Young Ole Devil (26 page)

Galsworthy had had no way of
knowing how well, or otherwise, his order had been carried out With
his passions aroused
by Madeline’s sensual appearance he had been too
occupied in sating them to check up on the trio. Certainly he had
not found any of them asleep, although all looked damp, depressed
and miserable, when he visited them at the first hint of daybreak.
The party had eaten a cold breakfast as he had refused to allow a
fire to be lit in case their victims should see the smoke and
become suspicious. After that, it had only been a question of
waiting. One of the men had been sent to keep the horses hidden and
quiet The other two had been warned against letting themselves be
seen before the Texian and his companions were disarmed.

There had been no doubt in
Galsworthy mind that the plan would succeed. A man of Ole Devil
Hardin
’s
background would do nothing to endanger the life of a woman,
especially as she had apparently been helpful and was, as far as he
knew, a loyal Texian.

The gamble had paid off. All that remained
for Galsworthy to do was secure his prisoners and, provided they
had done the work of removing the Mexican ship, await the arrival
of the arms and the means to transport them.

Anger, resentment
and annoyance at having fallen for
the trick that had been played by the woman whom she knew as
Madeline de Moreau, was boiling through Diamond-Hitch Brindley. It
grew rather than diminished as the girl was watching the woman
walking confidently towards her. There was an arrogant mockery and
more than a hint of smug self-satisfaction on Madeline’s beautiful
features that Di was finding particularly infuriating. However,
having no wish to endanger the lives of her two companions, the
girl managed to hold her temper in check.

On reaching the place where Ole
Devil Hardin had tossed the bowie knife and Manton pistol,
Galsworthy halted with the intention of picking them up. Having
studied them while he was approaching, he knew that each weapon was
far too valuable to be allowed to fall into his
men
’s hands.
The rest of the party stopped when he did and stood awaiting his
instructions. Instead of speaking, he thrust the uncocked pistol
with which, he had ‘threatened’ his wife through his
waistband.

Measuring with his eyes the distance which
was separating him from his captors, Ole Devil accepted that it
would be futile to take any action at that moment Although
Galsworthy was putting away his weapon and had not yet removed the
sword from its cane-sheath, the two Mexicans still held their
flintlock pistols in their hands. Before he could reach and tackle
their leader, unless something happened to divert their attention,
one or the other of them was sure to have thrown down on him. At
such a short range, it was highly unlikely that they both would
miss.

‘
The
Mexican brig’s gone,
hombre,
but we did what we planned before it sailed,’ Ole
Devil warned, playing for time. ‘Which means it won’t be coming
back. There’s no way
you
can take the ship when it arrives.’

‘
Seeing that I’ve got
you,
I don’t even have
to try
to take it,’ Galsworthy replied, so
delighted by the success of his planning that he could not resist
boasting. Respecting the young Texian as he did was such an unusual
sensation that he wanted to impress the other in return, ‘All I
have to do is use the authorization Houston gave to you and the
captain will hand over the consignment.’

‘
Like
hell he will,’ Ole Devil contradicted, with an air of complete
assurance.

‘
Why
not?’ Galsworthy demanded, having no wish to fail because of some
error in his thinking.

‘
My
Uncle Marsden arranged the shipment and is coming with it,’ Ole
Devil explained, so convincingly that he might have been telling
the full truth. ‘He won’t turn it over to anybody but
me.
Try thinking about
that before you kill us.’

‘
Don’t
kill humble self, honorable and excellent gentleman!’ Tommy Okasi
wailed, throwing himself to his knees and closing the fingers of
his right hand around the
kongo
stick.

Raising both hands above his head as if in
supplication, the small Oriental shuffled forward on his knees and
started to howl something in his native tongue.

‘
What
the hell’s he doing?’ Galsworthy growled, straightening up without
having retrieved either of the weapons on the ground. He eyed Tommy
with contempt

‘
Praying to his ancestors to protect him,’ the Texian
replied, raising his right hand slowly. Removing his hat, he laid
it reverently across his chest and went on in Spanish, ‘May the
Good Lord forgive him for being a heathen.’

The gesture was so touching
that one of the Mexicans, being religiously indoctrinated like so
many of his race and creed, crossed himself with his left hand. He
did not, however, turn his pistol from its alignment on the young
Texian. Being either less impressed, or not so pious as his
companion, the other Mexican continued to point his weapon in the
small Oriental
’s direction.

Seeing the way Tommy was
acting, Di might have felt disgusted if she had not recollected the
things Ole Devil had told her about him. Remembering that he had
willingly and without hesitation agreed to handle a potentially
dangerous task aboard the brig
—even though he had apparently failed in his
purpose she found his present cowardly behavior
puzzling.

Then enlightenment struck the girl!

With it came the realization
that Tommy was only be
ing partially successful in his—deception.
Although the Mexican whom he was approaching appeared to be amused
by his ‘terrified’ groveling, the pistol was still aiming straight
at the centre of his chest. Before he could get close enough to do
whatever he was planning, the man might become suspicious and
squeeze the trigger.

What was needed, Di concluded,
was something to distract the men
’s attention away from her
friends.

The next question the girl decided was, how
could she do it?

Turning her gaze along the line
of her enemies, Di brought it back to Madeline. The woman was
standing with her hands on her hips, and looking at Tommy with
something between amusement and contempt. Becoming aware of the
girl
’s eyes
on her, she returned the scrutiny.

Having gained some considerable
proficiency at playing poker, it being a
favorite pastime of her grandfather
and all their employees regardless of race, Di possessed a fair
ability to read human emotions if they were shown. Taking in
Madeline’s obvious delight and pleasure over their predicament, the
girl guessed what was causing it.

