The Big Gun (Dusty Fog's Civil War Book 3) (23 page)

‘
Keep
your yapper closed!’ Lyle commanded, scowling at the woman. Then he
swung his cold gaze back to the Englishman. ‘What did Miss Cable
tell you, captain?’

‘
That,
going by the way your men treated the colored folks here, she
believed you must be Rebels in disguise,’ Staunce
answered.

‘
She
was a Reb herself,’ Monica put in.

‘
And I
told you to keep out of this!’ Lyle roared, swinging around with a
fury that made its recipient cringe back. Once more he turned his
attention to Staunce. ‘And you came here
alone
to find out if her story was
true?’

‘
Who
says I’m alone?’

‘
There
was only him and that black kid who run off with the gal in the
boat,’ Block interjected, neither knowing nor caring that Oscar was
listening in the hall.

‘
Where’s he now?’ Lyle wanted to know. ‘The black kid, I
mean.’

‘
At
the bottom of the lake,’ Block replied. ‘I had to kill him and
Titus took him out to get rid of him.’

Only by exercising all his will
power did Oscar prevent himself from letting the occupants of
the
dining
room know that he had overheard the words. Turning, he walked
swiftly and silently to the rear door and passed through
it.

‘
You
should have killed Titus while you were at it,’ Lyle sniffed. ‘If
he talks, we could have trouble with the rest of them.’

‘
We
can soon enough settle anything they start,’ Block
grinned.

‘
That
sounds like the talk I’d expect from Rebels,’ Staunce commented.
‘Not from an officer and sergeant of the Union Army.’

‘
Come
on now, Schmidt,’ Lyle scoffed. ‘You’re too intelligent to pretend
to believe we’re fighting this War to let a few black bastards have
freedom.’

‘
Titus
doesn’t know who was with me,’ Staunce warned, not taking that
aspect of the conversation any further. ‘All he saw was myself and
Eric.’

‘
And
you’ve got a large escort close by?’ asked Lyle.

‘
Is it
likely I’d come here unescorted?’ Staunce replied, exuding calm
confidence.

Lyle did not answer
immediately. From Titus
’s arrival with news of the ‘Yankee’ officer
wanting to visit the island secretly, the major had sensed an even
greater threat to his secret ambitions than had been posed when
Conrad Blucher had arrived.

Ever since Lyle had first heard
of Cable
’s
machines, he had realized their full potential. Monica—an old
friend—had contrived to keep him informed of her husband’s
activities, even after war had been declared. Having seen an
opportunity to lay his hands on something of great value, Lyle had
set about obtaining the means to do so. When deciding to expend his
fortune on the organization of a small Army unit, he had given
considerable thought to what form it would take. Having no wish to
be killed in action, he had considered that the Artillery offered
him a solution; but only a partial one. When the time came to put
his scheme into operation, he wanted a fighting force to back up
his play.

Eventually Lyle had reached the
compromise. Using his contacts in New York, he had gathered
sufficient
men
for two fifty-strong companies. In addition, he had
enlisted the aid of Stabruck—an Artillery officer with social and
political ambitions—and a balloonist. The latter would be a means
of drawing much needed attention to the next item of Lyle’s
equipment. Although calling his outfit Artillery, he had only
purchased one cannon; the massive Parrot 30-pounder. For the rest,
his men drilled as Cavalry and were armed with Spencer repeaters.
They were, he had insisted, to become a specialized Artillery
group.

By making representations in
the appropriate places, Lyle had arranged for his outfit to be sent
to Arkansas. They were such an unconventional unit that, even
though short of men, General Culver had never found a use for them.
In the excitement of pursuing the Rebels towards the Ouachita
River, Lyle
’s command had been left behind and almost forgotten. As
far as he knew, nobody in the Army of Arkansas was aware of his
presence at Cable Grange.

A shrewd businessman, Lyle had
always realized that Cable
’s revolutionary machines would not sell in large
quantities unless the public could be conditioned to accept them.
To gain this acceptance, they would have to prove their worth in a
spectacular manner. So he had worked out the means to raise them
into prominence. Once they had helped to bring about a Northern
victory in Arkansas, he would find no difficulty in raising
sufficient capital to make more of them. When the War ended,
especially if his machines had helped to bring it about, he would
be in a position to turn out peacetime versions and have civilians
willing to buy them.

That could all be spoiled,
however, if any hint of the machines
’ capabilities were made public before the
completion of the scheme. So, even if ‘Schmidt’ was genuine—and
Lyle did not doubt that he was—he could not be permitted to leave
the island. He must be killed, in an acceptable manner, before his
escort—assuming that he had one—missed him. Then, when they came to
investigate, Lyle would have had time to think up a suitable excuse
for his outfit’s continued presence on the island.

‘
Do
you know what I think you are?’ Lyle inquired, having reached that
final conclusion.

‘
No,’
Staunce answered, although a memory stirred and started to give him
a warning of what might be coming.

‘
I
think you’re a Rebel spy and a liar,’ Lyle said.

‘
Then
I’ll call up my men,’ Staunce replied, starting to rise.
“That—’

‘
I
said you’re a stinking traitor and a liar,’ Lyle
repeated.

With that, the major lashed the
back of his left hand against Staunce
’s right cheek. Slammed down on the
chair’s seat, the Englishman responded in a natural
manner.

‘
You
bastard!’ Staunce shouted furiously and made as if to leap at his
assailant.

~*~

‘
What’s ailing you, Oscar?’ Mama Lukie demanded worriedly,
as her husband entered their small, comfortably furnished and
spotlessly clean home close behind the main house.

