Young Ole Devil (16 page)

Ten times in rapid succession
Ole Devil
’s
hand came into sharp and, if the girl’s yelps after each slap were
anything to go on, painful contact with her rump. She struggled
with considerable strength and violence, twisting her body and
waving her legs, but to no avail. Suddenly, her captor once again
realized what he was doing. He decided to bring the spanking, well
deserved as some might have said, to an end. Coming to his feet and
releasing her neck, he precipitated her from his lap. She landing,
rolling across the ground, and came to her knees.

Tears, caused by anger and
indignation over the way she had been treated more than pain,
trickled down the girl
’s reddened cheeks. She glared furiously at the
young Texian as she sprang to her feet. Spitting out a string of
curses which were the equal of any he had ever heard, she crouched
as if meaning to throw herself at him for a second time. However,
on this occasion, her right hand flew across to close around the
hilt of the clip-pointed knife sheathed at the left side of her
belt.

‘
I’m
sorry that I spanked you,’ Ole Devil said quietly. His soft-spoken
words were anything but gentle and, taken with the savage, almost
demoniac aspect of his countenance, seemed to be charged with
menace. ‘But if you pull that damned knife on me, I’ll take it from
you and paddle your
bare
hide until you’ve learned better sense.

For a moment, watching the
girl
’s every
move and the play of emotions on her face, the young Texian thought
that she intended to force him into a position where he would have
to disarm her, even if he did not carry out the rest of his threat.
She was quivering with temper over the humiliation she had suffered
at his hands and made as if to continue drawing the weapon. Wanting
to avoid such a confrontation, he stared straight into her eyes.
Almost twenty seconds dragged by before she tore her gaze from his
coldly threatening scrutiny.

‘
Just
you wait until Grandpappy Ewart hears about this!’ the girl warned,
without looking at her assailant, spitting out the words as if they
were burning her mouth. However, her fingers left the hilt of the
knife.

‘
Who?’
Ole Devil asked before he could stop himself, with a cold feeling
hitting him in the pit of the stomach.

‘
Ewart
Brindley,
fancy pants,’
the girl elaborated viciously, sensing her
combined rescuer and assailant’s perturbation and drawing the wrong
conclusions regarding what had caused it ‘As soon as he hears what
you’ve done to me, he’ll skin you alive!’

‘
Diamond-Hitch Brindley!’ Ole Devil thought bitterly,
recollecting General Samuel Houston’s comment on the advisability
of keeping on the best of terms with the girl as that would be the
most certain way of winning her irascible grandfather’s support and
assistance. ‘I’ve sure picked a fine way of doing
that.’

‘
Happen you know what’s good for you,’ the girl went on,
although not quite so heatedly, when her warning failed to
evoke a verbal
response or discernible change in the young Texian’s attitude,
‘you’ll go catch my horse for me. Then get going to wherever you’re
headed and I’ll forget what you did.’

Even as the wrathful words had
been boiling from her lips, Charlotte Jane Martha Brindley was
starting to regret that she was saying them. Always of a volatile
and ebullient nature, she was quick to anger but just as ready to
forgive; particularly when conscious that she herself was as much,
perhaps even more, at fault than the other participant in
the
contretemps.

While Di had been very grateful
for being saved from a very painful death, her
rescuer
’s
attitude and scathing words could not have come at a worse time.
She had been churned up emotionally over her narrow escape and not
a little annoyed by the realization that her perilous predicament
had come about through her own reckless behavior.

On finding the dead mule, which
had strayed from the
remuda
the previous night, a girl with her experience
ought to have shown greater caution. The
tobiano
gelding was not long broken to the
saddle and she was riding it to further its training. So she should
have known that it was not as steady as her regular horse and would
be unreliable in an emergency. On top of that, when the bear had
made its appearance, she had pro-yoked a charge which could have
been avoided by using her common-sense. In doing so, she had
endangered her own and the stranger’s lives. She could guess how he
must have stopped the animal. Only a man of great courage, or a
reckless fool would have attempted to do so in such a manner. Her
instincts suggested that he came into the former
category.

So Di
’s relief and gratitude had been
entangled with guilt over her folly. Nor had her rescuer’s behavior
on turning to face her done anything to lessen her emotional
tensions. With her nerves stretched tight, his obvious anger had
triggered off her unfortunate response.

Despite the way in which her rescuer had
subsequently treated her, Di was sorry for the way in which she had
acted. However, her pride would not permit an open apology and she
hoped that he would do as she suggested.

For his part, Ole Devil could
appreciate the girl
’s motives and, under different circumstances, he might
have sympathized with her. Unfortunately, he too had been under a
considerable strain and possessed a fair amount of pride. So her
attitude was
doing little to bring about a conciliatory situation.
However, as he remembered what was at stake, he forced himself to
consider how he might establish a more amicable relationship with
her. He decided to explain what he was doing and hoped that she
would have the good sense, sufficient gratitude for her rescue, and
loyalty to Texas, to overlook the spanking.

Before Ole Devil could start
putting his good intentions into
practice, he saw four riders topping a
ridge about half a mile away. One of them was pointing in his and
the girl’s direction, then they were urging their horses forward at
a faster pace. He could tell that they were a Mexican and three
buckskin-clad white men, two of whom were carrying rifles. While
the distance was too great for him to make out further details, he
was certain that they were the quartet he had been expecting to be
in the vicinity. What was more, unless he was mistaken, the
recognition had been mutual

Ole Devil could have cursed the
vagaries of fate. Having saved Di Brindley
’s life, which would have made him
extremely popular with her grandfather, he had ruined the effect by
giving her a not undeserved spanking. Now, before he could try to
make amends, she was likely to find her life endangered because of
him.

