Young Ole Devil (28 page)

With the needle-sharp point of
the sword rushing in his direction, Ole Devil halted on spread
apart feet and
slightly bent knees. Just—and only just—in time, he
swiveled himself at the hips and inclined his torso to the rear. As
his assailant’s weapon went by, its edge slicing a couple of the
buckskin fringe’s thongs from his shirt, he reversed his direction
and the bowie knife swung in a glistening arc.

With a sickening sensation of
horror, Galsworthy saw that his attack had failed. The worse
feature of the
fleche
was that, if it did not succeed, the almost invariable
result was a complete loss of balance and control from which,
particularly against such an able opponent, there was no hope of
recovery. So it proved. Carried onwards by the impetus of his
movements, he watched the great knife passing under his sword arm.
Then a sudden numbing sensation drove all coherent thought from his
head. Biting in through his shirt, the blade sank deep and tore
across his belly. There was a rush of blood and his intestines
poured from the hideous wound as he stumbled by the Texian. Sinking
to his knees, he toppled forward on to his face.

Having disposed of his
attacker, Ole Devil straightened up and looked around. He found
that Tommy had already succeeded in rendering the second
Mexican
hors-de-combat,
which did not come as any surprise. However, the
danger was far from over. The man whose bullet had nearly ended the
fight in Galsworthy’s favor had turned and was yelling for the
group of about ten riders who were approaching to get a move on.
Having seen and heard, Ole Devil swung his eyes to the two
women.

‘
Grab
my pistol, Tommy!’ the Texian ordered, knowing that an extra weapon
might be very useful. ‘Then get Di into the cabin.’

‘
Can
do!’ the little Oriental answered as Ole Devil swung around and
started to run to where their horses were standing.

Going forward, Tommy returned
the
kongo
to his trousers’ pocket. He picked up the Manton pistol
and, guessing that he was going to need both hands to separate the
women, thrust it through his waist belt. Waiting until Di came on
top, he bent and catching her under the armpits, heaved. The girl
let out a startled shriek as she felt herself plucked from her
rival and sent staggering backwards. Sitting up, Madeline tried to
rise. Before she could do so, Tommy delivered a
tegatana
chop to the top of her head.
Stunned, she flopped limply on to her back.

Wild with rage, Di managed to keep on her
feet and came to a stop. The blouse had gone and the combinations
had been torn from her left shoulder, leaving that side of her
torso bare to the waist. Oblivious of her appearance, she charged
forward so as to resume the attack on her recumbent opponent

Realizing that trying to reason with the
girl in her present frame of mind would be a waste of time, Tommy
made no attempt to do so. Darting to meet her, he caught her right
wrist with his left hand as she tried to hit him. Bending forward,
he thrust his other hand between her legs and, turning, Jerked her
across his shoulders. To the accompaniment of blistering invective
from the furious girl, while her legs waved wildly and her free
hand beat a tattoo on his back, he started to run towards the
cabin. On entering, he dumped Di to the floor hard enough to jolt
the wind out of her. Satisfied that he could leave her untended for
the moment and hoping that, on recovering her breath, she would
also come to her senses, he returned to the door. As he did so, he
pulled out and cocked the pistol. From what he could hear, the
weapon was likely to be needed in the near future.

Reaching his dun, Ole Devil
slid the Browning rifle from its sheath with his left hand. Keeping
the riders under observation, he noticed that one of them was
better mounted than the rest and had already passed Dodd. Like his
companions, who were coming as fast as they could manage, the
leader had already
drawn and cocked a pistol. Deciding to wait until he was
indoors before loading the Browning, Ole
Devil
sprinted towards the cabin. As he was
approaching the halfway point, he realized that the leading rider
would have reached him before he could attain the safety of the
building.

Seeing his
employer
’s
predicament, Tommy Okasi sprang outside. He swung up the Manton in
both hands, sighted and fired. Struck
in
the chest by the bullet, the man slid
sideways from his saddle. Slowing down to let the horse race by,
Ole Devil increased his pace as it did so. Several shots were fired
at him. With lead flying around him, he flung himself the last few
feet. Stepping aside to let Ole Devil enter, Tommy followed him in
and slammed the door.

Dropping
the
bowie knife, the Texian hurried to
the nearest window. As he went, he readied behind him to pull a
magazine bar from the pouch on the back of his belt. He eased it
into the aperture, guiding it home and thumbing down the lever to
seat it correctly. Then, drawing down the under-hammer, he thrust
the barrel through the window to line it at the approaching men.
Although he was aware that the pistol in his hand was empty. Tommy
went to the other window and duplicated Ole Devil’s
actions.

Seeing the two weapons emerging
and pointing in their direction, the remainder of
Galsworthy
’s
men veered away. While the pistol and the rifle held only a single
shot each, or so they assumed in the latter’s case, every man was
aware that he had only one life. With that sobering thought in
mind, not one of them was willing to press home the attack as he
might become selected as a target Instead, they galloped by the
building, those who had not already done so firing in passing. The
rest took in the sight of their companions who had already fallen
to the defenders.

