Young Ole Devil (24 page)

Watching
Grivaljo
’s
reactions, Ole Devil could guess at the cause of his perturbation.
While one part of the lieutenant advised taking the precaution of
keeping Hardin on board, another was warning him of the
consequences if he should do so and be proven wrong. General Rovira
was one of the new breed of Mexican—as opposed to
Spanish-Creole—officers. The kind of man, in fact, who had probably
blocked Grivaljo’s promotion because of his birth and upbringing.
If Rovira learned that vital information had been prevented from
reaching him as quickly as possible, he would have no mercy on the
man—especially upon a
Creole—
who had caused the delay.

‘
Don’t
get any ideas about holding me until you’re sure, then having me
disappear and saying you’ve never seen me,’ Ole Devil warned,
seeing from Grivaljo’s expression that such an idea was at that
moment being contemplated. Tor one thing, some of the crew would
talk. And even if they didn’t, unless that “Chink” of mine gets a
signal from me that all’s well in about a minute, he’ll be on his
horse and heading back to tell my boss where I am. Maybe he’s only
a heathen Chinese, but he could do it.’

An angry scowl creased the
lieutenant
’s
face and his fingers drummed against his thighs. He had already
considered the first objection—that of an indiscreet crew suggested
by the
gringo.
While he did not believe it to be insurmountable, the
second point put his plan beyond any hope of accomplishment Even if
he clapped his visitors below hatches immediately and sent a flag
signal to the shore party, the ‘Chinaman’ would almost certainly
take fright and flee. He was far enough away from the sailors to
mount and be reasonably safe from their pistols. For the
gringo
to have adopted
such a high-handed attitude implied that he had very influential
superiors. In all probability, they would be men who could cause a
great deal of trouble over his disappearance. It would go badly for
any officer who was suspected of being involved, particularly if he
was a Spanish-
Creole.

Unpalatable as the thought might be,
Grivaljo had to accept that he could not impose his will upon the
sardonic-looking young white man.

‘
Very
well, signal your man that all is well,’ the lieutenant requested,
almost spitting each word out in the bitterness of defeat. ‘I’ll
have you put ashore as soon as the boats come back.’

‘
Gracias,’
Ole Devil replied, although the latter part of the
officer’s speech did not fit into his plans. ‘And you’ll go after
that ship?’

‘
I’ll
sail with the morning tide,’ Grivaljo promised and could not stop
himself from adding, ‘For a “friend of Mexico”, you don’t have much
faith in your friends.’

‘
I was
born careful,’ Ole Devil answered. ‘Which is why I like to choose
the winning side. Especially when it’s the side who can pay
best.’

‘
How
do you mean?’ the lieutenant wanted to know.

‘
I’m
not so
loco
that I believe
el Presidente
will let any
gringo,
even those who have stood by him,
stay on in Texas,’ Ole Devil explained. ‘So I’m making sure I don’t
leave with empty pockets.’

‘
Hey,
honey,’ Di put in, speaking English with a whining tone. ‘How much
longer you going to stand a-jawing? I’m hungry ’n’ tired, although
I’m damned if I know what we’ll eat tonight. You ain’t shot
noth—’

‘
Shut
your mouth, damn you!’ Ole Devil snarled in the same tongue,
swinging around to face the girl, and she backed off a couple of
steps registering right in a convincing manner. He turned back to
the officer and, although he sensed that the other understood
sufficient of the language to have followed the brief conversation,
he reverted to Spanish. ‘She’s right, though. We’ve been travelling
so hard I haven’t had time to shoot anything. How about trading a
meal for the news I’ve brought?’

‘
Very
well,’ Grivaljo answered, after a pause during which he revised his
original inclination to refuse. It might, he realized, be impolitic
to antagonize a man with possible influential connections, one who
could maybe supply information in the future. ‘I was just going to
ask you to be my guest.’

‘
That’s good of you,’ Ole Devil declared, adopting a more
friendly tone and feeling delighted at the way the officer had
played into his hands. There was one more thing which had to be
arranged. ‘Can I have my “Chink” come out and eat?’

‘
Of
course. I’ll pass the word for the shore party to bring him,’
Grivaljo assented and nodded up at the rapidly darkening sky. ‘It
looks like rain. Perhaps you and your—wife—would like to spend the
night on board and shelter from it?’

‘
We’d
be pleased to,’ Ole Devil replied, showing nothing of his delight
at the suggestion—upon which the success of his plan
depended—having come from the other man. ‘Just so long as we can
get off again
before
you sail.’

‘
I’ll
have you put ashore at first light,’ Grivaljo promised. ‘You have
my word of honor as an officer and gentleman.’

The acceptance was made with
almost good grace. As far as the lieutenant could tell, he had
nothing to lose by being amiable to his
gringo
visitors.

In that, Grivaljo was making a very serious
mistake!

It was one which was to have a severe effect
on his career!

‘
When
do
you
reckon it’ll happen, Devil?’ Diamond-Hitch Brindley inquired as she
sat her horse between her companions and watched the
Destructor
brig sailing out of
Santa Cristobal Bay shortly after dawn on a cold, miserable
and—although the rain had stopped—damp morning.

‘
Not
until they set all sail and hit the rough water,’ Ole Devil Hardin
replied. ‘Unless they find out what’s happened before
then.’

‘
If
they do,’ Di said, turning a sympathetic eye on the other member of
their party. ‘You’ll have had a wet night for nothing.’

Even though the girl spoke
lightly she knew that the failure of their plan might have more
serious repercussions than the waste of Tommy
’s night in considerable
discomfort and not a little danger.

