Ole Devil and the Caplocks (24 page)

As far as von Lowenbrau
could see, he stood to benefit in one of two ways dependent on the
result. Should Benn succeed, the consignment would be in their
hands and his own moral dominance would soon put him back in full
command of the company. If Hardin won, he would be rid of a
troublesome subordinate who was too well connected in the regiment
for his demotion or removal in any other way.

For his part, Benn had
been counting upon the backing of the other Dragoons, but he now
knew that it would not be forthcoming. So he would have to stand—or
fall—alone.

Suddenly the sergeant
experienced a sense of overwhelm-mg fear. The motionless figure
with the face of the Devil was something beyond his comprehension.
Despite his empty hands, he seemed as grimly inevitable as death
and just as permanent. Although he was making no attempt to arm
himself, the sergeant knew that somehow he had the means to do what
he had said he would.

Seeing Mannen’s mouth
starting to open for what would be the last digit of the count,
Benn’s courage—always more bravado than bravery—broke. Reining his
horse around and dropping his rifle, he rode up the slope at an
ever increasing pace.

“
Don’t
you say a word!” Sergeant Dale snarled at the youngest member of
Company “C,” who was on the point of making a derisive comment, and
his order was obeyed.

Von Lowenbrau watched his
ex-sergeant’s flight with mixed emotions. Two things he knew were
sure. After such behavior, Benn was through. However, having seen
the non-com routed, the rest of the Dragoons would refuse to
attempt anything he wanted to try and carry out the
assignment.

“Any of you who want to go
with him may do so,” the Prussian announced, raking his men with
cold eyes. “Whoever stays will ride with me.”

“
Where
are you going, Major?” Ole Devil inquired, turning to look at the
speaker.

“With you, if you let me.
Captain,” von Lowenbrau replied. “My men and I may be of assistance
until you’ve delivered the arms to General Houston.”

“How about Colonel
Johnson?” Ole Devil asked.

“I’m going to serve a
better man,” the Prussian stated. “And we’ll be riding in better
company than any under Johnson’s command. If you’ll permit us to
accompany you that is.”

Old Devil Hardin had an
active and inquiring mind which would always take an interest in
anything he believed might one day be of service to him. While he
had no intention of going into business competition with Ewart
Brindley, he knew that the time might come when a knowledge of mule
packing could prove advantageous. So, leaving the organization of
the escort to his subordinates, he was standing and watching the
main preparations for the start of the return journey.

Taking everything into
consideration, the Texian felt that he was entitled to grant
himself a brief period of relaxation after the events of the past
few days. Not only had he dealt with one positive and one potential
threat to the consignment of Caplocks, he had almost doubled the
strength of its escort. Only time would tell whether the latter
would be beneficial or not. He refused to worry about it at that
moment.

Not one of the Red River
Volunteer Dragoons had elected to follow Sergeant Benn, who had
kept riding once he passed beyond the rim. Nor had a problem
envisaged by Ole Devil arisen. Major Ludwig von Lowenbrau had
waived the matter of his rank, stating that he placed himself and
his men under the young captain’s command until the delivery of the
Caplocks was completed. After which, the Prussian had gone on, he
intended to offer to transfer himself and his company to the Texas
Light Cavalry.

While von Lowenbrau had
sounded sincere, Ole Devil had continued to be wary of him.
However, there had been nothing about his behavior, or that of his
men, to which exception could be taken. Not knowing how long they
might have to wait for the mule train and wishing to keep the
Dragoons out of mischief, Ole Devil had put them to work
strengthening the defenses. While he was taking some well-earned
and badly needed sleep, watched surreptitiously by Mannen Blaze,
they had dug more rifle pits at the top of the hollow. The redhead
had reported that, although there was some grumbling, they had
carried out the duty in a satisfactory manner. By the middle of the
afternoon, the chance of treachery had been greatly
reduced.