Galsworthy and the two Mexicans
lay without movement, the former in an ever-growing pool of his own
blood. Sitting up and feeling at her head, Madeline gazed about her
dazedly. The buckskin shirt had come out of her borrowed trousers,
which were now burst open along the seams. Her underclothing had
been torn apart in the tussle, leaving her magnificent bosom
exposed. Such a sight would have warranted the
men
’s
attention and study under less demanding circumstances, despite her
once immaculate hair now resembling a woolen mop and her
slap-reddened face being smeared by gore from her own and Di’s
bleeding noses. Sobbing as she fought to replenish her lungs, she
started to rise.

In the cabin, the girl was also
recovering. Gasping in air, she managed to get to her feet. For a
moment she stood swaying and glaring about her as if ready to
attack the first thing that moved. Then the wild light faded from
her eyes as she realized where she was and, from her
companions
’
positions at the windows, what must be happening outside. Ignoring
the blood which was running out of her nostrils to splash from her
chin on to her heaving and only partially covered breasts, she
staggered to where her rifle was standing in the corner. Grabbing
it up, she crossed to where Ole Devil was standing and cocked back
the hammer as she went.

Standing up and swaying in
exhaustion, Madeline had acted in much the same way as Di was doing
in the building. Then she too became aware that the situation had
changed. Staring around, her eyes came to rest on her
husband
’s
body. For a moment, she looked at the gory corpse. A shudder shook
her and she swung away from it.

‘
I’ll
kill you for this, Hardin!’ the woman shrieked, glaring and shaking
her fists at the cabin.

Even if she had tried, Madeline
could hardly have selected a worse
—or—in one way, better—moment to make the
threat Even as she spoke, Di reached the window of the cabin.
Before Ole Devil could stop her, the girl had lined the rifle and
was squeezing its trigger. Although the weapon roared, Madeline was
lucky. Still feeling the effects of being dropped on to the floor,
Di was not controlling her breathing and caused the barrel of her
rifle to waver up and down. So the bullet passed just over, instead
of through, the woman’s head. The narrow escape from death served
as a warning to Madeline. Turning, she fled as fast as her
exhausted condition would allow to where her men had halted their
horses about a hundred and fifty yards from the building. One of
them returned, guiding his mount around and, scooping her up, he
carried her to their companions.

‘
Wh—What now?’ Di gasped, lowering the rifle.

‘
Get
loaded before they come at us,’ Ole Devil answered. Tommy, string
your bow. I’ll try to keep them back while you’re doing
it.’

Holding the Browning ready for
use while his orders were being carried out, the Texian watched the
woman
’s
rescuer set her down by the rest of the men. They were recharging
their pistols, but she started to order—or try to persuade—them to
attack the cabin. Ole Devil guessed that they would take some
action—although he doubted if it would be a frontal assault—once
the weapons were ready.

Everything depended upon
whether Di could reload her rifle and Tommy string the bow before
the men had made their preparations. Even if they did, the odds
were still in their assailants
’ favor.

Suddenly Dodd, who had joined
his companions leading the woman
’s and dead men’s horses, let out a yell
and pointed to the west. Although Ole Devil could not see what had
attracted his attention, clearly the other men found it a cause for
alarm. Their horses milled as they stared in the direction Dodd had
indicated and consternation reigned amongst them.

‘
Rush
the house!’ Madeline howled. ‘You can do it before they get
here!’

‘
Like
hell we can!’ a man answered and set his horse into motion. ‘I’m
going!’

Panic was always infectious.
Given such guidance, the rest of the men followed their
companion
’s
example. Splitting up, they scattered in every direction except the
west. Only Dodd remained, saying something urgently to the raging
woman and pointing to the horse with two bedrolls fastened to the
cantle of its saddle. When she showed no sign of taking his advice,
Dodd dropped the reins of the animals he was leading and sent his
own mount bounding forward. The final desertion appeared to have a
sobering effect on the woman. Going to the horse which the man had
indicated, she hauled herself on to its saddle and followed
him.

Puzzled by the departure, Ole Devil wondered
if it might be a trick to lure his party into the open. Two minutes
went by and, as Di joined him holding the reloaded rifle, he saw
something that informed him there was no further danger from
Madeline and her men.

On his return to the Texas
Light Cavalry, Mannen Blaze had given Colonel Fog a report and a
request from Ole Devil. The latter having been granted, Mannen had
set off to join his cousin, accompanied by the whole of
Company
“C”.
Fifty strong, they had arrived in time to chase away their
commanding officer’s enemies.

Next day, just before noon, the
ship glided into Santa
Cristobal Bay. Standing on the rim and watching
the anchor go down, Ole Devil and Di exchanged glances. The girl
had tidied up her appearance and donned clothes from her war bag.
Apart from a black eye and swollen top lip, she showed no evidence
of the fight. With his men tired from their long, hard ride, Ole
Devil had not sent them after Madeline. He had doubted whether she
would cause any more trouble.

Going down the slope towards
the water
’s
edge, young Ole Devil Hardin felt a sense of elation. The ship had
brought the rifles. Now it was up to him to see that they reached
General Houston.

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