Mouth of Hell (The Law Wranglers Book 2)

by Ron Schwab

  "I can understand that."

  "On the way to Pop's I stopped to see Erin and Cal."

  "And how are they? Is Cal still domesticated?"

  "Very much so. He dotes on Willow, who is a beautiful child. Dark eyes and lightly-bronzed skin hinting of her Comanche ancestry. No trace of Erin's red hair. But that's not all."

  "Yes?"

  "There's going to be a wedding."

  "Cal and Erin?"

  "Yes. The clan will travel to Santa Fe in July for the nuptials. There's a Presbyterian Church that started up here awhile back, and Cal said they're desperate enough they'll marry anybody. New Mexico isn't exactly fertile ground for Protestants. Erin wants to have Willow baptized the same day."

  He noticed Danna's smile seemed forced. He always suspected that Cal and Danna had shared a romantic interlude of some kind--probably an intimate one, knowing his brother, and Danna's subdued reaction confirmed it. He hated giving her the rest of the news. "There's something else. Erin's pregnant."

  "Pregnant? How did that happen?" Danna looked incredulous. "I mean, I know how it happened. I just have trouble seeing Cal suddenly becoming such a family man."

  "You and me both. But he's getting there damned fast."

  "Well, I'm glad for both of them."

  She seemed sincere, or at least had quickly come to terms with the news. It was time to move on to something else. "I told you I thought we'd made some progress on Quanah's behalf. I think Dr. Sturm will be a valuable ally. He has no decision-making power, but important people in the chain of authority evidently listen to him. For the first time I feel I've made some headway. It all comes down to amnesty, land and cattle. I'd like to communicate with Quanah, but I don't know how to reach him right now."

  "You said he would find you when he was ready."

  "But I'm ready now. He's paid us well, and I'm anxious to let him know I've opened a door."

  "I think he's paying us as much for what he expects us to do after the peace as before."

  "You're probably right. I'll give him a month, and then, if I haven't received any word, I'll head for the southern Staked Plains and he'll find me."

  "Or somebody you don't want to find you will. Be patient. You have enough trouble coming your way without looking for it."

  19

  Josh surmised that the Bella Union Theatre Ballet performance was superb, if audience reaction were the measure. Cynically, he doubted if the attendees knew any more about the art form than he did. This was his first exposure to stage performance of ballet, and he decided he would not suffer greatly if this turned out to be his last. He did enjoy the music. To his untrained ear, the young pianist and single violinist performed admirably, and the pianist was pleasing to the eye. She had flaxen hair--almost an oddity in Santa Fe--and was petite with fine features. He guessed she would be in her early twenties. The violinist was a lean, darker man, who would blend with the local populace easily, Josh thought. From the interplay with their eyes, Josh would bet they were sleeping together.

  The dance group consisted of five performers: four women and one man. They were very athletic, and it was fascinating to watch them glide and twirl on the stage. Two of the women were slender just short of bony, and an auburn-haired ballerina sported curves where a woman should. The fourth was a bit on the pudgy side but appeared to be quite muscular.

  The music and dancing stopped, and Jessica stepped onto the stage. She had a presence and bearing that made her a natural there, and Josh looked forward to seeing her perform in a play called "Checkmate" that would be performed in August. She was a remarkable and vivacious woman, and tonight, he thought, she looked simply stunning in a burgundy dress that somehow contrasted perfectly with her milk-white skin, which she protected religiously from the scorching Santa Fe sun.

  "There will be a fifteen-minute intermission," she announced. "There will be free tea and coffee with a nice assortment of cookies in the lobby." She paused. "There is also a nice selection of wines and other spirits for those who are so inclined. Unfortunately, we must assess a charge for those. We look forward to your return to enjoy the remainder of the evening's performance."

