by Ralph Cotton
“Yes, sir. One of the miners said he gave it to her right before they left the train. Said she shoved it down in her boot.”
The lieutenant winced. “That’s all we need right now…some unidentified terror-stricken female, out there with a loaded gun.”
“Begging your pardon, Lieutenant. But from what we’ve seen and heard of her…I’d hardly describe her as terror-stricken. Whoever she is, we can thank her that we didn’t lose more men than we did back there.” Sergeant Baines hesitated a second, then added, “The fact is, sir, I’ve heard of a young woman who fits her description. There’s a Ranger up in the high desert territory who rides with a tough little Spanish woman named—”
Lieutenant Howell cut him off. “Sergeant Baines, I appreciate that you’ve had vast experience in this barbaric land with all of its colorful people. But for now, let’s stick to the facts and the crisis at hand. We’ll be moving out of here in an hour. Get your men rested and fed quick time.”
“But, sir, I would be lax in my duty if I didn’t bring it to your attention—”
“That will be all, Sergeant.”
“Yes, sir.” Sergeant Baines fell back a step, then turned; and before walking away, he said in a lowered tone, “But if that is her, sir, the woman I’m talking about…we’d be wise to allow for her in whatever plans we make.”
“Her safety and the safety of Miss Vanderman is foremost in my mind, Sergeant. Of course, that goes without saying.”
“Yes, sir, but that’s not what I mean. I mean we should allow for what action she might initiate…on her own.”
“For crying out loud, Sergeant. She’s a hostage! A woman! What can she possibly be up to on her own?”
“If that’s the Ranger’s woman, Maria, sir, I would start thinking of her right now as more than just a hostage.”
“Oh? How then should I think of her?”
“Well…if it’s her, sir, we’d best start thinking of her as our inside resource. She’s on the job, sir. To her this is just another day’s work.”
Lieutenant Howell looked at him with a fixed gaze of authority. “That will be all, Sergeant Baines!”
“Yes, sir!” Baines snapped a salute and walked away across the campsite to where the men milled near their horses and ate strips of jerked beef, washing it down with tepid water from their canteens. “All right, men, make it snappy. Boots and saddles in an hour.”
A groan went up among the men. The corporal stepped forward, his blue shirt and galluses covered with dust. “Any luck convincing him we’re not up against a gang of Mexican thugs here?”
“None at all, Donnely. His report back to the fort says these are Mexicans…so they are Mexicans.” He shook his head and looked over the tired, sweaty men. “There will be no more talk about the Border Dogs. The lieutenant has informed me that they do not exist.”
“Jesus!” Corporal Donnely slapped dust from his leg with his hat brim. “Somebody needs to enlighten him as to how many young officers have been shot in the back while leading a charge.”
Sergeant Baines glared at him. “I’ll hear no more talk like that from you, Corporal.” He caught a glance of the men nodding in agreement with Donnely. “You’re here to follow orders, not make threats against our commanding officer.”
“Don’t high-horse me, Baines.” Donnely stepped forward, bristling. “I saw how you covered for his stupidity. Only a bloody fool would have brought that train out of the buttes into full view and stopped it there. We were sitting ducks! He’ll get these new men killed before this is over!”
“Lower your voice, Corporal,” Sergeant Baines hissed, stepping closer to him until they stood almost nose to nose. “For now, he’s in command.” His voice lowered even more, softening a bit. “Don’t you think I see how ignorant this young man is? If our men are to make it out of here alive, it will be because you and I pay attention to orders and make the best of them. Show your stripes, man. We both know who and what we’re dealing with out there. So what if the lieutenant doesn’t agree? You buck up now…we’ve got to cover one another’s arse here.”
Corporal Donnely relaxed, letting out a tense breath. “It’s been a long day, Sergeant Baines…tell me what you want from us.” He gestured a dusty gloved hand, taking in the tired, dirty troopers.
