Under the Stars and Bars (16 page)

Sucking in deep breaths, Dusty stepped back and lowered his borrowed sabre. He saw Surtees galloping towards him and heard the Dragoon officers running in his direction. Turning to the latter, he felt puzzled by the anger and disapproval they displayed. Then he realised what had caused the emotions. The Dragoons had been unable to see the reason for Dusty’s apparently unsporting action.

‘Look at his left hand, Major,’ Dusty suggested before any word of condemnation could be directed at him.

Striding by the small Texan, Galbraith knelt at Gilbertson’s side. One glance informed the Dragoon that nothing could save the Volunteer’s life. In a way that was all to the good. Unless Captain Fog insisted on making the deplorable incident public, the affair could be kept a secret. Talking about it would do more harm than good.

Having reached that conclusion, the major took up the Volunteer’s limp left hand. He looked for a moment at the bloody gash across the fingers and nodded his understanding. Satisfied, he came to his feet and faced his subordinates.

‘He grabbed Captain Fog’s blade,’ Gaibraith announced.

‘It wasn’t his first foul trick,’ Captain Miller went on coldly. ‘I don’t blame you for playing him at his own game. Captain Fog.’

A mutter of agreement rose from the two lieutenants. Gathering a handful of grass, Dusty cleaned the sabre’s blade. With that done, he reversed the weapon and held its hilt towards Galbraith.

‘My thanks, sir,’ Dusty said.

‘I suppose that I shouldn’t have let you fight him,’ Galbraith admitted as he returned his sabre to its sheath. Then he stiffened and growled, ‘The hell I shouldn’t. He deserved all he got and I don’t regret him getting it.’

‘Comes to that, sir,’ Dusty answered ruefully, ‘I shouldn’t’ve killed him. Like I told you, he was due to be exchanged for one of our captains this morning.

Looking at the small Texan—although he would never again think of Dusty Fog as being small—Galbraith saw the other’s predicament. By a convention of war, a prisoner could be exchanged for a man of equal rank held by the opposition. However Captain Fog no longer had a prisoner to offer in exchange. Another convention of war was that an officer’s word must be his bond. Gilbertson had admitted to giving his parole with the full intention of breaking it. If he had lived, he would have been handed back to his escort.

Any way that Major Galbraith looked at the problem, he saw only one honourable solution. The Army of the United States must uphold its obligations and preserve the conventions of war.

‘As far as I’m concerned, Captain Fog,’ the Dragoons’ major said soberly. ‘You delivered Gilbertson alive and in good health. If you’ll accompany me to the Snake Ford, I’ll guarantee your officer is released in exchange for him.’

THE END

oooOooo

1. Told in the ‘The Futility of War’ episode of
The Fastest Gun in Texas
.

2. How Cogshill repaid Dusty is told in
Cuchilo
.

3. Told in
Kill Dusty Fog!

4. Mark Counter’s history is told in the author’s floating outfit stories.

5. How and why this came about is told in
The Ysabel Kid
.

6. Soda and hock: the first and last cards in a deck used for playing faro.

7. Turkey-buzzard: Cathartes Aura, the American Turkey Vulture.

8. Material: in Artillery terms, the battery’s guns, vehicles and equipment as opposed to its personnel and horses.

9. The use of a rope-corral is described in
Trail Boss
.

10. Brio escondido: hidden vigour, stamina of a high order.

11. More of General Smethurst’s story can be read in
Back to the Bloody Border
and in
The Hooded Riders
.

12. Hard-wintering: gossiping or story-telling, from the old men’s habit of discussing the severity of the winters in their younger days.

13. The standard-size Army Colt had an eight inch barrel.

14. How is told in
The Bad Bunch
.

15. Rosaderos: wide, vertical shields stitched to the back of the stirrup leathers.

16. Pecker-wood: derogatory name for a white Southerner.

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Scanned and proofed by Amigo da Onça