Quicksilver Passion (117 page)

Petty made it back, said you and Wilson was both killed.”

Cherokee cursed, and ran his hand through his hair.
That damned Petty deserted me! Wilson was killed all right and I’ve been a prisoner ever since that night. Do you have any tobacco?”

The big blacksmith shook his head.
Yanks took it off me first thing. I reckon they ain’t seen any the whole war, just like we ain’t seen much real coffee. Will a fella even be able to get a drink here once in a while, Cherokee?”

I don’t know. When I gave it up, I gave it up for good. But I have to admit that once in a while, I think about how Irish whiskey used to taste.” He led Dowdy over to a corner of the prison yard and they sat down in the shade of the big broad wall that surrounded the desolate, treeless sandbar.
We don’t even know much about what’s going on out there.”

Well, we’re losing and losing bad; looks like it’s only a matter of time,” the boy sighed.

We did hear that. The captain all right?”

He’s Colonel O‘Bannion now,” Dowdy drawled.
I reckon he’s fine. We got separated in the fightin’ right after the Fort Pillow thing.”

Fort Pillow?”

Ain’t you heard?”

Cherokee leaned back against the wall and shook his head.
No, tell me.”

Forrester’s Tennessee troops captured the Yankee fort. When our boys found out it was manned by former slaves, they went crazy. Petty was one of those who started it, although O’Bannion tried to stop it. Turned into a massacre, it did. Our troops even burned and buried some of those black soldiers alive!”