  Josh was certain that the captive husbands and other escorts would help fill theatre coffers at the spirits table. He appreciated that Jessica was very astute when it came to the business side of the theatre. He and most of the ten or so shareholders had not expected huge returns on their investments, but they had certainly hoped they would not be hit up for additional contributions to capital. It appeared that Jessica had management skills that gave some assurance the theatre would at least, after payment of Jessica's salary and revenue shares, be self-sustaining. The theatre had been packed to its ninety-seat capacity, and that meant the patrons had to squeeze into the lobby. Josh inched his way through the crowd, picked up a cup of coffee, and wedged himself into a corner of the room. As he surveyed the theatre-goers, he caught sight of Marty and Danna across the room with wine glasses in their hands. If he knew Danna, the two were just business colleagues being seen at the right places. Danna's eyes met his, and she gave a quick wave, which he returned. Then he realized the beautiful Constanza Hildalgo was only a half dozen feet from him, accompanied by her betrothed, Judge Andrew Robinson.

  Constanza and Josh had been lovers for more than a year before the relationship shattered, more because of his unwillingness to marry than anything. She was a passionate and energetic lover with a fiery temper to match. Her father, Miguel, did not approve of the romance, and most of their assignations occurred when Miguel was not in town. He knew Connie would have eloped with him, but he realized also that their romance, for better or worse, was not an enduring one. It saddened him some, though, to see her with the Territorial District Court Judge, who was more than twenty years her senior. It was to be a marriage arranged by her father to merge the judge's influence and power with the Hidalgo fortune. Connie would make the best of it, but Robinson, the pompous ass, had better not count on her fidelity.

  Josh started when a hand tapped his shoulder. He turned to see Linda de la Cruz, a worried look on her face. "Linda, what is it?"

  "I was working late at the office, and Mr. Pierce knocked on the door. I let him in. He seemed very upset and said he needed to see you immediately. He said there is a problem."

  "Where is he?"

  "He's waiting in the office. I can send him away if you wish, but I thought you would want to know."

  "You were right. Would you go back and tell him I'll be there shortly? I need a few minutes to make my excuses."

  Josh cast his eyes about the room, looking for Jessica. He finally spotted her, surrounded by admirers making their way back into the theatre. Perhaps she wouldn't miss him. Like hell she wouldn't. He headed for the door anyway.

  20

  Tabitha found herself traveling as the sole woman with over five hundred soldiers now. Lieutenant Sean Kelly's small company had merged with the Sixth Cavalry and Fifth Infantry from Fort Dodge, Kansas, under the command of Colonel Nelson A. Miles. The colonel and his troops carried reputations as formidable Indian fighters, and Tabitha took Miles' involvement as an indication that something huge was brewing in what she continued to call the Red River War.

  There were at least four other correspondents with the troops now, but she welcomed the competition. Just let them try to out-write or out-think her. She had the nose for a story and was confident in her skill to tell it in an interesting way, slicing unnecessary words like a butcher with a meat cleaver. She didn't get to see many of her words in print, but her editor at The New Mexican, in the letters that reached her, kept urging her to produce more stories and indicated the publisher had now contracted with a syndicate that was publishing her work in the East. He did not say anything about a raise. She would deal with that when she returned to Santa Fe.

  She and Lieutenant Kelly had become fast friends. She was genuinely fond of Sean, but she sensed his feelings were much more intense. He thought he was in love with her, she ad
mitted. She carried a bit of guilt about that because she did not want to hurt him. She did not view him as a potential suitor or lover--well, not yet, anyway. He was also a source of information and background for her stories, but he surrendered no military secrets--if there were any. All the soldiers talked among themselves about where the army was headed and what the strategy was. All one had to do was listen and then attempt to filter fact from fiction. Regardless, there were hundreds of stories to be told out here on the Texas plains with these men of such disparate backgrounds and histories.

  Sean Kelly rode up beside her and tipped his hat in greeting. The heat was suffocating this June afternoon, and, though the horses mostly walked because of the snail's pace of the supply wagons, the troops still moved in a giant cloud of dust.

  "We're about forty miles south of the Red River," the lieutenant said. "Almost back to where we turned north several weeks ago."

