Young Ole Devil (8 page)

‘
Thank
you, sir,’ Hardin ejaculated, showing his delight at having
received what was tantamount to an apology and an
accolade.

‘
You
could have explained what started the fight when Colonel Travis
questioned you outside the
cantina,
or at the barn,’ Houston pointed out ‘It would
have avoided any misunderstanding about your motives.’

‘
Yes,
sir,’ Hardin admitted, but tactfully decided against saying that he
doubted whether Travis would have listened to an explanation in
either instance. Instead, he went on, ‘Like I said, the agitator
had established his “right” to freedom of expression. So I figured
that if he heard me explaining things to Colonel Travis after the
fight, he might be able to use it against us. He could have said
that one of your officers had picked on and hurt bad a couple of
fellers rather than let him speak his piece. So I concluded it was
better to keep quiet and explain in private.’

‘
Not
every young man would have seen it in that light,’ Houston
praised.

‘
I
must admit that I misjudged you, captain,’ Travis declared,
standing up. ‘The circumstances of our meeting led me to assume
that you were a reckless, hotheaded troublemaker and finding you’d
been in a second fight did nothing to change my opinion. I was
wrong and I don’t mind admitting it. You may have taken some
chances, but they were calculated risks and not made
recklessly.’

‘
Thank
you, sir,’ Hardin answered and he could not entirely hide his
relief as he saw Houston nodding in agreement. ‘Anyway, we came
through it all right.’

‘
Which’s more than can be said for that damned agitator’s
men,’ Bowie remarked, showing his satisfaction over the way in
which his protégé had been exonerated. ‘I don’t reckon he’ll be
able to use any of them for a spell.’

‘
He’s
still around, sir,’ Hardin warned. ‘I could go—’

‘
You
could,’
Bowie grinned. ‘But you’re not
going
to. Don’t be a hawg, young Ole Devil,
you’ve had your share of the fun. Leave us old timers have some.’
His eyes turned to the general and he went on, ‘If it’s all right
with you, Sam, I’ll go and ask that feller if he’ll head back and
tell Johnson that we’re happy with the way things are being run,
but don’t take kindly to folks trying to enlist men who’re already
serving.’

‘
Do
that, Jim,’ Houston confirmed, anger clouding his features for a
moment. ‘Damn Johnson—’ Then the imperturbable mask returned and he
looked at the other colonel. ‘I can’t see any objection to letting
Captain Hardin take on the assignment, can you, Bill?’

‘
Not
any more, sir,’ Travis answered. ‘If there’s nothing further, I’ve
duties which need my attention.’

‘
Go to
them, Bill,’ the General authorized. ‘If the rifles arrive in time,
I’ll send some of them to you.’

‘
Thank
you, sir,’ Travis replied, although he, Houston and Bowie all
realized that the Alamo Mission would most likely be under heavy
siege before the weapons could reach it. He turned to the young
man, whom he now regarded in a far more favorable light than when
he had first entered the office, extending his right hand. ‘Good
luck, Captain Hardin. I won’t advise you against getting involved
in fights. Just keep on thinking before you do it.’

‘
I
will, sir,’ Hardin promised, shaking hands.

‘
I’ll
go too, Sam,’ Bowie drawled. ‘If that’s all right with
you.’

‘
Sure,
Jim,’ the General confirmed. ‘Try to send that feller back to
Johnson in one piece. I’d hate him to start thinking we’d got
something against him and his men.’

‘
I’ll
do my level best,’ Bowie grinned, then offered his right hand to
Hardin for a warm and friendly shake. ‘Good luck, young Ole Devil,
in case I don’t see you again before you pull out. Could be you’ll
need it before you’re through with the assignment.’

Watching the two colonels
turning from the desk, his fingers still tingling from
Bowie
’s
grip, Hardin wondered what kind of assignment he was to be
given.

While waiting until James Bowie and
William Barrett Travis had left his office, Major General Samuel
Houston studied the tall young man who was standing at the other
side of the desk. Watching Ole Devil Hardin, and thinking of the
assignment which he was to be asked to carry out, the General liked
what he saw.

That had not been the case when
Hardin first entered the room. Seeing him then, the General had
been inclined to accept Colonel Travis
’s assessment of his character.
However, as the interview had progressed, Houston had revised his
opinion. Despite the way in which he had walked, with a
free-striding, straight-backed confidence that came close to being
a swagger, he was anything but a strutting, self-important and
over-prideful hothead who relied upon family influence to carry him
through any difficulties that he himself had created by his
attitude and behavior. It was, the General had concluded, the beard
and moustache more than anything which gave his Mephistophelian
features an aspect of almost sinister arrogance.

On the other hand, Houston
conceded that Hardin was no Hamlet filled with gloomy foreboding,
misgivings or doubts when faced with the making of a decision.
Behind the externals, there was a shrewd, capable reliability. As
he had proved since his arrival in San Antonio
and
—if the
report of his scouting mission was any criterion—on other
occasions, when he found a situation which required immediate
attention, he was willing to act upon his own initiative. What was
more important, to Houston’s way of thinking, he was prepared to
stand by the consequences of his actions.

The latter had been apparent as
Hardin had been facing the inquiry into his conduct that afternoon.
While he had been somewhat perturbed on entering the office, he had
hidden it very well. Yet, even though he had known he had acted for
the
best of
reasons and had achieved his purpose under difficult and dangerous
conditions, he had not tried to carry off the affair with a high
hand. Nor had he counted upon his not unimportant family
connections with Houston or Bowie to gain him automatic absolution.
Instead, showing no resentment towards Travis’s hostile attitude,
he had explained his reasons with a polite modesty which had
commanded the General’s respect.

