of concurrence from the other members of the staff.

  ‘Could it have been one of those damned Hopis who came back with the story about their regiment being wiped out by a gringo with a face like el Diablo who could call up a fire-spitting river monster?’ xlvi Filisola suggested. ‘One of them might have blamed you for their bad medicine, Your Excellency.’

  ‘I’ve never seen or heard of the Hopis using arrows like that,’ objected the overweight and over-dressed Colonel Ricardo Dromundo, speaking for the first time. The comment was mainly because of a natural instinct to contradict any suggestions made by other members of the staff rather than through any knowledge of such things. He looked at his brother-in-law and went on helpfully, ‘I could have their chief sent for—’

  ‘I’ve already done it,’ Santa Anna answered ungraciously, once again sweeping the faces of the men with a scrutiny filled with suspicion. ‘Of one thing I can assure you senores. I mean to get to the bottom of this business. And when I find out who’s behind the attempt to kill me, I’ll make them wish they had never been born.’

  Chapter Thirteen – Shoot, Damn You, Shoot!

  There was no sign of tension or apprehension about Lieutenant Paul Dimmock as he knelt, hidden, at the right side fringe of an extensive clump of tall, thickly growing bushes. Close by, also in concealment, Tommy Okasi had just mounted the big brown gelding and held the reins of Dimmock’s equally large and powerful bay. However, Ole Devil Hardin was missing. So were the reserve mounts which had been provided by the dead vaqueros. The absence of the latter suggested why the leader of the mission was not with his companions.

  Barely a quarter of a mile away from the two young men’s hiding place, Presidente Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was approaching along the trail. Paul Dimmock and Tommy Okasi were waiting to perform the duty for which they had travelled many miles and endured considerable hardships, not to mention the various difficulties and dangers they had encountered.

  As Ole Devil had predicted on his return from the visit to el President’s encampment, the party had spent an undisturbed night. Still making use of the acquired horses, as their personal mounts would need to be kept as fresh as possible, they were on the move again soon after dawn. They had kept a watch to their rear, but had not expected to see anything of the Mexican column before they arrived at their destination.

  Conducting a closer examination of the steep incline over which he had expressed an interest the previous evening, Ole Devil had announced that it met with his full approval. There were a few clumps of bushes in the vicinity and one of them might have been planted deliberately to meet their requirements. It was close enough to the trail for the plan to work, and sufficiently far from the steep slope for the horses to have time to gather momentum before they made their ascent. Furthermore the ground on either side of the rising trail could only be traversed at speed by determined, well mounted and excellent horsemen.

  Tommy and Dimmock possessed all three of the requisite qualities.

  After making sure that neither the lieutenant nor the little Oriental and their horses could be seen by anybody travelling eastwards along the trail, even when the latter were mounted, Ole Devil had left them to keep their vigil. Before leading away the spare animals, he had shaken hands and wished his companions every success. Now he was out of sight beyond the rim, ready to help cover their flight with his Browning Slide Repeating rifle if necessary and hoping that the need to do so would not arise.

  The plan would work far better if it was believed only one Texian and an ‘Indian’, or rather that particular ‘Indian’ was involved. For that reason, Tommy and Dimmock had discarded the sombreros and serapes.

  Studying the situation when their objective came into view, the lieutenant was impressed at the further confirmation of how capably his superior could assess the way in which another person would probably react to a set of circumstances. Ole Devil had claimed that Santa Anna might consider it inadvisable to make any major or too obvious alterations to the formation and behavior of the advance party.

  The summation proved to be correct.

  Apart from having the bodyguard of Popocatapetl Dragoons gathered more closely around him, which was not noticeable to the men in the column to his rear, el Presidente had made no significant change to the order of march which had been adopted on the preceding day.

  As Ole Devil had deduced from the facts that were available, much as Santa Anna might have wished to obtain the added protection they would offer, there were no scouts ahead or on the flanks of his retinue. He had not made use of them since taking up the pursuit of the Republic of Texas’s Army after the fall of the Alamo Mission. It had been his contention, made to boost the flagging morale of his long suffering soldiers, that such precautions were unnecessary as the ‘foreign land thieves’ were too terrified of his invincible warriors to do other than run away.

