The Big Gun (Dusty Fog's Civil War Book 3) (20 page)

‘
Sergeant Weather!’
Captain Dusty Fog barked,
swaggering arrogantly to where the stocky non-com was supervising
the captured Union soldiers. ‘You’ll take six men and escort these
Yankee bastards to our lines.’

‘
Six
men?’ Weather repeated, sounding worried and uncertain. ‘May I
suggest that—?’

‘
The
hell you may!’ Dusty roared, quivering with well-simulated rage at
the sergeant’s action. ‘You’ll do as I said.’

‘
With
respect, sir,’ Weather protested, stiffening into a brace. ‘Last
time proved six men can’t control so many prisoners.’

‘
Things turned out all right
last
time, and they will
this
time, sergeant,’ Dusty answered, without looking
at the prisoners but conscious that they were hanging on his every
word. ‘You and your men will all have repeaters. Don’t hesitate to
use them. It’s all one to me whether any of these Unionist scum are
still alive when you reach the Ouachita.’

‘
But
that’d be murd—’ Weather commenced.

‘
You’ll take that escort as its sergeant,’ Dusty interrupted
coldly, ‘or ride in it as a private. It’s your choice.’

‘
Yo!’
Weather grunted and saluted.

Having listened to the
conversation, the prisoners exchanged glances with each other. Six
men would not be a large number to act as their escort, so they
would have the opportunity to escape. Or might have had, if that
damned short-grown captain had not made known his views on the
matter. They watched Dusty walk away and Weather
approach them. The
sergeant looked concerned, alarmed almost, by the orders he had
received.

‘
That
captain sounds like a real mean bastard,’ one of the Yankee
corporals remarked.

‘
You
don’t know the half of it,’ Weather replied, grateful for the
comment as it allowed him to pass on further information without
arousing the Yankees’ suspicions. ‘He’s the most cold-blooded
bastard I’ve ever ridden under. He takes real pleasure in
killing.’

‘
We’ve
got two of ’em like that,’ the corporal admitted. ‘Or did have. You
killed one of ’em.’

‘
Was I
you fellers,’ Weather continued, hiding the delight he was feeling
at the way the deception was going, ‘I’d not even look like I
was
thinking
about escaping. You’ll right soon wish you hadn’t if you
try it.’

‘
How’s
that?’ demanded another of the blue-clad soldiers.

‘
We
had to do something like this during the withdrawal,’ Weather
explained, sounding so convincing that his audience did not doubt
that they were hearing the truth. ‘He sent off a small escort with
a big bunch of prisoners, but followed without them knowing. When
the prisoners tried to escape, he brought the rest of the Company
down and butchered ’em all.’

Watching the prisoners as he
spoke, Weather could read alarm on every face. Having served under
two officers who they knew were capable of such an act, the Yankees
were willing to believe that Dusty would not hesitate to put it
into effect. That had been the reason for the performance. The
small Texan hoped that it wou
ld persuade the prisoners to cooperate and so make
their disposal easier.

Having no wish to be hampered by the
captured Yankees, nor the desire to weaken his force by sending
them away under an adequate guard, Dusty had arranged the little
byplay with Sergeant Weather. If the deception had worked, Weather
and his men would have no trouble controlling the prisoners for as
long as necessary. What was more, it would be possible to leave
them with a suitable impression on another matter.

‘
Sergeant!’ Dusty shouted. ‘Get those bastards moving. We’ll
take the big gun with us.’

‘
Yo!’
Weather replied. ‘You heard the captain. Get ready to pull
out.’

‘
If
they shows signs of being ornery, send a rider back for us,’ Dusty
went on. ‘We’ll not be
too
far away.’

‘
Just
like last time,’ Weather sighed, looking at the prisoners.
‘Form up and get moving, or he might not even let you
go.’

Staunce had joined Dusty and
they stood side by side, watching Weather
’s detail mount up. Forming around
the prisoners, who were on foot, the Texans started them moving in
a southerly direction.

‘
A
very convincing performance, if I may say so,’ the Englishman
declared, grinning at his companion.

‘
Feel
free to say it,’ Dusty authorized cheerfully.

‘
I
don’t think Sergeant Weather will have much trouble with them,’
Staunce went on.

‘
Nope,’ Dusty agreed. ‘Just so long as Stormy can keep them
moving until nightfall, everything’ll be fine. Then he and his men
can leave them and join us. Time they’ve met up with more Yankees,
we’ll be long gone and, with luck, they’ll all figure we’ve gone
back south of the Ouachita.’

‘
Now
we’d better go and talk to Mr. Cable,’ Staunce suggested, feeling
as Dusty did that the deception would produce the desired
results.

‘
Why
sure,’ Dusty agreed. ‘Let’s see if we can get him to back our
play.’

‘
What
if he won’t, Dusty?’ Staunce inquired.

‘
I
don’t know,’ the small Texan confessed frankly. ‘Let’s hope that he
will help, and leave trying to decide what to do next until
after
he’s
refused.’

From what Harriet Cable had
told them about Big Minnie, the second and more powerful of her
father
’s
machines, Dusty and Staunce had recognized that it posed a very
serious threat to the Army of Arkansas and North Texas. More than
that, the success of Big Minnie would lead to the production and
use of similar traction engines by the Union. The North’s
industrial capacity would permit them
to bring out the machines in a
comparatively short time and the Confederate States had nothing
with which to counter them. So the young officers had decided that,
if they
were
successful in their attempt to liberate the engineer and
capture the big gun, they would also try to destroy the armored
traction engine before it could be put into the field.