Diamond-Hitch Brindley had
wasted little time in utilizing the replacement bell-mare. Although
her grandfather was being transported on a travois
^li
made by the
Tejas
packers, Joe Galton was sufficiently recovered to
ride a horse. However, they had arrived at Santa Cristobal Bay too
late for there to be any point in loading the mules and moving out
that day. So the girl and Ole Devil had agreed to bed down in the
hollow for the night and set off early the following
morning.

Looking around, Ole Devil
could tell that what appeared to be a lot of confused activity
taking place was all being carried out in a swift and purposeful
manner which called for no action on his part. He was on the point
of watching the nearest mule packer, merely to find out how the
work was performed, when something happened which prevented him
from doing so.

“
Riders
coming, Cousin Devil!” Mannen Blaze called speaking in what-for
him-was considerable haste, having noticed the sentry on the rim
giving one of the prearranged signals. Waving his hat from left to
right in a series of double circular motions gave additional
information. “Could be some of Tom Wolfs scouts headed
in.”

Partly to strengthen his
force in case von Lowenbrau might still be contemplating treachery
and knowing that the
Tejas
Indians would be even better at the duty than his
own men Ole Devil had sent Tom Wolf’s scouts out to replace his
pickets. As there was nobody else belonging to the party outside
the hollow, in all probability the riders had been sent by Tom Wolf
with urgent news. So the Texian wanted as little delay as possible
m learning what it might be.

“
I’ll go
up and meet them,” Ole Devil decided, striding to where his line
backed dun gelding was standing saddled and ready for use. “Will
you come with me, Major?”

“Thank you. Captain,” von
Lowenbrau answered, making just as quickly for his bay which was in
an equal state of readiness.

Glancing around as he
mounted, Ole Devil noticed that-like himself-all of the soldiers
wore either cloak-coats or some other form of protective clothing.
While fine the weather was cold and damp. So he decided against
telling them to remove the garments until he found out what the
returning scouts had to say.

“Hey, Di!” the Texian
called as he swung astride the dun’s saddle, looking to where the
girl was standing by her grandfather’s travois and supervising the
packers’ work without needing to tell them anything. “Can you come
with us please?”

While the
Tejas
could speak a
certain amount of English and some Spanish, only their leader was
fluent in either and the Texian wanted a fuller report than he felt
he could obtain by using those languages. Knowing that the girl was
able to speak their tongue, in fact it could be termed her second
language as she had been cared for by Wolfs squaw after the death
of her parents, her presence would be of the greatest
assistance.

“
Be
right with you,” Di promised, knowing what Ole Devil had in mind.
She directed a glare at her grandfather, who was trying to sit up,
and went on, “Stay put, you’re not going no place. Anyways, he
wants somebody’s can ‘interpretate’
Tejas
for him properly. If you have
to do anything, make sure the boys’s
you
taught don’t put the
aparejos
^lii
on upside down or backward.”

Ignoring Brindley’s
spluttered response, the girl ran to her horse. Mounting, she set
off after the two men. Catching up, she accompanied them toward the
rim. On reaching it, they all gazed in the direction indicated by
the sentry.

“
Son-of-a-bitch!” Di yelled. “That’s Tom Wolf. So whatever’s
fetched ’em must be real important.”

“It would have to be for
Tom to be doing it himself,” Ole Devil admitted, taking note of the
direction from which the two Indians were galloping. “Like the
Comanches say, ‘Bad news rides a fast horse.’ And I’ll take bets
that I can guess what it is.”

“Not with me!” Di stated
emphatically.

“Or I,” von Lowenbrau
seconded, but was pleased by the thought that—although he had acted
with efficiency up to that point—the Texian had omitted to take a
basic military precaution before ascending to the rim.

“
Damn
it,” the girl went on indignantly. “After us feeding him and him
putting the victuals down like they was going out of fashion, that
son-of-a-bitching
mozo’d
lied to us.”