“There now, that’s more like it.” Sergeant Baines offered a thin smile. “I want you to keep at least a half dozen men scouting ahead of the lieutenant at all times, so he won’t know whether we’re on their trail or not—chances are he’ll fall asleep in the saddle.” Baines glanced across the campfire to where Lieutenant Howell had stood only a moment earlier. “Keep him thinking we’re right behind them…but swing us around on the flatlands, get us a good twenty miles away from them by morning.”
“But if we let them get away, what about the hostages?”
“We’re not going to let them get away. I fought Zell at Peach Orchard and Tucker’s Point while our lieutenant was still hanging from a warm teat. I know what Zell will do if we get too close during the night. We haven’t seen his entire force. He’s got more men posted along the high trail, waiting for us. You can bet on it. With hostages, he knows he’s got the advantage. We’ve got to avoid him. He’ll leave the high pass come morning—he’s got to. It’s the only way for his men to make it across the border with a heavy wagon. We’ll be there waiting for him—whether the lieutenant knows it or not.”
Corporal Donnely nodded, then returned the sergeant’s smile. “He’ll throw a bleeding fit if he finds out what we’ve done.”
“That’s quite all right. At least he’ll still be alive to throw it. Now have these men ready to move out in less than one hour. This night doesn’t end until the sun comes up.”
Chapter 5
Ever since Prudence Vanderman had whispered the question about the gold into Maria’s ear, Maria had been puzzled by it. She’d thought about it all night as the wagon lumbered upward along the high pass trail. The meaning in Prudence’s question had been hard to understand. Had Prudence asked in a way so as to offer some sort of suggestion? Was she implying that if gold was involved, it might provide a solution to their dilemma? Or, as Maria had asked herself over and over, had there been a trace of honest, old-fashioned greed in there somewhere? Nonsense…
If there was a message there, it was certainly mixed, Maria thought. What possible interest could a woman like Prudence Vanderman have in gold, especially at a time like this? Her father had all the riches of the world to begin with. Besides, young ladies like Prudence would consider it poor taste to mention something so irrelevant as gold or any other monetary gain. The question had been strange, to say the least.
Twice during the night, old man Dirkson had stopped the wagon long enough for the two women to relieve themselves as he stood back a few feet, looking the other way. At the first stop, he’d taken time to untie Prudence Vanderman’s hands from behind her back and retie them in front of her. When she and Maria moved behind a low mesquite bush, Maria had spoken to her in a pointed tone just barely above a whisper. “Why were you asking about the gold?” Then she watched Prudence’s eyes in the pale moonlight and waited for an answer.
Prudence saw the strange look on Maria’s face. “Why I…I must have been speaking out of my head. This is hardly the kind of situation I’m accustomed to.” She stood and adjusted her torn dress about her waist. “Goodness, you act as if I’ve done something wrong.”
There was something deceptive, almost playful in Prudence’s response, and as she turned to walk back toward the wagon, Maria caught her forearm with her tied hands and spoke in a harsh whisper near her ear. “Listen to me! If you are thinking of playing some sort of game with these people, don’t do it. I’m warning you. You are not wise to the ways of men such as these—”
“Oh?” Prudence whispered in reply. “If I’m the daughter of a wealthy man, then I must be some sort of idiot? Is that what you’re thinking? That I’m worthless?”
“You gals doing all right over
there?” Old man Dirkson asked in a quiet tone from a few yards away. “Gonna have to get moving here.”
“Sí…we will be right there.” Maria turned back to Prudence Vanderman. “No, I do not think you an idiot. But the only way we’ll get out of this is if you keep your mouth shut and stay out of my way. Do not try something foolish on your own. Do you understand?”
But Prudence didn’t answer. Instead, she turned and walked through the darkness, Maria staring hard after her.
As they rode on, Maria noticed more men joining them from behind at different intervals until she calculated the number of men to be well over twenty. Old man Dirkson noticed the tight silence between the two women. When they stopped once more at the peak of the high pass trail, and the old man let them move away to the other side of a rock spill, Maria started right in as if the conversation had never stopped. “Have you noticed how many more men have joined us? No, you haven’t. This is a small army! Nothing you have ever done in your life has prepared you to deal with these men. One wrong move and we will both be dead.” Maria hissed her words beneath her breath, her dark eyes glistening in the moonlight.