‘
Run
and fetch my horse!’ Old Devil ordered, striding forward. The
urgency of the situation put an edge to his voice which, he
realized too late, taken with his choice of words, would not
enhance his popularity with the girl.

^<
Who the hell—!’ Di began, once again taking
umbrage at his tone.

The indignant tirade trailed
off as Ole Devil hurried past the girl. Turning, she watched him
picking up the pistol which he had dropped when she slapped his
face. Then she noticed the approaching riders and stopped
speaking
.

Retrieving the weapon, Ole Devil examined it
to make sure that its barrel had not become plugged up with soil
when it landed. Satisfied, he replaced it in the belt loop and,
after another glance at the four men, swung around. Much to his
annoyance, he found that Di was still standing watching him.

‘
Get
going!’ Ole Devil commanded, bounding forward. ‘Head for my
horse!’

Realizing that the riders must
be the cause of her rescuer
’s behavior, Di did not waste time in asking
questions or making protests. Turning, she started to run at Ws
side. Any lingering doubts she might have been harboring were wiped
away when a bullet passed between them and ploughed into the ground
a few feet away from the dun. She darted a glance at her rifle as
she went by, but knew better than to stop and pick it
up.

As Ole Devil was approaching the dun, he
reached behind him with his left hand and raised the flap of the
leather pouch that was attached to his belt From it, he drew a
rectangular metal bar with rounded ends. Having done so, he put on
a spurt which carried him ahead of the girl. Arriving alongside his
mount, he thrust his right hand towards the rifle in its
saddle-boot.

‘
Mount
up and get going!’ the young Texian told the girl as he drew out
the rifle and turned to face the direction from which they had
come.

‘
Like
hell I will!’ Di answered, guessing what he had in mind. She
pivoted to a stop by his side, reaching to haul the pistol from his
belt’s loop and, serious as she realized the situation must be,
could not resist continuing, ‘I hope whoever loaded this blasted
thing for you knew what he was doing, fancy pants.’

‘
And I
hope you know how to handle it and can shoot better than most
women,’ Ole Devil commented dryly, although he guessed that the
girl would prove competent, accept that to try and enforce his
demand for her to leave would be futile.

‘
I can
shoot better than most
men?
Di countered, speaking jerkily as she replenished
her lungs with air. ‘Don’t worry, fancy pants, I’ll protect
you.’

While speaking, the girl was
drawing back the hammer of the Manton pistol and gauging the
strength of the trigger-pull that would be required from die amount
of resistance she was meeting. It moved easily and the gentle
clicking of the mechanism implied that the pull would be light, but
not excessively so. Taken with the pistol
’s weight and balance, her deductions
were comforting. She knew that she was holding a weapon of
exceptional quality which, in capable hands, would prove extremely
accurate.

Despite the danger which was
threatening them, Ole Devil could not hold down an appreciative
grin at Di
’s
spirited response. A quick glance at her assured him that the
breathless way she was speaking was caused by her exertions and not
from fear or panic.

Having satisfied himself upon
that not unimportant point,
the young Texian returned his attention to the
four men. They had fanned out into a well-spaced line and were
galloping closer. Although they still had at least a quarter of a
mile to cover, the
vaquero
and the lanky man who had fled with him from the
cantina
were already
holding pistols. Tucking his empty rifle between his left thigh and
the saddle, the man who had fired the shot started to draw his
handgun. However, the last of the quartet was still carrying a
loaded rifle even though, as yet, he had not attempted to use
it

On meeting their companions, who had heard
the shooting and were returning to the hamlet to investigate,
Arnaldo Verde and Mucker had done almost exactly what Ole Devil had
deduced they might

Being aware that Al Soapy
regarded every man of Mexican origin as a coward and knowing they
had just as little regard for Mucker
’s courage, the
vaquero
had considered it advisable to
stretch the truth when telling them what had happened at the
cantina.
So he, with
Mucker’s support, had deliberately over-estimated the size of Ole
Devil’s escort They had claimed that their quarry had been
accompanied by at least half a dozen men and had appeared to have
been expecting trouble, which had chilled any desire the other two
might have felt towards avenging their dead companions,

There had been a difference of
opinion between the quartet as to what their best line of action
would be in view of the changed circumstances. Soapy had suggested
that they should return to their hide-out and pick up
reinforcements. Verde had pointed out that there had only been six
men at it when they had left, and that their leader was intending
to use them to gather together the rest of the gang ready to go and
intercept the shipment
. The
vaquero
had also pointed out that their task was to
prevent Ole Devil Hardin from reaching Ewart Brindley and they
would not have sufficient time to go to the hideout before making
another try at stopping him.

After Verde had established his
points and gained his companions
’ grudging agreement, he had declared that
they ought to continue with their assignment As none of the others
could come up with a better idea, they had let him make the
arrangements. Without having realized it, the
vaquero
had duplicated Ole Devil’s
summation of the situation. Instead of trying to lay an ambush
along the trail, or attempting to locate the young Texian as he
made his way across country to Gonzales, they had headed directly
to the town. Learning where the Brindleys’ place was situated, they
had taken up a position that offered them a good view of the
terrain over which he was most likely to pass.