  "It doesn't make much sense to go all that way north to meet up with Colonel Miles's troops and then come back again. Wouldn't it have made more sense to wait at the river and meet up there?"

  "Theirs is not to reason why; theirs but to do and die. That's a soldier's lot."

  "Into the valley of death rode the six hundred. Tennyson. Morbid, considering where we're at right now."

  Sean grinned sheepishly. He did have an irresistible smile, damn him. And she liked that he shared her love of books and literature.

  "I have a question," Tabitha said. "I thought we were going to meet up with the famous Brevet General Mackenzie at Adobe Walls. I wanted an interview."

  "Well, I arranged an interview for you with Colonel Miles."

  "Yes, I'll give you credit for that. He made a good interview. I sent the story out with the courier yesterday. But I want Bad Hand himself."

  "Well, the talk of meeting him at Adobe Walls was rumor. I have it on good authority that Mackenzie is far south at Fort Concho . . . or will be soon. Eventually, we'll meet up with his Fourth Cavalry. Black Jack Davidson's Tenth Cavalry will be riding out from Fort Sill, and Major Bill Price will march out from Fort Bascomb, New Mexico with the Eighth Cavalry, which my company's a part of. There will be more than three thousand soldiers in the field."

  "I thought there are only about a thousand Comanche remaining off the reservation, and perhaps only a third of those are warriors."

  "Nobody really knows, but somebody up the line decided overwhelming force would be the order of the day. Also, there are a significant number of Comanche that go back and forth to and from the reservation. The Fort Sill commandant says there are a lot of absences right now. And, of course, there are sizable bands of Kiowa aligned with Quanah."

  Tabitha made mental notes while they spoke, hoping she could remember everything till she got to pen and paper. She sensed that the lieutenant was providing her with foundation information for stories that would carry banner headlines and that by the time they appeared in print would not compromise the army's strategy.

  They were interrupted when a rider approached their place in the column, urging his mount at breakneck speed. "Lieutenant, Lieutenant, orders from Colonel Miles."

  Kelly rode out to meet him, and Tabitha tagged along. The young private reined in his horse in front of them. "Lieutenant, sir, the colonel has ordered that you move out with Company Two and head back to Adobe Walls."

  "Return to Adobe Walls?"

  "Yes, sir. He just received word from a buffalo hunter that the occupants are under attack by Comanches . . . lots of them. You're to assist the hunters there and then catch up with our troops after you've secured the settlement."

  "Tell the colonel we're on our way."

  "Yes, sir." The private saluted, wheeled his horse and disappeared quickly into the haze of dust.

  Lieutenant Kelly turned to Tabitha. "You'll probably want to stay with the main column."

  "Like hell," she snapped. "I smell a story. And it will be an exclusive. None of those tenderfeet will be up to covering this." The other correspondents represented Eastern newspapers and were not accustomed to the rugged riding called for on the plains. The journey was just starting, and they were wearing down fast, she had noticed in sizing up her competition. They could barely drag themselves to their whiskey bottles after a hard day in the saddle. Of course, she could outride anyone in this man's army, if you didn't count White Wolf. He was melded to his big Appaloosa stallion and one of the few riders she'd ever seen that she envied.

  Kelly signaled his sergeants and the two scouts to join him. After he explained their mission, White Wolf and Rattlesnake raced their horses away from the slow-moving main column, Rattlesnake heading northeasterly and White Wolf riding toward the northwest. The sergeants pulled the soldiers of Company Two from the main column, and in a matter of minutes they were retracing their trail back to Adobe Walls.

  21

  Lieutenant Kelly had halted his troops at dusk to rest both horses and troops. There was a spring nearby to replenish water supplies and a small waterhole fed by the spring to provide water for the horses. Rattlesnake had returned and warned that there were few water sources in the area and that the Comanche would know about this one, also. And there were many Comanche, perhaps as many as three hundred within a half day's ride. He speculated that any attack on Adobe Walls was probably over because the war parties were not on the move in any direction. He thought this meant serious councils were in session.