Prudence pushed Maria back a step. “I’m a learned woman. Don’t treat me as if I’m a child. Would you be acting this way if I were some buffalo-smelling plains woman? Some sunburnt prairie flower in scuffed riding boots?” She glared at Maria. “Of course you wouldn’t.”
Maria lunged forward and grabbed Prudence by the bodice of her dusty dress. “But you are not one of those kind of women. So leave this to me! I know what I’m doing. Our lives are in my hands.”
“Hurry it up over there,” old man Dirkson called out. In the dim moonlight, Maria saw three more men move down from the cover of rocks and join the others. These men knew their business, she thought, as the black silhouettes moved quietly forward.
“In one moment, please,” Prudence replied. She jutted her face close to Maria’s, a different woman it seemed, standing her ground. “When it comes to my life, I’ll decide whose hands I leave it in. Take your dirty fingers off my dress, or I’ll break them. Comprende, mi amigo?” Her voice was different now, her mannerisms different, even the expression in her eyes—nothing about Prudence Vanderman was the same.
Maria stepped back, a bit stunned. She studied the face before her in the moonlight as if seeing it for the first time, and in doing so a revelation became clear in her mind. After a second’s pause, she asked in a low, level voice, “Lady…who are you? This time tell me the truth.”
“You gals get buttoned and tucked, or I’ll have to come get yas.” The old man chuckled. “Don’t know if my old heart could stand it.”
Prudence half turned from Maria for a second, seeming to consider whether or not to answer her. But as Maria grabbed her once more by the bodice of her dress, she grasped Maria’s forearm and leaned close to her face. “The truth? Okay, the truth! My name is Prudence, but it’s not Vanderman. I’m Prudence Cordell, from Mama Bristol’s Pearl Palace in New Orleans. If you think you’ve handled more of these kind of men than I have, you better think again, sister.” She swung Maria’s hand away, moved off a few feet around the rock spill, then turned and looked back. Maria hadn’t moved an inch. “Well, can you trust me now? Or must I first learn how to spit, and say howdy partner?”
Once more they rode on. Maria thought hard all night, working it all out in her mind as the wagon bumped along the rocky trail. When morning came in a thin silver reef across the far horizon, old man Dirkson reached over and shook Maria by her knee. “Psst, wake up now, we’re heading down.”
Maria jerked her knee away from him. “I am not asleep. Keep your hands to yourself.”
The old man grinned. “If everybody done that, this world wouldn’t be near its size.” Dirkson stopped the wagon, set the brake, and wrapped the reins around the metal railing beside the wooden seat. He stood, stretching his back while the rest of the men stepped down from their horses and moved forward on foot, as quiet as ghosts.
“You gals will have to excuse me while I join the men for a few minutes.” He looked down at them, then raised a finger. “Oh, I nearly forgot.” He leaned way down, pulled the steel pin from the rear of the wagon tongue, and stood up and winked, jiggling it in his gloved hand. “Wouldn’t want you two to get restless and try to run away.”
“I gave you my word that I would do nothing stupid,” Maria said, looking away from him.
“That you did, yes, ma’am.” Old man Dirkson grunted, stepping down onto the rocky ground. “It don’t hurt to remind you though.”
“Where are we?” Prudence asked, stirring, then running a hand across her disheveled hair.
“We are at the top of the high pass.” Maria looked all around in the grainy light. “From here we go downward and pick up the border crossing into Mexico. If there is trouble with the army, we will find it down there on the flatlands.”
As Maria spoke, she looked ahead to where Liam Bowes and Major Zell had stopped beside a large rock. They stood and dusted their trousers as old man Dirkson walked up to them. Now the three men gazed out across the flatlands far below as they talked back and forth.
“Mr. Bowes and I agree,” Zell said, raising binoculars to his eyes and scanning the wide stretch of flatlands at the bottom of the narrow rocky trail. “They’re down there waiting. The lieutenant anticipated us and swung his men wide around the flatlands. What say you, old man?”