Encouraging Harry to talk, partly as a means
of taking her mind off the danger which their attack would cause to
her father, Dusty and the Englishman had formed a pretty fair
estimation of the conditions they would be up against. Possession
of the big gun, which Staunce and his men could operate, would be
of the greatest assistance. It might make all the difference
between success and failure.

Providing, of course, that they could take
it to Nimrod Lake.

Everything depended on Eli Cable agreeing to
help them.

Harry and her father were sitting together
on the control platform of the traction engine, while Eric was
talking with the other two Negroes by the still burning furnace. As
the two officers approached, the girl and Cable dropped to the
ground.

Looking at the approaching
pair, Harry sensed what was bringing them. Being shrewd and
intelligent, she
had guessed what had been behind their interest in Big Minnie and
curiosity regarding the defenses of the island. She was equally
aware of the purpose to which they hoped to put Pulling
Sue.

Gripping her
father
’s arm
with her left hand, Harry looked up at him. From the first moment
she had seen that he was safe, she had been deeply disturbed and
anxious regarding his reactions to her having deserted her
stepmother. She had hated the thought that she must tell her father
of Monica’s betrayal. Yet, much to her amazement and perturbation,
he had not pressed her for information on the point which she had
been dreading. Instead, he had merely asked if Monica was in good
health and had turned the conversation to the subject of her
escape. Harry did not know what to make of that development. It
almost seemed that he had known, or suspected, his wife’s
infidelity; but wished to prevent Harry from realizing that he did
so.

‘
I
haven’t had the opportunity to thank you gentlemen for saving me,’
Cable announced, but his tone was wary and his eyes watchful. ‘I’m
most grateful to you for your consideration to Harry as well as to
me.’

‘
Think
nothing of it, sir,’ Dusty answered, feeling just a touch
uncomfortable. ‘We couldn’t let the Yankees go on shelling our
towns.’

‘
And
we couldn’t let the Yankees continue to use your machines,’ Staunce
went on, understanding his companion’s predicament and stepping
into the breech. ‘Either of them.’

‘
Either
of them?’ Cable repeated, although he could guess what had
been meant and how the conversation might develop.

‘
I’ve
told Dusty and Doug what Lyle’s planning to do with Big Minnie,
poppa,’ Harry put in.

‘
We
can’t let him turn that iron-plated machine loose, sir,’ Dusty
warned. ‘Either here, or back East.’

‘
Back
East?’ Cable asked, looking puzzled.

‘
That’ll be the next step,’ Dusty pointed out. ‘They’ll be
figuring to show how well the machine works here in Arkansas, then
taking it or the plans and know-how back East, then start making
more to smash down the Confederate States.’

‘
It
won’t stop there, either,’ Staunce continued. ‘As soon as the
various European military advisers see what a terrible—and
effective—weapon it is, they’ll all start making or buying them.
After which, whoever gets them first will be all set to conquer its
neighbors.’

‘
I
didn’t design my machines to be used for war or killing,’ Cable
sighed. ‘They were meant to help people, not to take human
lives.’

‘
I’d
say a whole heap of inventions started out the same way, sir,’
Dusty answered. ‘Trouble is, human beings being the way they are,
sooner or later somebody figures out a way to use them for fighting
or killing.’

‘
That’s true,’ Cable confirmed, looking with renewed
interest at the
big
blond Texan and wondering how one so young could have
gained such an insight into human frailties. He also compared Dusty
with Lyle and Stabruck, not to the Yankees’ advantage.

‘
The
thing is, sir,’ Dusty went on. ‘As officers in the Confederate
States’ Army, Doug and I have to try to stop the Yankees using the
machines. And we need your help to do it.’

‘
I
see,’ the engineer said softly.

‘
It’s
not an easy thing we’re asking, sir,’ Dusty conceded. ‘We want you
to take the big gun to Nimrod Lake for us, so that we can use it to
destroy your other machine.’

‘
It
will have to be “destroy”, sir,’ Staunce continued. ‘We’ll not
pretend that we think we can capture it. We couldn’t get either of
them back to our lines. So we’ll have to destroy them
both.’

‘
With
my
help,’ Cable said.

‘
Yes,
sir,’ Dusty agreed. ‘We know that can’t come easily to you. But
they have to be destroyed. With the big gun, we can do it and not
lose so many lives. Without it, we’re going to have to go in
ourselves and there’s no easy way to do that. I can’t even promise
you that you won’t be asked to make machines for the South. All I
can say is that I’ll make General Hardin know how you feel and ask
that he helps you to go somewhere that you can go on with your work
for peaceful purposes.’

‘
It
all depends on you, Mr. Cable,’ Staunce continued. ‘If you won’t
help us, there’s no way we can make you.’

‘
Lyle
and Stabruck found a way,’ Cable pointed out.

‘
We’re
not Lyle and Stabruck,’ Dusty countered. ‘If you say “no”,
I’ll have some of my men escort you to anywhere you will feel
safe.’

‘
And
go after Big Minnie anyway?’ Cable asked.

‘
That’s what we have to do, sir,’ Dusty stated.

‘
I
can’t let you shell
the island,’ Cable said, looking from one officer to the other.
‘My—’

‘
If
it’s because Monica is still being held there—’ Harry began, the
words bubbling out then away to nothing as she could not bring
herself to utter them.

‘
That’s part of it,’ Cable confirmed and smiled at his
daughter. ‘I’m not entirely a fool, or blind, Harry.’

‘
You
know
about—?’ the girl gasped, a mixture of relief and alarm
filling her.