Young Ole Devil (20 page)

Finding the
man murdered, when they had hoped that he would supply them with
vitally important information, might easily ruin all that had been
achieved. However, Ole Devil knew what must be done.

‘
It was
my fault, sir—’ the young Texian began.

‘
No more’n mine!’ Di interrupted and told Brindley what
had
happened between herself and Galsworthy in the kitchen,
‘Hell, I never thought—’

‘
Nope,
and neither did either of us,’ Brindley put in soothingly, glancing
at Ole Devil as if in search of confirmation. After he had received
a nod of agreement, he went on. ‘I never took to that jasper,
though. He never looked me straight in the eye when we was
talking.’

‘
I
noticed that, sir,’ Ole Devil admitted. ‘But I’ve known a few
gambling men who wouldn’t and that’s what I took him to
be.’

‘
And
me,’ Brindley declared. ‘But it looks like he was tied in with them
other four. Which fetches up another right puzzling
point.’

‘
Why’d
he come here?’ Di concluded for her grandfather.

‘
That’s the one, gal,’ Brindley confirmed. ‘Either of you
smart young ’n’s got the answer?’

‘
He
was counting on them getting you, Devil,’ Di suggested. ‘So he came
here to see if he could hire our mules and us to help him collect
the shipment.’

‘
It’s
possible,’ Ole Devil conceded. ‘Did he tell you what he wanted
moving, sir, or anything about himself?’

‘
Not a
whole heap about either,’ Brindley replied. ‘He reckoned he’d come
up from Victoria and had some supplies’s he wanted to take east
afore the Mexican army got there. Wasn’t nothing about him to make
me think otherwise. Anyways, you pair came in afore we could do
much talking.’

‘
He
must’ve been with those four yahoos when they first saw you,
Devil,’ Di guessed. ‘Then headed here after he’d sent them to get
you. I’d swear that he didn’t know we’d fetched one of ’em in alive
until I told him.’

‘
His
hoss wasn’t lathered when he got here,’ Brindley commented. ‘Which
it would’ve been had he come as fast’s he’d of needed to if he had
known. I reckon you could be right, Di-gal. Only, him saying he’d
come from Victoria, it doesn’t sound like he was after using the
mules to collect the rifles.’

‘
He
might have come to find out what he’d be up against if I should get
by his men,’ Ole Devil surmised. ‘Or so that they could make you do
what they wanted if I hadn’t. You know, I couldn’t help thinking
yesterday that he didn’t strike me as the kind of man who would
give up as easily as he did when he found out that General Houston
needed your mules.’

‘
He
gave a good reason for doing it,’ Brindley reminded his guest. ‘A
lot of folks, some’s you wouldn’t expect it from, are putting Texas
afore themselves these days. Wasn’t no reason why he shouldn’t
be.’

‘
God
damn it to hell!’ Di spat out furiously and indicated the body with
an angry gesture. ‘If we’d made him talk—’

‘
There
was no way we could have, the state he was in,’ Ole Devil pointed
out.

‘
Even
if it did come out wrong, you was both acting for the best by
leaving him to sleep,’ Brindley interposed. ‘Anyways, there’s not a
whole heap of sense in crying over spilled milk. What we’ve got to
do now is figure how we’re going to play out the deal, way it’s
gone.’

‘
We
could send Joe Galton and a couple of the boys alter Galsworthy,’
Di offered. ‘A dude like him couldn’t hide his sign so they can’t
find it.’

‘
He’ll
be long gone by now and might not be all that easy to find,’ Ole
Devil warned. ‘Even if he is a dude, those four who were with him
weren’t and he could have more of them with range savvy. In fact,
I’d bet on it. He must have been counting on us not finding out
he’d killed the man until it was too dark for us to pick up his
tracks. Which means he wasn’t going to stay on the Gonzales trail.
So he either knew he could find his way across country, or had
somebody waiting who could.’

‘
I
still say Joe and the boys could trail him,’ Di
insisted.

‘
Don’t
let me talk you out of the notion,’ Ole Devil replied. ‘It’ll be a
big help if we can find out just what we’re up against.’

‘
I’ll
float my stick along of you on that, Devil,’ Brindley drawled. ‘Go
and tell Joe, Di-gal.’

‘
Sure,’ the girl answered, nodding to the corpse. ‘I’ll have
him took out and buried while I’m at it.’

‘
Might’s well,’ Brindley agreed. ‘It’s got to be
done.’

‘
You
wouldn’t change your mind about me going into Gonzales and asking
Colonel Gray for an escort, would you, sir?’ Ole Devil inquired as
he and the old man followed Di into the barn.

‘
That
side of it’s up to you, boy,’ Brindley replied. But I d sooner not.
Like I said last night, all his men have families to move east.
They’d not rest easy going off and leaving ’em to do it. Anyways,
my boys’ve gone through Kiowa, Wichita and Comanche country ’n’
come out of ’em all with their hair. So I reckon we could handle
anything a bunch of white fellers try to pull on us.’

All of Ole
Devil
’s last
lingering anxieties left him as he listened to the first sentence
of the answer. It implied that, despite the murder of their
prisoner, the old man still respected Hardin’s opinion and
judgment.

‘
What
I’ll do,’ Brindley continued, ‘is have Tom Wolf and his boys ride
with the train.’

‘
How
about your place here, sir?’ Ole Devil asked, being aware that his
host had intended to leave half a dozen men as guards for the
property.

‘
They
couldn’t have stopped the Mexicans burning it down, happen the army
comes through this way,’ Brindley answered. ‘And there won’t be all
that damned much left for anybody to steal. So they’ll be more use
with us than sitting on their butts here.’

