The Texican Way Page 9

  Daniel complied and held a lighted candle near the wound. It looked inflamed and was painful when touched.

  “This needs some medical attention, Pierre. I have to get you back to Waco.”

  Pierre kept complaining of thirst and the water in their canteens was almost finished.

  Daniel decided to move immediately. They needed water and Pierre needed someone competent to remove the bullet from his shoulder.

  He saddled the animals in the pitch-dark and heaved tipsy Pierre onto his horse before setting out an hour before sunrise. The weather was cool and wet. Daniel tied the horses in a single long string with Pierre immediately behind him. He traveled at a steady fast walk the only trouble was that what was a smooth and fast walk for the black stallion was a frantic trot for the other horses. Pierre was jolted and jarred every step of the way.

  Daniel stopped and changed the order of the horses putting Pierre onto Star and taking Pierre’s horse for himself. Things went much better for Pierre after that. Daniel had tied him onto the horse so that even asleep he could not fall off.

  Daniel rode on endlessly, not even stopping to sleep at night. It was hard on the horses but Pierre’s life might depend on it.

  Daniel was haggard and tired when he finally reached Waco and made his way to Widow Watson’s establishment.

  “Good heavens, Lieutenant Beauregard. You look terrible.” Widow Watson was a very presentable lady and not nearly as old as her sobriquet might indicate.

  “Ma’am, I’m sound but my friend Sergeant Chamont is not. He needs a medical man to take a bullet out of his shoulder.”

  Mrs Watson hurried forward to look at the man still tied in the saddle.

  “You will have to get him down, lieutenant. Take him into Mister Roberts’s room while I fetch the surgeon.”

  “Mister Roberts will not appreciate a sick sergeant in his quarters, ma’am.”

  “Mister Roberts, left yesterday. It appears that he is not Mister Roberts but General Robert E Lee.”

  “Did he tell you that, ma’am?” Daniel asked, annoyed that the secret could have got out.

  “No, he did not but the Major in charge of the two troops of cavalry that came to escort him to Virginia did. Apparently he had been sent by President Jefferson Davis for that purpose.”

  “Did the general leave any message for us?”

  “He said to pass on his thanks to you and that he would see you in Virginia.”

  The surgeon quickly removed the ball from Pierre’s shoulder but by that time Pierre was running a high fever and Mrs Watson remained in constant attendance upon him.

  Daniel took the horses to the livery stable and saw to it that they were properly fed and watered. By this time he was thinking slowly and he could not imagine anything more desirable than sleeping. He returned to his lodging and threw himself, fully clothed onto the bed and that was the last thing that he remembered until the following afternoon.

  Chapter Eleven

  When he awoke on the following day he was ravenously hungry. He found Mrs Watson still sitting at Pierre’s bedside. She had eaten nothing herself and had nothing prepared to give him.

  “Sergeant Chamont had a peaceful night. He is drinking a lot of water but he does not feel hungry at the moment. I believe that he is showing some small signs of improvement although he still has a fever.” She reported to Daniel.

  “I’ll go find something to eat in town, ma’am. Do not disturb yourself. Is there anything I can get for you while I am out?”

  “I would like to make a good broth for Sergeant Chamont once he begins to eat again. I shall give you a list of ingredients if you will be so kind as to get them for me.”

  Daniel left armed with a list of ingredients many of which he had never previously encountered.

  He wandered into a saloon that was advertising meals. It was almost empty except for a group of men playing cards in the corner of the room.

  He ordered the only item on the menu: stew and took a beer to wash it down.

  He positioned himself so that he could watch the poker game while he ate.

  The stew was of indifferent quality especially after eating Pierre’s cooking but his hunger drove him to eat it with plenty of fresh bread.

  It appeared that the poker game was being run by a man in a frockcoat and a fancy vest. He had the largest number of chips before him and Daniel watched him sell a stack of them to one of the players. They were a dollar a chip which was rather high when a month’s wages generally ran between twenty and thirty dollars for the ordinary man.

  The man in the frockcoat appeared to use the name Arnold. Daniel could not tell whether that was his first or surname. He appeared to be running an honest game and he could afford to because he was taking ten percent of every pot. No-one was complaining.

  Daniel finished his meal and walked over to watch the play.

  “Would you care to join us, sir?” Arnold asked him politely.

  “I don’t mind if I do.” Daniel responded, handing him a hundred dollar bill.

  “Ah, a high-roller!” Arnold commented as Daniel took the chair that had just been vacated.

  “I notice that you do not participate yourself, sir.” Daniel said conversationally.

  “No sir, I do not. I got tired of card sharpers coming into my saloon and causing problems and gun-fights. Now, I run the game myself, take ten percent of all winnings and guarantee for my customers that they will have a straight game with an honest chance to win.”

  “That sounds mighty white to me, sir.”

  Daniel received his cards from the shoe that Arnold was employing. He had been watching the game while he was eating and by that time he had a good idea of how the cards stood at the back of the shoe but he did not know how many packs were in the shoe so he would have to work with the cards as they were displayed.

