Young Ole Devil (14 page)

A thorough search of the two
bodies had produced one very significant piece of evidence. In a
concealed pocket at the back of the larger
corpse
’s
belt there had been a document bearing the Mexican coat-of-arms and
a message written in Spanish. It was to inform all members of Santa
Anna’s forces that the bearer, Sidney Halford, was working for the
Mexican Government and must be given any assistance that he
requested. Although his companion had not been in possession of a
similar authorization, it was convincing proof that they were not
loyal to the Republic of Texas.

Unfortunately, there had been nothing to
suggest why the renegades were at the hamlet.

Being aware of the very serious issues
involved, Ole Devil and Tommy had discussed the matter at great
length and in detail.

First they had considered the
way in which the
vaquero
had acted when Ole Devil had entered the
cantina.
If the gang had
merely been awaiting the arrival of a companion, there was no
reason for him to have behaved in such a manner. He might, of
course, have been alerting the other members of the party to the
fact that the newcomer was rather more important than a
chance-passing member of the Republic of Texas’s army. However, the
lanky man’s reaction to the introduction had implied that he, for
one, wanted to discover who had arrived.

Against that, the gang had
apparently expected only one man. If they had known who was being
sent to collect the rifles, they must have acquired their knowledge
from what had been said in General Samuel
Houston
’s
office. Which meant that somebody had been able to listen to the
conversation without the General and Ole Devil being aware of it.
However, if that had been the case, the eavesdropper would have
known that Tommy was accompanying the young Texian. Unless, as the
little Oriental had pointed out, for some reason he—or she—had been
prevented from hearing all that had passed between them.

There was, Ole Devil had realized, only one
course open to him. If there should be a spy with the means of
gathering such confidential information, the General must be warned
so that he could take precautions. Producing a writing-case from
his war bag, the young Texian had composed a report for Houston. In
it, he had given a comprehensive description of the incident and of
the conclusions which he and Tommy had reached. He had also said
that he was retaining the document which identified Halford in case
he might find a need for it during the assignment

The next morning, after having
spent an otherwise uneventful night in the
cantina,
Ole Devil had sent Tommy back to San
Antonio de Bexar with the report. Using one of the dead men’s
horses, which the fleeing pair had been in too much of a hurry
either to take with them or frighten away, the little Oriental was
to ride relay. After delivering the information to Houston, he
would follow and rejoin Ole Devil on the way to the rendezvous at
Santa Cristobal Bay.

Taking along the second of the
horses which had been left in the lean-to
—the contents of the bed roll on the
cantle of its ‘slick fork’ saddle, although supplying no
information of greater use, suggested that it had been Halford’s
property – Ole Devil had resumed his journey at dawn, Tommy was
using Stiple’s mount, which had a Walker-style rig, having lost the
toss of a coin to determine which of them should take
it.

Once again the young Texian had not stuck to
the trail. While the two men had fled and not returned, he doubted
whether they and their companions would give up so easily;
especially if they were aware of his assignment and were trying to
prevent him from carrying it out. He had reached Guadalupe without
having seen any sign of them. Visiting the town, he had found its
population were preparing to take part in the withdrawal to the
east

The commanding officer of the
town
’s small
garrison had listened to Ole Devil’s story and, without having
asked too many questions about the nature of his mission, had
promised to send a patrol to the hamlet. They were to search along
the trail on the very slender chance that the four men might still
be lurking in the vicinity. Although Ole Devil had described the
quartet as well as possible and the officer had said that he would
try to find out if they had been seen around Guadalupe, he doubted
if he would be successful as there were so many strangers present.
However, he had offered to supply Ole Devil with an escort as far
as Gonzales. Wanting to travel faster than would be possible if he
was accompanied by a number of men, as well as having no wish to
reduce the other’s already barely adequate force, the young Texian
had declined the offer and had ridden on alone.

As was always his way, Ole
Devil had given much thought to the situation. While he had
remained alert and watchful, he had not expected to run into any
trouble before he had passed through Gonzales on the final five or
so miles which separated it from the Brindleys
’ place. His reasoning was that
if the men were hunting him because of the shipment, and had been
told of at least part of the arrangements he had made in Houston’s
office, they would know why he was not taking the most direct route
to Santa Cristobal Bay. After the way in which he had arrived at
the hamlet, they were likely to assume that he would adopt similar
tactics and stay off the trail. While there were a number of ways
in which he could travel from Guadalupe to Gonzales, once he had
passed the latter town his route would be more
restricted.

In view of his conclusions, Ole
Devil was willing to bet that they would be spread out and keeping
watch for him somewhere between two and four miles beyond Gonzales.
Nearer to the town, or closer to the Brindleys
’ ranch, any shooting would be
heard and might—almost certainly would if there was more than one
shot—be investigated. Now he had already entered the region where,
if his assumptions were correct, he could expect to find
them.

Slouching comfortably in the
saddle of the borrowed horse, with the
line-backed bay walking at its right
side, the young Texian kept his eyes constantly on the move. He was
passing through rolling, broken and bush-dotted terrain which would
offer plenty of scope for ambush. What was more, there were
numerous areas of high ground; vantage points from which the
quartet could keep watch for him. However, it was also the kind of
land that allowed a man to move without making himself too
conspicuous if he knew how to utilize it and did not mind winding
about instead of trying to go directly to his ultimate
destination.

Since his arrival in Texas, Ole Devil had
learned how to make the most use of such land when he was
traversing it. Despite his upbringing, in fact because of it, he
was no snob. Nor had he ever been so self-opinionated that he would
not take advice and learn from those who knew what they were
talking about. Working with experienced frontier men, he had
watched, listened, remembered and put his findings into practice.
He was doing so now as he rode along, leading the dun with its
reins held in his left hand.