Summing up his impressions,
Houston decided that young Ole Devil Hardin was brave without being
foolhardy. He could think not only for the present but also for the
future. That had been proven by his reason for not having explained
why he had been fighting in front of the
cantina
when
by doing so he might have gained
exculpation and Travis’s approbation. With such qualities, he would
be the ideal man for the important mission.

What was more, the General felt
sure that Hardin
—provided he survived—could become a figure of considerable
importance and a guiding hand in the affairs of Texas, whether it
became an independent republic or one of the United States of
America.

‘
Sit
down, Captain,’ Houston drawled, as the door closed. He pushed the
humidor across the desk after raising its lid. ‘Help yourself to a
smoke.’

‘
Thank
you, sir,’ Hardin replied, taking the chair which Travis had
occupied and helping himself to a cigar. Then he winced a little
and gave his right side a gentle rub.

‘
Are
you all right, boy?’ Houston inquired solicitously and his concern
was only partly motivated by the possibility of the younger man
being unable to carry out the mission.

‘
Just
a mite sore, sir,’ Hardin replied with a wry grin.

‘
Would
you like a drink to soothe it away?’ Houston asked. His face took
on an appreciative expression and he stamped on the floor. ‘Don
Sebastian keeps a good cellar and he’s given me the use of it. I’ll
soon have something brought up if you’re so minded.’

Although the General did not know it, his
words were the cause of consternation to a man in the wine cellar.
Short, plump, middle-aged and wearing the white clothing of a
Mexican house servant, he was kneeling on the top of one of the
wine racks. He held a glass tumbler with its bottom to his right
ear. The upper end was pressed against the ceiling, which was also
the floor of the study.

The Latin temperament had
always been highly susceptible to intrigue, and the wine-rack being
used by the man was sited to allow eavesdropping on private and
confidential conversations in the study. Don Sebastian Carillo de
Biva had had that in mind when turning over his mansion to be used
as Houston
’s
headquarters. A wealthy land owner, de Biva was running with the
hare and hunting with the hounds. So, although he was giving his
support to the Texians, he had also allowed his
major domo
to organize a spy ring with
which to supply information to the Mexicans. By having done so, he
hoped to emerge from the present situation no worse off than he had
been before the declaration of independence whichever side should
be the victors.

De Biva and his family were no
longer at the mansion, having moved west to their
hacienda
in what would later
become the American State of New Mexico and which was not involved
in the Texians’ bid for freedom. Staying behind, the
major domo,
Juan Juglares, had
put his knowledge of the premises to good use. He spoke English far
better than he admitted and, by listening from the top of the
wine-rack, had already been successful in his spying
task.

Having noticed the excitement caused by the
arrival of a dispatch rider, Juglares had sensed that something of
more than usual importance was in the air. So he had come to the
wine cellar and taken up his position. From various comments that
he had overheard between Houston, Bowie and Travis, he realized
that the matter under discussion was likely to prove well worth the
risks of listening. He had no wish to be driven from his point of
vantage while there was still more to be learned.

‘
Not
for me, thank you, sir,’ Hardin replied, much to Juglares’
relief.

‘
Have
it your own way, boy,’ Houston drawled and indicated a sheet of
paper which was lying on the desk. ‘Let’s get down to business.
You’ll most likely know why Stephen Austin’s Commission went to New
Orleans, seeing that your Uncle Marsden was one of the
Commission.’

‘
Yes,
sir,’ Hardin agreed. ‘To try and recruit men, obtain weapons and
generally raise support for our cause. That’s pretty common
knowledge, sir.’

‘
Too
common,’ Houston grunted, and went on as the younger man stiffened.
‘I’m not blaming Marsden for
that,
boy. We never tried to keep it a
secret.’

‘
Is
that a report on how they’re getting on, sir?’ Hardin inquired,
relaxing as he saw that his uncle was not being held responsible
for disclosing the purpose of the Commission.

‘
It
is.’

‘
Are
they being successful?’

‘
To a
certain degree, although they’re having some difficulties. However,
they have obtained five hundred new cap-lock rifles and ten
thousand rounds of ready-made ammunition for them and are arranging
for them to be shipped to us.’

‘
Five
hundred
caplock
rifles?’ Hardin repeated eagerly. ‘That’s
bueno,
sir. We can really
make use of them.’

‘
I see
that you’re one who doesn’t have any doubts about the caplock
system,’ Houston remarked.

There was considerable controversy between
the adherents of the flintlock and the newer caplock mechanisms as
a means of discharging a firearm.

‘
I
don’t, sir,’ Hardin confirmed, and indicated the weapon in the loop
on his belt. ‘This Manton
^ix
pistol of mine’s
percussion-fired.’

‘
But
not your rifle?’

‘
It is
too, sir, in a way. You see I use what Uncle Ben Blaze calls a
‘slide repeating’ rifle. He bought it from some feller called
Jonathan Browning
^x
while he was up in Illinois last
fall. Way I see it, though, the caplock’s going to replace the
flintlock completely. It’s more certain, easier to load—I’m sorry,
sir, but I feel strongly about it. In my opinion, for what it’s
worth, five hundred caplocks are worth double their number of
flintlocks; particularly in wet weather.’

‘
You
don’t have to persuade
me,’
Houston stated with a grin. ‘Some of us worn-out
old fogies can see the advantages of the caplock as well as you
smart young men.’