  He saw the face-up cards of the other five players and automatically began calculating what combinations could be made by each player with those cards after eliminating the cards that were already in another player’s possession. It occurred to him that there could only be one pack in the shoe otherwise it would become possible to show five of a kind. His own cards were nothing special so he passed on that hand.

  He was still passing when he recognized the pattern of cards coming out of the shoe. He counted off the cards that were being dealt and when he saw the face-cards his opinion was confirmed and he could work out what each man held under his hand.

  As the dealer was fixed, the order of play was moving as if the dealer was moving. The opening player was bluffing and pushing up the ante in the hope of shaking out all the faint-hearts. Daniel played quietly. He knew he had a pair of Kings but he was satisfied that the player on his right had three nines. He was delighted when the opening player’s confidence caused the one with the three nines to check. Daniel proceeded quietly and the opener pushed up the bidding in the hope of discouraging his opposition. He did succeed in scaring off the man with three nines, leaving only a man with a pair of Queens who obviously had a lot of faith in the ladies.

  Daniel matched the bluffer who caved in and then stared at the Ladies’ man. The man took the stare for a moment or two then threw in his hand.

  Daniel raked in three hundred dollars and pushed thirty over to the dealer.

  “Cash me in please sir. I have some errands to run.”

  Arnold paid him out cheerfully. “Come by again any time, sir. The game runs every day except Sundays.”

  Daniel went over to the general store and handed over Mrs Watson’s list.

  “I c’n do most of this, sir, but the beef, you are gonna have to git from the butcher up the road.”

  Daniel collected his purchases and walked up the road to the butcher shop.

  The butcher gave him the cuts of meat that he asked f
or and Daniel, now with his arms filled, walked back down the street toward Widow Watson’s establishment.

  He was walking slowly so as not to lose control of his packages, when suddenly he felt something poke him in the kidneys and a gruff voice said: ”Hand over yore money or I’ll perforate you-all good.”

  Daniel threw his packages over his shoulder into the face of the gunman, turning and pushing aside the gun as he drew his own pistol and jammed it under the startled man’s chin.

  “What did you say you were going to do to me?” He asked menacingly.

  “Ah wuz kiddin’, boss, honest t’gawd, ah wuz jes’ kiddin’ around.” Daniel removed the would-be robber’s pistol from his nerveless hand.

  “Now pick up all of my packages and carry them ahead of me.”

  The man hastened to do his bidding and marched nervously ahead of him.

  While he was walking behind the man Daniel returned his own gun to his holster and inspected the man’s pistol. It was an ancient single shot piece and it was not even loaded.

  “You take an enormous risk trying to rob a man when your pistol is not even loaded.” He told the back of his would-be robber’s head.

  “Boss, lookee heah, ah ain’t gonna lie to you-all, ah wuz tryin’ to rob you-all. Ah done seed you-all winnin’ a pile o’ cash-money in that there saloon while me n’ mah chillun ain’t got nuthin’ ter eat. Ah jus’ figured you-all c’d afford it.”

  “If your children had nothing to eat then what were you hanging around the saloon for? Spending money on liquor, were you?”

  “No boss, ah done hung around theah saloon on accounta sometimes when a man is mellow wi’ whisky he gonna be generous t’ the likes o’ me. Afore the war, ah git plenty jobs digging post-holes and fixin’ things what are broke but now ah ain’t got nothin’; even mah wife done run away ‘n lef’ me with three hungry chillun.”

  “What are you stopping for? Keep marching.”

  “You-all ain’t takin’ me outa town t’ put a bullet in me, boss?”

  “Only if you do not do what I tell you. Now keep moving.”

  Daniel guided him to the front door of Widow Watson’s establishment.

  “Right, put those packages down on the verandah and come here.”

  The grizzled and unwashed face screwed up as he returned to stand in front of Daniel.

  “Here is twenty dollars. Buy your kids something to eat then be here tomorrow morning if you want to earn some more.”

  The faded blue eyes lit up at this change of fortune.

  “Sure thing, boss! Whatever you-all say, boss. Ah be heah tomorrah mawnin’ fer sure. Thank you-all boss, ah surely appreciate it.”

  He turned to leave and suddenly something occurred to him.

  “Pardon me, boss, but do ah git mah pistol back?”

  “Not a chance, my man. Consider yourself lucky that I did not shoot you. I am not about to let you get into that position again. You have your children to think about.”

  He thought about the twenty dollars in his pocket and again he was smiling.

  Daniel picked up his packages and walked into the house. He found Mrs Watson in her kitchen.

  “You certainly took your time about getting back, lieutenant. You’ll be pleased to hear that your sergeant is sleeping peacefully and his fever seems to have abated somewhat.”

  “Thank you for all you have done for him ma’am. He is a good man and it was sheer bad luck that the Yankee got him but I suppose that I should be grateful that the shot did not kill him.”

  “He got shot by a Yankee, land sakes, how could that happen? This is Texas and the war is far away.”

  “Not when we were riding with General Robert E Lee ma’am. Those Yankees sent a full troop of cavalry all the way into Texas just to get their hands on him.”