‘
It’s
Eric,’ the butler croaked, sinking into a chair.

‘
Eric?
’
the big woman repeated. ‘I’ve had this feeling all night
that something was wrong with that boy. What’s
happened?’

‘
He—He
was killed by the Yankees!’ Oscar answered, tears trickling down
his cheeks.

‘
Where?’ Mama Lukie asked. ‘How?’

‘
On
the island. Titus brought him and a Yankee officer here. That
Sergeant Block said he’d killed Eric and Titus was fixing to drop
his body into the lake.’

‘
Lordy
lord!’ the woman ejaculated.

Although visibly shaken by the
news, Mama Lukie retained her self control. She too was crying as
she poured out a cup of coffee and placed it before her husband.
Then she asked him for more details. Having taken a drink, Oscar
braced his shoulders and complied. There was not much more that he
could tell her, but at the second mention of
Titus
’s part
in the affair, she nodded her head.

‘
He
allus was a mean, untrusting feller,’ the woman said
quietly.

‘
What’re we going to do now, Mama Lukie?’ Oscar wanted to
know. ‘With Massa Cable and Miss Harry both gone, there’s nothing
to hold none of us here.’

‘
Nothing ’cept all them fellers, their rifles and that there
big cannon that’s guarding the boats. The fellers who does guard on
the back’ve been told to use it if we tries to leave. And they
wouldn’t think twice about doing it, even though there’d be women
’n’ children in the boats.’

Oscar nodded his agreement.
Shortly after their arrival, the Yankees had brought in added means
of protecting the island. The
‘cannon’ was one of three Vandenburg volley guns
which had been left behind when the Army of Arkansas went after the
retreating Rebels.
^xx
While two of the guns were placed to
sweep the bridge, the third had been situated so that it could
cover the landing beach. It was not kept manned, but the sentries
in that area all knew how to fire it and its ninety-eight barrels
would spew out their loads like a gigantic shotgun.

‘
What’re we going to do?’ the butler insisted.

‘
Nothing rash, that’s for sure,’ Mama Lukie answered. ‘Do
you reckon you can go back there and act natural?’

‘
I—’
Oscar said hesitantly, then stiffened his body. ‘I reckon I
can.’

‘
Then
do it,’ the woman ordered. ‘It’s lucky that it’s my night off, they
won’t miss me. Don’t you let on you know what’s
happened.’

‘
I
won’t.’

‘
Comes
morning, we’ll think some more on what to do.’

‘
How
about Titus?’ Oscar asked bitterly.

‘
Don’t
you go fretting none about him,’ Mama Lukie advised, nodding
towards the big, locked chest in the corner of the room. ‘I allus
figured I’d one day have to give him his come-uppance, for scoffing
at me being a conjure woman. Now he’s come to where I’ve got to do
it. You stay away for a while.’

‘
I’ll
do that sure enough,’ Oscar promised and left.

Having locked the door and made
certain that all the drapes were closed at the windows, Mama Lukie
opened the box. From it, she took a small bag of some kind of skin.
Going to the table, she sat down and unfastened the
bag
’s
drawstring to take something out. It proved to be a clay figure
shaped like a tall, lanky man and with human hair, black and
crinkly, attached to the head.

‘
Titus,’ Mama Lukie said in an awful tone, turning the
figure around in her fingers. ‘You’re going to pay for getting my
boy killed.’

~*~

Having positioned themselves
for such an eventuality, suspecting that their officer might try to
provoke a duel, Block and Grilpan grabbed Staunce by the shoulders
and forced him to remain seated. While the
Englishman
’s
cheeks were flushed red with anger, he did not struggle for long. A
realization of what was happening flooded over him. Like Conrad
Blucher, he was being manipulated into a position from which he
could be killed.

Instantly, although no sign of it showed on
the outside, the Englishman became calm. Ceasing his attempts to
throw off the detaining hands of his captors, he glared at
Lyle.

‘
This’s about what I’d expect of a bunch of lousy, cowardly
deserters who’re hiding here while good men are killed in the
fighting,’ Staunce stated, in tones of deepest contempt.

An ugly red flush crept across
Lyle
’s face
at the scathing words, for he knew that was how many soldiers would
regard his actions. Instead of him provoking the quarrel, the
tables had been turned. He stood for a moment, quivering with rage.
Then, making an obvious effort, he held his temper in
check.

‘
That’s a remark I don’t intend to overlook, captain!’ Lyle
declared, spitting out each word as if it was burning his mouth.
‘In fact, I’m going to demand that you give me satisfaction for
it.’

‘
Dueling’s illegal, major,’ Staunce pointed out.

‘
Are
you trying to avoid facing me?’ Lyle challenged.

‘
No,’
Staunce assured him. ‘I’ll give you your satisfaction. But I’ll
need a weapon—unless you plan to be the only one of us who is
armed.’

‘
I
don’t!’ Lyle growled. ‘Fetch my gun box, Block.’

‘
Yo!’
the sergeant grunted.

‘
I’ll
have your Colt before you go,’ Lyle continued. ‘Just in case the
captain tries to avoid his obligations.’

‘
Sure,’ Block replied and complied with the
order.

‘
You
can go to bed, Monica,’ the major commanded—and there was no other
way of describing the manner with which he addressed the
woman—accepting the non-com’s Army Colt.

For once, Monica did not argue. She
remembered that she had never found Lyle so passionate as on the
night after he had killed Blucher. Deciding that a similar incident
would bring identical, or perhaps even better, results, she
advanced to kiss the major lightly on the cheek. Then she followed
Block from the room. At no time had she shown the slightest pity,
or interest, for the captive.