Ole Devil at San Jacinto (Old Devil Hardin Western Book 4) (25 page)

‘
To Harrisburg?’ Filisola
asked, remembering from the reports which had been received that
the Republic of Texas’s Army w
ere travelling far to the northeast of
that town. ‘But what of Houston and his men, Your
Excellency?’

‘
Them
?’ el
Presidente
snarled, intolerant as always of any question being put
regarding his decisions. ‘What are they? A disorganized and
cowardly rabble in full flight from us and unworthy of our
attention. No, gentlemen, it is the head of this treacherous and
perfidious snake we must remove. We are marching to Harrisburg with
all speed.’

‘
Santa Anna’s taken the bait all
right, sir,’ Ole Devil Hardin reported. ‘He’s marching for
Harrisburg with such haste that, with the exception of a single
six-pounder, he’s left all his artillery behind with the baggage
train and he’s driving his men so hard that they’re dropping out by
the dozen. They’d just arrived at Thompson’s Ferry and were
starting to cross the river when we were relieved by Colonel Smith.
But, for all his losses along the way, he still has us outnumbered
by at least three to one.’

The time was just before eleven
o’clock on the morning of April
13.

In spite of his obvious fatigue, the young
Texian was standing almost as rigidly while at ease as he had been
at attention before receiving Major General Samuel Houston’s
permission to relax. He had refused the offer of a chair, knowing
that he was so tired from the exertion of the past few days if he
sat down he might fall asleep before he had informed his superior
officer of what had happened.

Having kept
Presidente
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna’s
column under observation and making sure of the direction in which
it was marching, until the meeting with ‘Deaf’ Smith on the banks
of the Brazos River had relieved him of the necessity, Ole Devil
was able to announce that his mission was showing every sign of
having been successful. Goaded by what he had regarded as two
murderous attempts on his life—once with a weapon calculated to
doom him to a lingering death—and reading the contents of the
documents which Lieutenant Paul Dimmock’s act of self-sacrifice had
put into his possession, the Mexican dictator was behaving as
Houston had hoped he would.

Contrary to
el Presidente’s
supposition, his
assailants had never intended to kill or even wound him.

To have done either would not have produced
the results General Houston desired!

There were generals far more competent and
active than Vincente Filisola in Santa Anna’s column and whichever
of them had assumed command after Santa Anna’s death, he would
almost certainly have followed the tactically sound course of
continuing to pursue the Republic of Texas’s Army. Destroying or
scattering it would achieve far more useful results than killing
the members of the ‘foreign land thieves’ Government.

Only Santa Anna himself would
have such a deep personal involvement that he would wish, to the
exclusion of everything else, to wreak vengeance upon the men he
believed to be responsible for the two attempts to murder him. By
doing so, he was playing into General Houston’s hands. Not only was
the latter being granted a desperately needed respite, but the wild
dash to Harrisburg was weakening the already dispirited force
under
el
Presidente’s
command.

The respite was a very important
consideration for the commanding general of the Republic of Texas’s
Army under the conditions which were currently prevailing.

For all the outcries of outrage
which had arisen over the fate of the Alamo Mission’s defenders,
there had been no significant increase in the numbers of their
fellow Texians to volunteer for service with the Army. In fact, as
the reports of the ‘Runaway Scrape’
^lii
and the successes of General José
Urrea’s Tamaulipa Brigade at San Patricio and Goliad began to
circulate, many of those who had already enlisted deserted with the
intention of protecting and removing their families beyond the
enemies’ reach.

Even the hard core of staunch
men who had remained under Houston’s command, barely a thousand in
all, were unhappy over the way he was conducting the campaign.
Since the majority of them had been armed with the consignment of
caplock rifles Lieutenant Mannen Blaze had had awaiting their
arrival at Groce’s Place, there had been increasing demands that
they should ‘quit running and make a stab at getting even for what
had happened to those
gallant boys of the Alamo’. So far, the general
had been able to fend them off by insisting that the Army learned
the ways of the new weapons. However, knowing the mood the men were
in, he was aware that he could not restrain their impatience
indefinitely. Something positive would have to be done before
long.

Unfortunately, as Houston appreciated, the
action he must take next would not be popular.

‘
I hear you lost young Dimmock,’ the
general said.

‘
Yes, sir,’ Ole Devil
agreed, his face taking on angry and bitter lines as he explained
the circumstances of the lieutenant’s death. ‘That was what
convinced Santa Anna the “reward posters” and “President Burnet’s”
letter were genuine,’ he concluded. ‘But I didn’t know what
P
—Mr.
Dimmock had in mind—’

‘
That
goes without saying, captain,’ Houston declared. ‘And, as
soon as it’s possible, we’ll let it be known what he did.’
^liii

‘
Thank you, sir,’ Ole Devil drawled,
fighting to hold off a yawn.

‘
And now, my young friend,’ Houston
went on, rising. ‘I’m ordering you to go and take a sleep. You look
like you’re ready for it.’

‘
I am,’ Ole Devil admitted, but he
still snapped smartly to attention before continuing. ‘Can you tell
me when we’ll be moving out, please, sir?’

‘
I’ll
have the
Yellow Stone
start ferrying the
men over this afternoon,’ Houston replied, referring to a little
steamboat which had traded along the Brazos River before the
commencement of hostility and which had already played one
important part in the campaign.
^liv
‘Your Company will be the last to go,
which means they’ll be here until tomorrow. So you’ll be able to
have a good rest.’

‘
Gracias,
sir,’ Ole Devil said.

‘
Now get going, blast you,’ the
general barked, but there was a kindly and even admiring glint in
his blue eyes to belie the gruffness of his voice. ‘I’ve work to do
whether you young line officers have or not.’