‘
We’ll
forget Colonel Gray then, sir,’ Ole Devil stated, being satisfied
that his host would not have reached such a decision if he had had
doubts over their ability to manage without a military escort ‘From
what I’ve seen of them, your men can take care of
themselves.’

‘
You
can count on it, boy,’ Brindley grinned, pleased that his guest was
showing such confidence in his men. ‘They’re not Mission Indians.
Let’s drift on out and see what’s doing. I want to be moving out in
an hour.’

Ole Devil
’s acceptance had not been made
merely to please his host. All of the mule packers were Tejas
Indians. However, he had noticed that they were lean, tough-looking
men with an air of hardy self-reliance that made them very
different from those members of their tribe who had fallen into the
hands of the Spanish priests. That was one of the factors which was
causing him to go along with Brindley’s wishes. He also agreed with
the old man that the escort soldiers from Colonel Gray would
probably react unhappily at being taken away from their families at
such a time.

Emerging from the barn, Ole
Devil looked around. Not far away, Di was talking to Joe Galton. A
tall, red-haired Texian of about twenty, dressed in buckskins,
Galton was Brindley
’s adopted son and acted as
cargador
^xx
for the train. They had met the
previous night, after Galton had returned from a successful hunt
for camp meat Ole Devil had found him quiet but friendly. Out of
the
cargador’s
hearing, Di had claimed he was not only good at his duties
but was also an excellent farrier.

Turning as the girl walked
away, Galton called two names and was joined by a pair of the
Indians. They went to the corral, collected horses, and started to
make ready for leaving. Going across to Galton, Ole Devil told him
about Tommy Okasi and requested that if they met, the
cargador
would bring him to
the pack train.

Having received
Galton
’s
promise on the matter, Ole Devil turned his attention to the
preparations which were being made for the train’s departure. While
he had made use of a packhorse on more than one occasion, he had
never before seen professional muleteers at work and found it
interesting. There was a lot of apparently confused activity taking
place, but it was all being carried out in a purposeful manner that
told of long experience. Taking in all die sights, he realized that
he was watching the cream of the mule-packing industry in
action.

At General
Houston
’s
request, so as to prevent such fine animals from falling into the
hands of the Mexican army, Brindley had sent the majority of his
stock and hired hands to Washington-on-the-Brazos. It said much for
the high esteem in which the normally fiercely independent old man
held the General that he had retained the pick of his packers and
mules in case they should be needed.

After a few minutes Old Devil
became aware of Di
’s behavior. Unlike her grandfather, who appeared to stay
in the background and let the men carry on, she went from one group
to another. Yet the Texian could see no reason for her doing it.
The men were all obviously competent and did their work in a swift,
capable manner. Suddenly she swung on her heel and came to stand at
Ole Devil’s side.

‘
Joe
and the boys’re on their way,’ the girl remarked, nodding towards
the corral. ‘He says he’ll catch up with us some time tomorrow, or
later.’

‘
Huh
huh!’ Ole Devil replied, continuing to watch the work that was
going on all around him. ‘These men of yours are very
good.’

‘
They
should be,’ Di answered, trying to sound off-handed but unable to
conceal her pleasure at the compliment. ‘Grand-pappy Ewart trained
each and every one of ’em. And don’t you worry none, happen that
Galsworthy
hombre
tries to jump us, you’ll find they’re just as good at
fighting.’

‘
I’ve
never doubted
that,’
Ole Devil assured her. ‘Is there anything I can do to
help?’

‘
Nope,’ Di said and made as if to move away. Instead, she
remained by him and went on, ‘how much do you know about mule
packing?’

‘
Not a
whole heap,’ Ole Devil confessed.

During the three-quarters of an hour that
was needed to complete the preparations, Di told Ole Devil what was
being done and why. In addition, she gave him much information
about various aspects of handling a mule train when it was on the
move. She talked all the time with a feverish zest, but not always
in a smooth flow.

Before many minutes had passed,
Ole Devil guessed what lay behind the girl
’s loquacity. Disturbed by the
thought that she might never see her home again if the bid for
independence failed or it should be destroyed by the Mexican army,
she wanted something to take her mind off of leaving. So he
listened and, when she showed signs of drying up, managed to find
some fresh point upon which she could enlighten him.

At last everything was
ready.
Ole
Devil noticed that Brindley’s usually emotionless face showed that
he too was feeling some strain over going away from his home. There
was a catch in his voice as he gave the order to mount up and move
out. Then, having swung astride his big
grulla
^xxi
gelding, he gave his granddaughter a
comforting smile. Having done so, he started the horse moving with
the bell-mare stepping forward at its side. Hearing the tinkling of
the bell, the mules surged into motion and the packers formed up
about them.
^xxii

The day
’s journey was uneventful, except
that Di rode ahead for a time. When Ole Devil caught up with her,
there was evidence on her face that she had been crying. Neither of
them ever referred to the fact that she had been in tears. However,
the girl was anything but her usual cheery self as she continued to
ride between Ole Devil and her grandfather.

The pack train was travelling with a scout
ahead, one on each flank and two more bringing up the rear. At
nightfall, Tom Wolf came in to say that he had seen nothing to
suggest Galsworthy and his men were in the vicinity. Before going
to sleep,

Ole Devil had the satisfaction of knowing
that he was about twenty miles closer to his destination.

Moving on soon after dawn, the party
progressed without incident until shortly after midday. While the
animals were being rested, the Tejas packer who had been at the
rear with Tom Wolf arrived with a warning that four riders were
following them. Accompanied by Di, who was still disturbed and
unhappy, Ole Devil returned with the man. They found there was no
cause for alarm.