Having called at Gonzales and
obtained
advice on how to find the Brindleys’ ranch, Ole Devil had
kept to the bottom of draws, or passed through areas of bushes
instead of going across more easily negotiable open ground. When he
had been compelled to expose himself by crossing a ridge, he had
done so with great care and only after scanning every inch of the
land ahead and behind.

The raucous cackle of feeding
magpies came to Ole Devil
’s ears as he was approaching the top of a
bush-fringed rim. Suddenly, one of the black and white scavengers
gave an alarm call and they rose into the air. The young Texian
realized that it was not his presence which had frightened
them.

Slowing down his horses, Ole
Devil approached the rim with extreme care. Making use of the
screen of bushes, he peered over the top.
About a hundred yards away, a
buckskin-clad figure carrying a rifle was walking towards the
partially eaten carcass of a mule that lay in the open some thirty
yards from a clump of buffalo-berry bushes,

Although the figure was dressed
in a familiar manner, except that he had on Indian moccasins and
leggings instead of boots, and despite the brim of the hat hiding
his face as he looked down at the carcass, Ole Devil knew he was
not one of the white men who had been in the
cantina.
About five foot seven inches
tall, while neither puny nor skinny, he lacked the thickset bulk of
the one who compared with him in height. In addition, he gave the
impression of being younger. His horse, a black and white
tobiano
gelding with a
‘slick fork’ saddle that had a coiled rope strapped to its horn,
but no bed roll on the cantle, was standing ground-hitched some
thirty feet away. It was staring in alarmed manner at the dead
mule.

The horse, Ole Devil decided, was showing
better sense than its owner.

Even as the thought came, there
was a rustling among the buffalo-berry bushes. Ole Devil looked
that way and a sense of chilly apprehension drove through him. From
all appearances, the youngster
’s desire to examine the dead mule had led him
into a potentially dangerous situation. Rearing up on its hind
legs, a large bear loomed over the bushes. It had been lying up in
the shade after feeding on the carcass, Snorting and snuffling, it
stared at the intruder advancing towards its kill.

For a moment, Ole Devil was
alarmed on the youngster
’s behalf. Then, with a feeling of relief, he
realized that the bear—despite its size—was of the black species
and not, as he had first feared, a grizzly. Despite the many
highly-spiced, horrifying stories told about its savage
nature,
Euarctos Americanus,
the American black bear, was generally not
especially dangerous to human beings. If the creature in the bushes
had been a Texas flat-headed grizzly, the youngster’s position
would have been very precarious. Fortunately for him, that part of
Texas was somewhat to the east of
Ursus Texensis Texensis’s
range.

With the realization, Ole Devil
felt the apprehension leaving him. He had no wish to advertise his
presence and attract unwanted attention by shooting. All the black
bears he had come into contact with had never lingered any longer
than necessary in the presence of human beings, even when disturbed
after having fed on a kill. It was merely curious and puzzled.
Being
shortsighted like all of its species, it was not sure what
kind of creature was standing near its prey. However, as long as
the youngster did nothing to antagonize it, there was a better than
fair chance that he could withdraw in safety.

‘
You
mule-killing son-of-a-bitch!’

Even as Ole Devil opened his mouth to call
and advise the youngster to back away slowly, the boy yelled at the
bear and started to raise his rifle. Excitement, or fear, had given
his voice a high pitched, almost feminine sounding timbre.

Hearing the youngster, the bear
showed that it might be different in habits from most others of its
species. Instead of giving a
‘whoop’ of alarm on hearing the human voice,
spinning around and taking off for a safer location at all speed,
it cut loose with a short, rasping and menacing, coughing
noise.

Ole Devil had only once before heard a
similar sound, but he had never forgotten that occasion. It had
happened during a hunt in Louisiana and the bear had given just
such a cough before charging through the pack of hounds to try and
reach the hunters. Several bullets had been required to put the
enraged beast down.

Instead of taking warning from
the bear
’s
behavior, the youngster stood his ground. Lining the rifle, which
he must have cocked as he was approaching the carcass, he squeezed
the trigger. The hammer fell. There was a puff of smoke from the
frizzen pan, but the main charge failed to ignite for some
reason.

As if realizing what the hissing splutter
from the rifle meant, the bear gave another of its threatening
coughs and lurched forward.

To give the youngster credit,
he might have acted in an impulsive and reckless manner by yelling
and trying to shoot the bear, but he was no fool. Nor, despite how
his voice had sounded, did he panic. As the bear dropped on to all
fours and burst from the fringe of the buffalo-berry bushes, he let
his useless rifle fall and turned. However, having already been
disturbed and made nervous by the bloody carcass, or perhaps
because it had caught the bear
’s scent, the
tobiano
gelding did not wait for its master to
return and mount. At the sight of the rage-bristling beast erupting
into view, the horse gave a squeal of terror and, disregarding the
dangling split-ended reins, bolted.

Growling a curse, Ole Devil
used his spurs to set the borrowed horse into motion. Feeling the
tug at its reins, the dun advanced and kept pace with its companion
as they topped the
ridge. However, as much as he would liked to have done, the
young Texian knew he could not delay or slow down and transfer to
his own mount

Once again, the youngster was
displaying courage. Certainly he had sufficient good sense to keep
running. He had a lead over the bear which might just about prove
adequate providing that he could maintain or increase his pace.
Unfortunately, he was going away from Ole Devil. To call on him to
change direction would be fatal. So the young Texian kept quiet and
urged his mount to a gallop. Then he discarded the
dun
’s reins
to leave both his hands free.