On receiving Ole
Devil
’s
message, which Lieutenant Grivaljo had sent ashore, Tommy had
off-saddled and hobbled the horses. When he had reached the brig,
he was given a meal. As the vessel was already crowded, he had been
told to make himself a shelter between two of the starboard side’s
twenty-four pounder carronades.
^xxvii
That had been ideal for his
purpose, having given him a legitimate reason for staying on deck.
He could keep watch in case the ship carrying the rifles should
arrive and, if it had, contrive to give a warning of the danger.
More important, it had allowed him to carry out another
task.

Despite the discomfort it had
caused, the rain which had fallen steadily for most of the night
had been of great help to Tommy. On the pretense of collecting
something from her saddlebags, their property having been brought
on board by the
brig’s shore party, Di had given him the saw which they had
found at the cabin. She had been carrying it suspended from her
belt and under the borrowed riding habit.

Once satisfied that Grivaljo
had turned in, the master
’s mate who had the watch did not remain on deck.
He went below to shelter from the rain. So, once he had left, so
had the other members of the watch. In their absence, working with
more freedom than would have been possible if they had attended to
their duties Tommy had started to work. Using the saw, which was
practically new, he had cut into the breeching, side-tackles and
the lashing which held the muzzle of each carronade against the top
of its gun-port

The departure of the sailors had allowed
Tommy to work with less immediate danger of being caught Taking his
time, he had worked on the inner sides of the various ropes so as
to lessen the chances of his tampering being discovered
prematurely. He had not, of course, sawn all the way through. To
have done so would have made the damage so obvious that it could
not be missed. Instead, he had weakened die ropes. He had sought
for the happy medium of cutting just deep enough to ensure that
they would not start breaking until the brig was well clear of the
bay. So well had he done the preliminary work that he and his
company had been put ashore and the brig had set sail without it
having been noticed.

Although just as interested as the girl, Ole
Devil and Tommy hid their feelings better. She was wriggling
impatiently in her saddle and staring at the brig with grim
concentration. While she had little knowledge of ships, when she
saw the additional sails being unfurled as it passed beyond the
mouth of the bay, she turned her head and grinned expectantly at
her companions before resuming her scrutiny.

Nothing untoward happened.

Carried onwards by the
shore-breeze,
Destructor
heeled over and turned to the south. Despite being rolled
by the waves, it kept going without showing any evidence of
distress.

‘
Damn
it!’ Di ejaculated after about five restless minutes had dragged
by, ‘They must have found out!’

‘
I
don’t think so,’ Ole Devil contradicted, trying to conceal his
disappointment ‘They’d be reducing sail if they had, or turning
back so that they could make repairs in the bay.’

‘
Those
ropes must have been of better quality than I thought,’ Tommy
commented in tones of contrition. ‘Or I didn’t saw into them as
deeply as I thought I was doing.’

Whatever the reason, the brig was still
under all sail and clearly not in any difficulties when it
disappeared beyond the horizon. The only slight satisfaction Ole
Devil could find was that it had not shown any signs of
returning.

Di could not hide her
disappointment as she turned her horses. However, being a
good-natured girl,
she felt that she should prove to Tommy that she did not hold the
failure against him.

‘
You
wouldn’t be able to see in the dark and sure as hell couldn’t’ve
started lighting matches even if it hadn’t been raining,’ Di stated
as they rode away from the rim overlooking the bay. ‘Anyways, we
got the damned thing headed south and that’s almost worth having to
wear this son-of-a-bitching riding habit for. What do you reckon
Grivaljo’ll do when he finds out, Devil?’

‘
That
depends,’ the Texian answered, having given the matter some
consideration. ‘He may think we went aboard just to do the damage
and put the brig out of action, But, if he decides that we’d need a
better inducement than
that
before taking such a risk, he could guess we
wanted him gone because we’re expecting a ship to
arrive.’

‘
And
if he does,’ Di said bitterly, ‘He’ll be headed right back.’ Then
her face showed relief and she went on, ‘Hey though. He can’t. The
wind’s blowing him south.’

‘
That
won’t stop him,’ Ole Devil warned, but he did not attempt to
explain how a sailing ship could beat back against the wind.
Instead, he gave a shrug. ‘Well, there’s nothing we can do about it
right now. So we might as well go back and let you get into your
own clothes.’

‘
I
sure as hell won’t be sorry about
that,’
Di spat out, trying to pass off her
unrealized hopes and present anxieties as lightly as
possible

All in all, it was a dejected
trio who rode towards the cabin. Yet, although they did not learn
of it for many weeks, their plan met with
complete
—if
belated—success.
^xxviii

In spite of their gloomy
forebodings, Di, Ole Devil and Tommy did not forget to be cautious.
However, they saw nothing to disturb or perturb them as they
approached the
building. It had been erected in the centre of a fair-sized
hollow, with plenty of open ground on every side to counteract the
clumps of trees and bushes which grew thickly in a number of
places. There was no sign of life, but that was neither surprising
nor alarming. To prevent drawing attention to the fact that the
cabin was occupied, they had taken Madeline de Moreau’s black
gelding with them. Ole Devil had also asked the woman to stay
indoors as much as possible.

Taking the horses to the small
corral, the trio dismounted. They were about to start attending to
the animals
’
welfare when the side door of the cabin was opened. Expecting no
more than Madeline coming out to greet them, Ole Devil glanced over
his shoulder. He stiffened and his right hand went towards the butt
of the Manton pistol. Hearing Di’s low and startled exclamation, he
knew without turning his head that she was also looking. There was
a very good reason for their reactions.