“
Or he
was wrong about how far off they were,” Ole Devil pointed out,
thinking of the fear shown by Major Abrahan Phillipe Gonzales de
Villena y Danvila’s deserted servant— who was in the hollow and
probably being better treated than in all his life—when first
questioned. Stopping the dun, he dismounted and continued, “It
doesn’t matter which, but I go for my guess.”

“
You
would,” Di sniffed, joining the Texian on the ground. “Might just’s
well wait here ’n’ find out just how bad it is.”

“Let’s hope it isn’t as
bad as you believe. Miss Brindley,” von Lowenbrau suggested, also
quitting his saddle,

“
It’ll
likely be worse,” guessed the girl, knowing that they would have
the answer within seconds.

“
Them
house-Indians
^liii
coming, Diablo Viejo,” announced Tom Wolf, translating Ole
Devil’s name into Spanish as he and the younger brave brought their
mounts to rump-scraping halts before the trio. “Plenty of em. Maybe
so twenty, thirty hands, with Mexican officers.”

“
How far
off are they, Chief?” Di inquired, speaking
Tejas
.

“Except for their scouts,
they’re about two miles away,” the Indian replied in the same
language. “I collected Little Foot here on my way back and sent Son
of the Wind to fetch in the rest of our men if there was time. I
didn’t figure Diablo Viejo would want them to know for sure I’d
seen them and didn’t wait to kill their scouts.”

“
Good
thinking. Chief. That way there’s just a chance they might go by
without coming near enough to find us, although they’re probably
following my trail,” Ole Devil remarked, when the girl had
translated the report and, as Wolf started speaking again, he could
see the next information was displeasing her. “What is it,
Di?”

“
You
don’t need to count on ‘em missing us, even if they wouldn’t’ve
seen the mule train’s sign,” the girl warned, anger flashing in her
eyes. “That bitch de Moreau’s with ’em, Tom recognized her from
when they hit at Grandpappy Ewart ’n’ Joe. She’ll’ve been able to
tell ’em just smack where we’ll be.”

“
There’s
nothing more certain than that,” von Lowenbrau agreed, having heard
of the abortive ambush and the escape of the woman in question.
“It’s a pity you didn’t get her, Captain Hardin. She’s probably the
only one of them who would get a chance to tell the Mexicans what
she knows.”

“Blast it. Devil did all
any man could and better’n many—!” Di protested.

“The major’s right,
though, they’d probably have shot any of the men they’d come across
on sight,” Ole Devil interrupted. “But, as she’s sure to have told
them, maybe we can turn it to our advantage. In fact, I think it
already is!”

“
How the
hell do you make that out?” Di demanded and the Prussian showed
just as great a lack of comprehension. “She’ll bring ’em straight
here, without them even having to do a mite of work cutting for
sign.”

“Yes,” Ole Devil conceded.
“But she doesn’t know how many of us there are.”

“
She
knows your whole company’s here—” the girl began, then
understanding came as it had with von Lowenbrau if the way he was
nodding his head meant anything. “But she won’t be taking your
fellers into account, Major.”

“Not unless they come
across our tracks,” the Prussian pointed out.

“
That
they not do, soldier-coat,” Wolf put in, having been able to follow
the conversation without difficulty and using it. He could speak
good English if the need arose, but preferred to use his native
tongue particularly when addressing white strangers.
^liv
“Coming way they are, they won’t see ’em until they’re out on
this open ground here.”

Listening to the Indian,
Ole Devil had his own thoughts on the matter confirmed by an
expert. While there were a fair amount of bushes, trees and other
cover in the vicinity, through which even a large body of the enemy
could pass undetected provided that they took precautions—which
Wolf and his companion had not troubled to do—none of any
consequence was available for a strip about two hundred yards wide
extending from the cliffs and the rim of the bay. Having come in at
a more acute angle than the Arizona Hopi
Activos
Regiment would be
approaching, the tracks of the Red River Volunteer Dragoons were
unlikely to be noticed until the more open terrain was entered. By
then, if things could be arranged properly, it would be too late
for the attackers to appreciate the danger.