Although Di had thought nothing
of it at the time, having had more important issues demanding her
attention, she had sensed on the previous afternoon
that
—no
matter how Madeline was reacting on the surface—there had been an
undercurrent of animosity because Di had refused her assistance.
The girl now realized what had brought it about Clearly
Madeline—who must be possessed of considerable courage,
determination and confidence to have accepted her role in the fake
rescue—had resented a much younger and far less worldly-wise member
of her sex snubbing her. She was obviously incensed that Di
believed she lacked the kind of qualities which would be required
during the proposed deception of the Mexican naval
officer.

The experienced and confident
way in which the woman had put up her fists when Di appeared to be
on the point of attacking her, taken with
Galsworthy
’s
comment that she had been fortunate not to have done so, suggested
that Madeline might not be a pampered, delicate and well-bred lady.
She could, in fact, be a whole heap tougher than the girl had
anticipated. What was more, while she filled the borrowed garments
a mite snugly, there was little or no flabby fat on her gorgeous
body.

Watching
Madeline
’s
face all the time, Di gripped the lapels of the riding habit’s
jacket. With a sudden jerk that popped off the buttons, she peeled
it from her and flung it on to the ground. Anger replaced the
mockery on the woman’s beautiful features. Nor did it diminish as
Di unfastened and released the shirt. Letting the garment slide
down, the girl stepped backwards from it. She stood clad in her
hat, the borrowed blouse, a pair of men’s red woolen combinations
and her moccasins.

‘
Here,’ Di said, as she kicked the riding habit
contemptuously in its owner’s direction. ‘Now you get the hell out
of my duds, you fat bladder of cow-shit, afore you bust ’em at the
seams.’

‘
You
lousy little bitch!’ Madeline hissed. Then she became calmer and
started to move forward. Clenching and lifting her fists, she went
on with malicious delight, ‘You need a lesson, my girl.’

Almost before the woman had finished
speaking, while Galsworthy was opening his mouth to yell at her to
keep back, Di went into action. However, although the girl passed
in front of Ole Devil, neither she nor Madeline came between him
and the Mexican who was covering him

Seeing the girl darting to meet
her, Madeline eagerly and briefly
savored the thought of what she was going
to do. She wished that she was wearing some of her rings, as they
had been of considerable use in other brawls. Having removed and
left them in her husband’s possession, as an added ‘proof that she
had been robbed by her ‘captors’, she had not replaced them in case
they should be noticed before the Texian was disarmed, warning him
of what was really happening. However, she did not doubt that she
could give
the girl a thorough thrashing without such artificial
aids.

Preparing to throw a punch into
the girl
’s
belly when close enough Madeline was expecting Di’s hands to grab
for her hair. Such had almost invariably been the tactics used by
other women with whom she had come into conflict and it had given
her a decided advantage. So it was an unpleasant surprise when,
instead of obliging, the girl rammed a left jab into Madeline’s
right breast What was more, the blow was far from being a
wildly-thrown, unscientific feminine swing. Directed with masculine
precision, the hard knuckles came in contact with the
ultra-sensitive region.

Despite being almost at the end
of its flight, Di
’s punch still caused enough pain to turn Madeline’s
advance into a retreat Going back a couple of steps, the woman
caught her balance and, as the girl followed, whipped up her right
leg in a kick. Once again, the girl demonstrated that she was far
more skilled than any of Madeline’s earlier opponents. Stabbing out
her hands, she caught the rising ankle with the right and cupped
the left under the calf. Giving a heaving, circular twist, she
turned the woman to her right and heaved. Screeching in mingled
anger and alarm, Madeline went down and rolled over twice before
coming to a halt on her back. Eager to make the most of her
advantage, Di went after the woman.

Guessing what the girl was
planning to do when he saw her disrobing, Ole Devil was ready to
take advantage of any situation that might arise. The chance did
not come immediately
. However, as Madeline was pitched by him and Di followed
her, the Mexican swung his gaze to watch them. In doing so, he
allowed the barrel of his pistol to turn to the left

Instantly, the Texian acted as
he had planned to do if Tommy had succeeded in creating a
diversion. Taking advantage of the fact that his three male enemies
were watching the women, he sent his hat skimming through the air.
It struck the Mexican on the left in the face, arriving with
sufficient force to bring a yelping profane word of protest. Going
back an involuntary pace, his forefinger jerked at the
pistol
’s
trigger. In doing so, he inadvertently caused the barrel to resume
its alignment on Ole Devil.

The hammer fell, with the
muzzle pointing straight at the centre of the
Texian
’s
chest!

Hitting and tilting forward the frizzen, the
flint caused sparks which fell into the priming pan!

Like Ole Devil, Tommy had been alert for any
chance to turn the tables on their adversaries. Seeing that the man
in front of him was turning his head to stare at Di and Madeline,
he stopped his lamentations and brought down his hands. If his
captors had been more observant, they might have noticed that he
had ended his crawling with the left knee on the ground and the
right leg bent. It was a posture which allowed rapidity of
movement.

Even as Ole Devil threw the
hat, Tommy thrust himself
erect and forward all in one movement. There was
need for every bit of speed he could muster. Catching the movement
from the corner of his eye, the Mexican was starting to return his
attention to the small Oriental.

Reaching Madeline, it became
Di
’s turn to
grow overconfident. Standing on her right leg, she raised her left
foot with the intention of stamping on the woman. While Madeline
had been taken by surprise, she was a skilled rider and had learned
how to reduce the force of even an unexpected fall. So she was far
from being as helpless as the girl imagined.