  “Well, they failed, didn’t they? The general left yesterday in a carriage with two troops of cavalry. I heard tell that they were all battle-hardened troops sent specially by the President to get him safely to Virginia.”

  “Ma’am, I’m just hoping that the Yankees didn’t learn that intelligence the same way as they heard that the general had gone down to inspect the new Army stores at Gonzales.”

  “How would they ever do that, lieutenant?”

  “Spies ma’am, we have ours up North and they have theirs down here in the South. They knew about General Lee’s trip down here before he even got here so to my mind there must be someone close to President Jefferson Davis that is passing this information to the Yankees.”

  “My word, isn’t that too terrible to contemplate?”

  “I think that it is my duty to get to General Lee and warn him. Ma’am, if I were to leave you money to pay for Sergeant Chamont’s care, could I count on you to see him right?”

  “You most certainly could, lieutenant. It would be my patriotic duty.”

  “Thank you ma’am. Would two hundred dollars be sufficient?”

  “Two hundred dollars would be enough for at least nine months, lieutenant.” She pointed out pragmatically.

  “I should imagine that I will be back long before that but I would like to be certain that there is enough to cover unexpected circumstances.”

  Daniel wrote a letter to Pierre setting out his intentions and promising to return to collect him once he was fully recovered.

  Chapter Twelve

  Daniel did not wait. He set out immediately with Star and one packhorse. He rode hard until darkness fell and then he slept until dawn before riding all of the next day also.

  Riding Star was easy because the stallion had a long easy walking stride that ate up the miles so that the packhorse had to struggle to stay up with him.

  Daniel ate in the saddle and fed his horses a grain diet that gave them the energy to keep going until the night when they grazed on grass until Daniel continued his journey.

  When he reached Dallas he made enquiries about the general and his escort of two troops of cavalry but no-one seemed to have heard about them let alone seen them.

  He enquired at the telegraph office but drew another blank.

  He decided to proceed to Texarkana where he felt certain that he would hear news of the General’s progress.

  The trip was long and lonely. He enquired about the two troops of cavalry but nowhere on his journey did anyone acknowledge that they had passed that way.

  At Little Rock a store owner told him:

  “Cain’t say as I have heard o’ two troops of cavalry but I did hear one man say that he came across the sorriest bunch of cavalry men he ever did see traveling north. But he says that they are less than a full troop and the strange thing is they ain’t heading for Virginia and there was no officer in charge o’ them.”

  “Did he say where they were headed?”

  “Yeah, they asked him for directions to Tulsa. Man, were them boys lost!”

  Daniel left Little Rock headed for Tulsa making enquiries on the way about the lost troop. It is hard to travel with a bunch of twenty men and not be noticed, particularly as they had to buy provisions from time to time so Daniel did not find it difficult to pick up their trail.

  He did not know exactly why he was following them. There was some idea at the back of his mind that he wanted to track down the source of the orders that sent this troop after the General. Perhaps, if he was really lucky, he might be able to identify the traitor in President Jefferson Davis’s office.

  He was certainly travelling quicker than the lost troop so he ought to be able to catch them in the next day or two.

  In fact, he caught up with them later that same day. He had no well-formulated plan in mind and because he came upon them so suddenly he did not have time to concoct one.

  They were sitting in a listless group smoking tobacco and debating among themselves what to do ne
xt. They replied to his greeting in a desultory manner.

  “Who is in charge here?”

  “Ain’t nobody in charge here mister our officers wuz kilt in action.” A man with a single stripe declared.

  “So why are you wandering around out here? Shouldn’t you have reported to the nearest army depot?”

  “We’s tryin’ to get back to our unit in Tulsa, mister.”

  Daniel seated himself down with them.

  “I am Lieutenant Daniel of the Fourth Cavalry of the US Army. I’ve been chasing you men since Waco in Texas.”

  “US Army? What you want with us? We’s Confederate cavalry.” The spokesman said.

  “Stop kidding around, corporal. I know very well who you are and I’ve come to get you back to base.”

  “We ain’t admitting nothing until you prove to us who you say you are.”

  By way of answer, Daniel exposed his US army cavalry boots and then dug into his kitbag and pulled out the lieutenant’s jacket with the bullet hole over the heart.

  “Is that proof enough for you?”

  “How come you is out of uniform?”

  “Same reason that you are all in Confederate uniform and liable to be shot as spies and say ‘sir’ when you address me.” Daniel said harshly.

  The man shot to his feet and said “Yessir!”

  “Very well men, what is the situation here. How are your supplies? Ammunition?

  State of health? Condition of horses?”

  “Sir, we ain’t got no money. We been eating whatever we c’n find, The horses ain’t had nothing but grass fer two weeks and we is lost.” He paused. “Oh, yes sir also we is down to the last few rounds of ammunition.”

  “Just as well that I came when I did. Corporal , mount up let’s get moving.”

  The morale of the men lifted immediately. The change was almost tangible.

  Daniel rode them to the nearest village where he bought provisions and made the men launder their clothing and press it into respectability. He changed back into his Confederate uniform and when they left the village they looked and behaved like trained soldiers.