  Such behavior was typical of el Presideute’s carefully calculated disregard for his personal safety. He was now being compelled to pay the price for the advantages it had accrued in the past.

  In spite of the attempt upon his life, being experienced in such matters, Santa Anna was aware of the dangers which might ensue if he should change his arrangements. Not only would the suggestion that he was worried over his safety have an adverse effect upon the enlisted men, but it would strengthen the position of whoever was behind the abortive assassination. He held his position of complete authority because he had created a belief in his own courage. To exhibit what could be exploited, or even merely regarded, as weakness and caution could be fatal.

  However, small though Santa Anna’s only precautions might be, they were making Dimmock’s task more difficult. As in Tommy’s case when lurking outside the striped marquee, el Presidente was only fractionally visible between the leading members of the escort. The lieutenant knew that he did not have the means as Tommy to scatter the Dragoons and make Santa Anna a more accessible target. Nor was there time for the little Oriental to join him and carry out the scattering. Everything was too far advanced to start making any change in their plans.

  Dimmock was cradling the thirty-six inches long, half stocked barrel of his borrowed Hawken Model 1830 caplock rifle upon the angle formed by a sturdy branch and the trunk of his shelter. Obtaining an added stability for the ten and a half pound firearm was important at that moment. He needed to align the buckhorn backsight and the three-sixteenths of an inch ‘low’ silver bead foresight with great care.

  The rifle had been loaned to the lieutenant by Ole Devil Hardin as a replacement for the weapon which had been taken from him after Colonel James Walker Fannin had ordered the Fort Defiance’s contingent to surrender at Goliad. Despite only having had it in his possession for a few days, he had already fired it often enough to be conversant with its individual traits and was competent in its use. For all that, he knew he was going to need a certain amount of luck as well as all his skill to carry out the first part of his assignment correctly.

  Even when charged with its maximum load of two hundred and fifteen grains of black powder, the excellently constructed Hawken ‘Plains’ rifle could only throw its two hundred and seventeen grains, .53 caliber patched xlvii lead ball with complete reliability up to, at the most, two hundred and fifty yards. While it would kill over at least double that distance, the further away, the more remote grew the chances of placing a bullet exactly where it was required to go.

  There was, Dimmock decided as he was estimating the range carefully, only one possible solution.

  Santa Anna must be allowed to reach a distance at which a hit of the kind called for in the plan could be made.

  Doing this was going to place Tommy Okasi’s life in some additional jeopardy, but it would not m
aterially alter the rest of the scheme as far as Dimmock was concerned.

  Looking down from his place of concealment beyond the ridge, Ole Devil frowned as he estimated the decreasing distance between his companions and Santa Anna’s party. It seemed to him that Dimmock was delaying far too long. He frowned as he wondered if the lieutenant was intending to make a major alteration to his plan. He hoped not. Having accepted that the task could not be carried out without some risk to the participants, he had tried to reduce it as far as possible. By ignoring the instructions, Dimmock was increasing the danger and placing Tommy’s life as well as his own in even greater danger than was necessary.

  Suddenly a deep concern began to assail Ole Devil. Remembering the changeable way in which the lieutenant had been acting, he wondered if he had made the correct choice in allowing Dimmock to perform the assignment. After his preoccupied behavior the previous evening, the lieutenant had been a changed man since dawn. He had seemed cheerful and almost light-hearted, but not in a way suggestive that he was trying to cover fear of what lay ahead. If it had been, Ole Devil would have had no hesitation over how to act. As it was, to have refused to let Dimmock play the part that he had been promised would have aroused such resentment that he could never have regained his self esteem.

  Thinking back, Ole Devil realized that Dimmock’s attitude and the way he had shaken hands when they parted by the bushes was indicative of a man who, having wrestled with a serious problem, had reached a decision and meant to carry it through at all costs.