Old man Dirkson scratched his beard. “He didn’t look that smart to me…but he never rode into any of our traps back along the trail. They must not have been following us all night.” He paused, considering it, then nodded. “Yep, they’re down there, sure enough. We’ll have our hands full crossing the wagon.”
“Indeed…” Zell lowered the binoculars, still gazing out, thinking. “I must be careful not to underestimate our young Yankee lieutenant. He appears to be a bit of a tactician. He realizes we have but one way out of here to the border, and that we’d never outrun him with this heavy wagon.” Zell considered things for a second. “But he can’t possibly know our true strength. If we keep the wagon up here, he’ll eventually have to come up for it. That means he’ll have to risk harm coming to the women.”
“Shall I prepare the men to make a run for it on horseback, Major?” Bowes asked.
“Yes, they’ll have to charge through and take their chances, I’m afraid. But send down only the same number we had when we hit the train. The rest will stay up here with us to guard the hostages and the wagon for the time being.” As an afterthought, Major Zell added, “Make sure the Parker brothers stay up here with us.”
“Then we’re going to abandon the ammunition when the time comes?” Bowes asked with a puzzled expression. “Lose what we’ve got coming in gold?”
“No, of course not. That would destroy our credibility with the federales.”Zell let out a long breath, and turned to look toward Maria and Prudence Vanderman. “There is something distasteful about us keeping hostages. We must release them as soon as we get shed of these soldiers.”
“But you have to admit, sir,” Bowes said, “having them along has sure given the lieutenant second thoughts about rushing us.”
“True,” Zell said, “but I take no pride in it. We are men of honor…we have lived by it, and so we must die by it if need be. We are soldiers, gentlemen, let’s not forget that.” He gazed away in contemplation, then asked, “How many kegs of black powder do you suppose we have on the wagon?”
Old man Dirkson squinted. “I’d say seven, maybe eight kegs. Are you thinking what I think you are? Lure him up here and blow his men all to hell?”
“Indeed.” Zell gave a dark smile. “I think it’s time we shuffle the deck and redeal…find out what our young lieutenant knows about the holy art of poker.”
As Zell had turned to Bowes and Dirkson, Prudence stared at their backs and spoke to Maria in a hushed tone. “Now that we are alone, let’s make some plans on getting away from this bunch of murderers.”
�
�Uh-uh.” Maria shook her head. “Before we make plans of any sort, you tell me…why you are traveling as Prudence Vanderman?”
“Damn it. I hope this wasn’t a mistake, telling you the truth. But it’s a fact—you weren’t about to rely on sweet little Prudence Vanderman, now, were you?” Before Maria could answer, Prudence chuckled under her breath. “Of course you weren’t.” Then she sighed and turned her gaze to Maria. “Look…you said yourself, we’ve got to pull together to survive. If you must know, I impersonate Prudence Vanderman all the time. I have for the last four years, after seeing a picture of her in Harper’s. Not only do we have the same first name, we could actually pass for sisters! Anytime I travel, I use the Vanderman name—a bill comes, I simply sign her name and forget about it. Her father has so much money, it goes unnoticed, and she travels so much he seldom knows where she’s at.” She smiled. “You can’t imagine the difference it makes.”
“Yes, I can imagine. But you have deceived me. How can we—”
“Cut the crap, sister. What if I’d told you to begin with? Would you not have pushed me from the train anyway? No, I don’t think it would have mattered. Besides”—she patted herself up under an arm—“I have a little something here that Prudence never would have carried.”
“Oh?” Maria looked at her.
“Yes. I have a straight razor in a leather case up here under my arm—call it a trick of the trade.” She smiled. “Does it open any possibilities for you?”
Maria eased a bit and managed a thin smile herself. “Then we have a two-shot pistol, a straight razor…and a choker when we need one.”
“A choker?”
“Sí, to strangle one of them with, if we must.” Maria moved her tied hands over onto Prudence’s lap. “Loosen this rope for me. Not too much…just enough for me to shed it when the time comes.”
“Sure, right, a choker. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Perhaps because you have been too busy thinking of the gold these men will have once they cross the border?”