Young Ole Devil (11 page)

Standing by the last horse he
had examined, Ole Devil was able to see into the alley which
separated the
cantina
from its neighboring building. Although the rear of
the
cantina
was as dark and apparently deserted as the rest of the
hamlet, there was a glow of light from the side window.

Leaving the lean-to, the Texian
crossed to the alley in the hope that he might gain more
information silently he crept forward
, halting to peer cautiously around the
side of the window. The light was supplied by a single lamp which
was standing on a table in the centre of the room. Of die four men
who were sitting at the table, one was a tall, slim
vaquero
whose
charro
clothing showed
signs of hard travelling. The rest were hard-faced, unshaven white
men dressed in buckskins. Yet another
gringo
was standing behind the bar cutting up
pemmican. There were four flintlock rifles leaning against the
counter.

Crouching
below the level of the windows,
Ole Devil went by and reached the front of the building. Instead of
turning the corner, he looked around it cautiously. Nursing a
rifle, a fifth man was sitting on a chair by the door.

Even as Ole Devil looked, the man lurched to
his feet!

Although the young Texian felt sure that he
had not been detected, he instinctively drew back his head. There
was no outcry, nor anything else to suggest that he had been seen.
For all that, without conscious thought, his right hand went to the
most suitable weapon for his purpose in case the man should prove
to be an enemy and come to investigate whatever he might have
seen.

With that in mind, Ole Devil
did not reach for his Manton pistol. Instead, his fingers enfolded
the concave ivory handle of the bowie knife. Under the
circumstances, it would be more
effective than the firearm and would not
cause a general alarm. Weighing forty-three ounces, the knife’s
eleven-inch long, two-and-a-quarter-inches wide, three-eighths of
an inch thick blade, and the scalloped brass butt cap, made it as
good a club as a cutting and thrusting implement

There was, Ole Devil told
himself, no real reason for him to be taking such precautions.
While the men were dirty, unshaven and not very prepossessing, they
were not especially different from many members of the Republic of
Texas
’s army
which, in general, was more concerned with fighting efficiency than
in trying to present a smart and military appearance. Nor was
finding a
vaquero
with the buckskin-clad white men cause for alarm. Several
regiments, Bowie’s Texas Volunteers in particular, had
Chicanos
serving in their
ranks.

Despite that, the young Texian felt uneasy.
Try as he mighty he could not think of any reason why he should be;
but the feeling persisted.

After about thirty seconds had
gone by without the man approaching the corner, Ole Devil once
again surreptitiously peeped around. The man was now standing at
the edge of the sidewalk and looking to the west along the
trail.
Then,
making a gesture of impatience, he turned and stalked towards
the
cantina
without so much as a glance in the young Texian’s
direction.

‘
Ain’t
no sign of him, Sid,’ Ole Devil heard the man saying in protesting
tones and a Northern accent as he went through the door which had
been broken open. ‘I bet he’s holed up some place out of the rain
and’ll be staying there until morning.’

‘
Get
the hell back out there and keep watch in case he ain’t!’ roared a
second voice which had a harsh New England timbre.; ‘I want to be
ready for him if he comes.’

Turning before the man
reappeared, Ole Devil withdrew along the alley. He went as silently
as he had come and just as carefully. Bending as he reached the
window, he passed without attempting to look in. Then he
straightened up and strode out faster. On coming into sight,
he
signaled
for his companion to wait and hurried to rejoin him.

‘
There
are six of them, Tommy,’ Ole Devil reported
sotto voce,
and he described what he had
seen, concluding, ‘I’m damned if I know what to make of them,
except that they’re definitely not men from the town acting as
guards. All I know is that I don’t like the look of
them.’

Neither Ole Devil nor Tommy attached any
significance to the fact that two of the white men spoke with
Northern accents. They knew that not all Texians had originated in
the Southern States.

They are waiting for
somebody?
’
Tommy remarked.

‘
From
what was said,’ Ole Devil agreed. ‘Just one man, the way they were
talking.’

‘
Then,
as they haven’t unsaddled their horses, they may be expecting to
move on when he joins them,’ Tommy suggested. ‘We could stay here
and wait to see if they do.’

‘
Trouble being, if he has taken shelter from the rain and is
staying there for the night, they’ll not be leaving,’ Ole Devil
argued. ‘Then again, they’re not trying to hide die fact that
they’re in the
cantina.
If they were, they wouldn’t be showing a light.

‘
That
doesn’t mean they are friendly,’ Tommy pointed out. ‘They would
know a light would lure anybody who was passing.’

‘
I’m
not gainsaying it.’

‘
Then
what shall we do?’

‘
I
hate puzzles, Tommy,’ Ole Devil replied. ‘So I’m just naturally
bound to get an answer to this one. Thing is, I’d hate to get
lolled before we’ve collected those rifles. General Sam and Uncle
Edward’ll be riled at me if I do. So as we can’t play it safe well
have to handle it sneaky.’

‘
Very
wise old Nipponese saying, which I’ve just made up, says, “Always
better to be sure than sorry,”‘ Tommy announced soberly. ‘What do
you intend to do, Devil-san?’

Despite the light-hearted
comments, neither Ole Devil nor Tommy was forgetting that they were
engaged upon a mission of considerable importance.
However, they also
realized it was their duty to try and learn who the men might be
and what they were doing in the hamlet. It only remained for them
to decide how they might most safely satisfy their
curiosity.

‘
I’ll
take both horses and swing around so that I ride into town along
the trail from the east,’ the Texian answered. ‘You go through the
alley on foot and be ready to cut in if there’s
trouble.’