Leaving Houston’s headquarters,
Ole Devil did not go straight to bed. Instead, he accompanied
Mannen Blaze to a secluded area. In a small canvas shelter, a
bath-tub
—‘borrowed’ from its original owner—was filled with hot
water and awaiting him. Removing his clothes for the first time
since setting out on the mission, he took a bath, shaved and
trimmed his beard and moustache to their normal style, then donned
his uniform. As a further demonstration of the respect and high
regard in which the men of the Texas Light Cavalry’s Company ‘C’,
held him, they had set up a tent well clear of the noise and bustle
of the main camp. They also willingly formed a ring of sentries to
ensure that he and Tommy Okasi, who had already bathed and changed,
could sleep undisturbed.

~*~

‘
D
evil!’ Mannen Blaze said urgently, shaking his cousin’s
shoulder.

‘
Wh
—!’ Ole Devil gasped, waking up far more slowly than was
usual for him. ‘Wh—What is it?’

‘
I’m
sorry to have to
disturb you,’ the burly redhead
apologized, sounding as if he too was
practically asleep. ‘But
there could be trouble.’

Swinging his feet from the cot,
which like the bath-tub had been ‘borrowed’ by the men of Company
‘C
’, Ole
Devil saw that Tommy was also stirring. The little Oriental had
removed the stain and, except that his face was a little drawn
after the exertions of the past few days, looked his usual self.
There was a muted rumble of conversation from not far outside the
tent and, looking through the open flaps, the Texian could tell
that the afternoon was well advanced. He had slept long enough to
have lost the fatigue which had assailed him and felt much
refreshed.

‘
What kind of trouble?’ Ole Devil
inquired as he stood up.

‘
There’s a meeting
of
protest, they call it, going on,’ Mannen explained, his
sleepy tones underlaid with anger. ‘Some of the anti-Houston bunch
are trying to talk the others into heading straight down to
Thompson’s Ferry and jump Santa Anna instead of what they call
running like cur dogs with our tails between our legs.’

‘
They’re
what
?’
Ole Devil barked, bending down to collect his belt and
passing its end through the first loop on the left side of his
breeches. Although he slid on the bowie knife’s sheath, he did not
bother to replace the magazine pouch; both of which he had removed
when extracting the belt from his trousers. Encircling his waist
with it, he fastened the buckle and pulled on his boots, asking
savagely, ‘Haven’t the damned fools been told what General
Houston’s going to do?’

‘
Only that we’re crossing
the Brazos and moving east,’ Mannen replied, gesturing angrily with
his cousin’s Manton pistol
—which he had taken away and
cleaned—looking almost tiny in his huge right hand.

‘
Of
course,
’ Ole Devil said quietly, slipping the bowie knife into its
sheath. ‘He can’t let it be known what he’s intending. There’s
still time for word of it to get to Santa Anna and spoil every
chance of it working.’

‘
It’s a pity he couldn’t
let folks know, though,’
the redhead stated, handing over the
pistol. ‘What started the fuss is that some Mexican sneaked up
close enough to the camp so that he could shout that
el Presidente
knows we’re skulking
in the bushes up here and, after he’s whipped our “land thieves’
Government” out of the country, he’ll be coming to smoke us out for
the cowardly rats we are.’

‘
So they want to go down there and
call his bluff?’ Ole Devil guessed, accepting and thrusting his
pistol into its carrier on the belt.

‘
They reckon that, seeing they’ve got
those new caplocks, they should use them for shooting,’ Mannen
elaborated, ‘not as extra ballast while they’re running
away.’

‘
God damned fools!’ Ole
Devil growled. ‘Can’t they see that Santa Anna sent his man up here
to try to make us go there? He’ll have left enough men at
Thompson’s to take care of us and, if we go there, we’ll be playing
into his hands.’
^lv

‘
It’s likely never occurred to them,’
the redhead answered, having drawn a similar conclusion. ‘Somebody
ought to tell them.’

‘
Where’s General Houston?’ Ole Devil
demanded.

‘
He took
all the senior officers across the river in the
Yellow Stone
,’
Mannen replied. ‘That’s when those stupid
sons-of-bitches started stirring the others up.’

‘
They’ve got to be stopped
before they do it
,’ Ole Devil declared, in a voice barely louder
than a whisper. He raised it to go on, ‘And, by god! I’m going to.’
His next words were more of a statement than a question, ‘Is the
Company formed up, Mr. Blaze?’

‘
Armed and waiting, sir,’ Mannen reported,
showing no resentment at the use of the honorific ‘mister’. He had
anticipated his cousin’s response and made all the necessary
arrangements. ‘As soon as you’re ready, sir, we can move
out.’

While the conversation was
taking place, Tommy had risen and armed himself with his
daisho.
Deciding that the
bow would not be required, he left it on the ground and held out
his employer’s hat. Taking it, Ole Devil did not put it on his
head. Instead, he allowed it to dangle over his back by the
barbiquejo
chinstrap.

As their commanding officer
stepped from the tent, Sergeant Smith called the two ranks of
Company ‘C
’
to attention. Studying the expectancy and resolution on the tanned
faces of his men, Ole Devil knew he could rely upon them to back
him to the hilt. Returning the salute which Smith delivered, he
gave the order to turn right and led the way to where a certain
amount of noise indicated the meeting was taking place.

Studying the crowd which had gathered on an
area of open ground at the fringes of the camp, Ole Devil found it
to be comprised exactly as he had expected. Mostly they were just
ordinary enlisted men, not over intelligent and unable to
appreciate the true nature of the situation. There were also a few
malcontents with real or fancied grievances and an assortment of
the kind who would go along anywhere that something was happening,
regardless of what it might be. As Mannen had said, the main causes
of the dissension were the sprinkling of men who were opposed to
General Houston and wanted to discredit him.