  The lieutenant doubled the sentries for the night and ordered the sergeants to have the troops ready to ride before dawn. He expected to reach Adobe Walls by late afternoon. Tabitha crawled into her bedroll, but sleep would not come, and she was awake when White Wolf rode into camp with another rider. The other man appeared to have his hands tied behind his back, and she saw White Wolf dismount and walk over to the stranger and yank him harshly from the horse and toss him on the ground. She pushed her blankets back and got up and joined White Wolf at the same moment Lieutenant Kelly and Rattlesnake arrived.

  "I have spoken with this man," White Wolf said. "I was going to kill him, but I thought better of it. He seems quite talkative with only a small amount of persuasion."

  Tabitha could see that Sean Kelly was as taken aback as she at the scout's perfect English delivered with only the slightest tinge of a Southern accent. She thought there might be a story there.

  White Wolf pulled the Comanche to his feet. He was nearly naked, wearing only a breechclout to cover his loins and a wide deerskin band that covered much of his forehead. White Wolf spoke with the captive, apparently using a combination of Comanche and sign language.

  "My Comanche vocabulary is very limited, but I can tell you what I learned earlier. This man was headed back to the reservation when I caught him alone. I don't think he's much of a warrior . . . probably joined the war party to partake in the looting. There are many, many Comanche between here and Adobe Walls, although they are starting to split off now. This man says the Comanche and Kiowa did not overtake Adobe Walls and suffered many losses in spite of Isa-tai's promise they would be immune to the white men's bullets. Isa-tai is a chief or shaman with a large following, but I gather he lost some influence after the disaster at Adobe Walls. Lieutenant, do you have some questions of this man?"

  "Yes. Ask him if Quanah was there."

  White Wolf and the Comanche began speaking and signing at what seemed a frantic pace. The Comanche was turning belligerent until his interrogator pulled a knife from its sheath and spoke sharply, waving the blade over the hapless Indian's groin. The prisoner spoke at some length, after which White Wolf turned to Kelly and said, "I told him I would cut off his penis and stuff it in his mouth before I killed him. I made it clear that I was serious."

  Kelly responded, "But you wouldn't have?"

  The look in White Wolf's eyes answered the Lieutenant's question. "This man says Quanah was there, and he may have been wounded . . . probably not seriously."

  "But our troops are all converging toward the central Staked Plains. He's not eve
n close to where they're headed. We need to get word to Colonel Miles."

  "They will have disappeared like ghosts by the time the colonel moves a contingent of that size back north. They will not move further north, so they will retreat back to the country they know. And their women and children are in that land . . . the bait, in a sense. The Comanche will not desert their families. Your Colonel Mackenzie's strategy is sound."

  "Our orders were to go to Adobe Walls, so we will continue on our march there tomorrow morning."

  "Lieutenant, you are in command, and I will follow your instructions, but may I offer a suggestion or two?"

  "Certainly."

  Tabitha watched and listened with curiosity. White Wolf had the strange presence of authority. It reminded her that the casual judgment of men and women was very fallible. Initial impressions were untrustworthy. A person's attire told you nothing about the mind or the character or skills that lay within the camouflage.

  "I suspect the Comanche and Kiowa bands will be splitting up and riding back to their own villages. But they are angry and pity anyone in their paths. And, Lieutenant, we are in the path of at least some of them. Several bands will in all likelihood ride toward these springs for the same reason we stopped here. We're going to encounter them if we continue on to Adobe Walls, and they will sweep in and attack the column again and again as we move north. If there are the numbers I fear, there may not be one of us remaining to tell our story. It is open country, and there is no place to set up a defense."

  "Then we'll charge head on. They can't match our weaponry."

  "And they will get out of the way, and you will fire and slash at nothing, while you are attacked from the rear. They learned there is no cloak of invincibility at Adobe Walls. They will not make that mistake again."