‘
I
expected that if there was walking, humble Nipponese gentleman
would have to do it,’ Tommy sighed with mock resignation, watching
his companion gathering up the horses’ reins.

‘
If
you’re
that
humble, you shouldn’t be riding in the first place,’ said
Ole Devil and swung astride his tall, line-backed dun gelding. He
started it moving and the no-smaller bay followed in response to
his gentle tug on the reins.
‘Sayonara?’

‘
Remember old Nipponese proverb, which I’ve Just made up,’
Tommy counseled. ‘ “In time of war, wise man treats all others as
enemies until they have proved differently”.’

‘
I’ll
bear it in mind,’ Ole Devil promised and caused the horses to move
faster.

Keeping the arrow nocked to his
bow
’s
string, Tommy set off to carry out his part of the plan. Before he
had reached the lean-to, he could neither see nor hear Ole Devil
and the horses. Which proved to be fortunate.

The sound of footsteps on the
planks of the sidewalk in front of the
cantina
reached the little Oriental’s ears.
Darting to the lean-to, he halted behind its back wall. So quietly
had he been moving, even during the last brief dash, that the
horses were unaware of his presence and he did not disturb
them.

Two of the buckskin-clad white men, each
carrying his rifle, came along the alley. However, Tommy had
already attained his place of concealment and he listened to what
they were saying as they approached.

‘
You
reckon well come across him, Al?’ asked one of the men, almost
petulantly, his voice suggestive of a Northern origin. ‘It’s out of
his way if he’s going to—’

‘
I
know it is,’ the second interrupted and he too did not sound like a
Southron. ‘But we were told’s he’d be heading for Gonzales first
and this’s the trail’s goes to there. So we’ll ride out for a
couple of miles and see if there’s any sign of him. If there ain’t,
we’ll come back and see what Haftord wants us to do.’

‘
But
if he’s holed up, he won’t be along until after daylight,’ the
first man protested. ‘And I don’t cotton to the notion of hanging
around here after sun up.’

By that time, the pair had
reached the lean-to. Tommy was hoping to find out who they were
looking for, but did not The conversation was terminated as they
collected their horses. Leading the animals outside, they mounted
and rode away to disappear into the alley at the opposite end of
the
cantina.
Tommy clicked his tongue impatiently over his failure to
learn anything. Even the fact that the man did not wish to be in
the hamlet during the daytime proved nothing. He might be a loyal
Texian who believed, like Ole Devil and Tommy, that the trail and
locality could become unhealthy due to enemy raiders.

Waiting until the sounds of the
two horses had faded into the distance, Tommy walked from behind
the lean-to and into the alley. He adopted similar tactics to those
used by Ole Devil as he came to the window. Holding his bow and
arrow, low, he looked in. The Mexican and two of the white men were
now standing at the customers
’ side of the bar eating a meal, as was the third,
except that he was behind the counter.

Moving on, the little Oriental
reached the front end of the
cantina.
However, he halted in the alley and listened for
Ole Devil. Once again, the rain proved to be beneficial. The
normally hard surface of the street was sufficiently softened for
the horses to approach with little or no noise.

Holding the animals to a walk,
Ole Devil was scanning the buildings on each side of the street He
had noticed that the lookout was no longer outside the
cantina
and wondered
whether that was because the man whom they were expecting had
arrived, or if he was now keeping watch from a less exposed
position.

‘
Two
have left, Devil-san!’ Tommy hissed as his companion rode
by.

‘
Bueno,’
the Texian answered, in no louder tones, without halting
until he had turned the horses to face the hitching rail near the
cantina’s door.

Shortly after the party had
broken into the
cantina
their leader, Sid Halford had ordered Joe Stiple to search
the building for liquor to supplement their meager supply. Although
Stiple had failed to do so, he had stayed behind the bar. Having
been a bartender, he always felt more at home on the sober side of
the counter. Standing there, he was the first to become aware of
Ole Devil’s arrival.

‘
Hey,’
Stiple ejaculated, ‘Somebody’s just rid by the window.’

‘
It
could be Soapy and Al coming back,’ suggested the lanky man who had
acted as lookout, speaking through a mouth filled with
pemmican.

‘
I
don’t reckon so,’ Stiple objected. ‘Looked like there was only one
man and he’s come from the east.’

While the brief conversation
had been going on, Halford, the lookout
—whose name was Mucker—and the
vaquero
Arnaldo
Verde, had turned
towards the door. They heard the horses being brought to a halt and
leather creaking as the rider dismounted, but as yet they could not
see him. Halford and Mucker reached towards their rifles. Behind
the bar, Stiple was duplicating Verde’s actions by placing his
right hand on the butt of the pistol that was thrust through his
belt. ‘Easy there, gents,’ called the newcomer, as he crossed the
sidewalk. ‘I saw the light and came in to see if I could stay here
for the night.’

Studying the tall, whipcord slender young
man, and giving first attention to the way he was dressed and
armed, Verde then examined his features. He was reminded of
pictures he had seen of the Devil.

Juglares had said that the man
being sent by Houston to collect the rifles had a face like
el Diablo,
the
Devil!

On receiving the
major domos
information, Verde
had known that he would need help to deal with it. The nearest
available assistance had been a group of white renegades who were
working for the Mexicans. Going to their camp, he had told their
leader what he had learned. It had been decided that Halford’s
party would accompany Verde and kill Houston’s officer. Once that
had been done, the band would go to the coast and capture the
shipment.