Young Ole Devil (17 page)

The discovery that Ole Devil
was riding alone had been the cause of considerable recriminations,
with Soapy demanding to be told what had happened to the escort.
Although Verde had not cared for the other
’s attitude and implications, he had
managed to control his temper. He had suggested that the men might
have been accompanying the young Texian only as far as Guadalupe,
or Gonzales. Or they might even have been a patrol which Just
happened to be using the trail and Ole Devil was riding with them
for the company. Either explanation had left a number of questions
unanswered, but the urgency of the situation had prevented them
from being asked. As Mucker had said, no matter what had happened
to the escort, its absence made their work that much easier and
safer.

Accepting
Mucker
’s
statement, the quartet had set off to intercept the young Texian.
Although while using Verde’s telescope to watch for Ole Devil they
had noticed Di Brindley, they had been in a hollow and missed
seeing her meeting with him. On coming into view, having heard the
shot, they had drawn at least one incorrect conclusion from the
sight which had met their eyes. As they could not see the pistol
which Ole Devil had discarded after filing, they assumed he was
holding an empty weapon. So they had not been surprised when Ole
Devil and the ‘boy’—the quartet had fallen into the same error
regarding Di’s sex—turned and ran towards the line-backed dun. They
had expected the fleeing pair to mount the horse and try to escape
in that way.

Always boastful about his
ability as a marksman, Soapy had tried to prevent the Texian and
the
‘boy’
from escaping by shooting the dun. Not unexpectedly, as the range
had been dose to five hundred yards and he was sitting a
fast-moving horse, he missed. So, having emptied his weapon to no
purpose, he felt somewhat perturbed when Ole Devil and Di turned
instead of mounting the waiting dun. If the way they were arming
themselves meant anything, they were going to fight rather than try
to escape with the animal carrying a double load.

Watching Ole Devil holding and
doing something to the rifle which he could not make out, Verde did
not share Soap
’s misgivings. In fact he was not displeased by the way
things were turning out True the ‘boy’ had armed himself with the
Texian’s pistol, suggesting that it might have been reloaded, but
even in skilled hands it would only be a short range weapon. The
rifle which Ole Devil was raising to his shoulder would be a far
greater danger.

‘
Keep
moving at long range until he fires,’ Verde called to his
companions. ‘Then rush him before he can reload.’

Although the
vaqueros
advice did not
reach Di’s ears, she was aware of such a danger. Having helped to
fight off more than one Indian attack, she suspected that the four
men might adopt similar tactics by hovering at a distance until
fired on and then attacking before the empty weapons could be
replenished. Noticing that her companion was taking aim, she
decided to warn him against playing into the quartet’s
hands.

Before the girl could speak, the rifle
cracked!

Almost as if wishing to oblige his
attackers, Ole Devil sighted and touched off a shot Soapy heard the
bullet passing close to his head, but was not hit

‘
Come
on,
amigos!’
Verde yelled, watching the Texian lowering the rifle’s butt
so as to start reloading, ‘We’ve got him now!’

Eagerly urging their horses forward
Arnaldo Verde and his three white companions began to close
together as they bore down on their intended victims. Each of the
quartet used his spurs as an encouragement to make his mount run
faster, wanting to make sure that they arrived before the young
Texian could reload his rifle.

Watching the men approaching,
Diamond-Hitch Brindley was very worried and her earlier annoyance
returned. She had been revising her opinion about the possible
capabilities of her rescuer, deciding that he might be much less of
the fancily-dressed dude she had first thought After the way in
which he had discharged his weapon
’s only bullet, she concluded that his
method of dealing with the bear must have stemmed from ignorance
and reckless folly and not out of a courageous calculation of the
dangers it involved. There was, Di knew, no way that he could go
through the time-consuming process of reloading any type of rifle
with which she was acquainted before the quartet reached
them.

That was where Di and the four men were
making the same mistake. It was an error caused by ignorance,
although pardonable under the circumstances.

At first sight, the weapon in
Ole Devil Hardin
’s hands appeared to be a so-called ‘Kentucky’ rifle
^xvii
of the kind which had long been
popular in the more easterly of the United States; although it was
being supplanted by the heavier calibered and shorter ‘Mississippi’
models west of that mighty river. However, a close examination
would have revealed that it possessed several features which were
not incorporated in die design of the standard ‘Kentucky’
flintlock, or the ‘Mississippi’ caplock. Most noticeable difference
was the hammer being set underneath the rifle, just in front of the
trigger-guard. There had been a few ‘under-hammer’ pieces made, but
they had never been common, or popular, due to the difficulty of
retaining the priming powder in the frizzen pan. Neither had any of
them carried a lever on the right side of the frame, nor had an
aperture cut through it An omission which might have aroused
comment was a ramrod, for it was not supplied with the means to
carry one beneath the barrel. The latter item was, in fact, not
needed.

The action which Verde had noticed Ole Devil
carrying out, but unfortunately for his party had failed to
understand, was the remarkably easy process of loading a Browning
Slide Repeating rifle. Once the original preparations had been
made, it did not require a powder flask, patch, ball and
ramrod.

The rectangular metal bar which
Ole Devil had taken from the pouch on the rear of his belt was, in
reality, the rifle
’s magazine. Five chambers had been drilled in the front of
the bar, that having been the number Jonathan Browning had
considered most suitable for convenient handling; although he
produced models with a greater capacity if requested Each chamber
had a hole at the rear to take a percussion cap.

After firing a shot a thrust
with the right thumb on the lever caused the magazine to move
through the aperture in the receiver so that die next chamber was
in place. Not only did the mechanism lock the magazine into
position, but thrust it forward until a gas-tight seal was formed
against the bore of the barrel As a further aid to ease of
operation, the proximity of the hammer to the right forefinger
allowed it to be cocked without the need to remove the butt from
the shoulder
.
^xviii

So Ole Devil did not have any need to reload
in die normal fashion. Lowering the rifle as if he was compelled to
had been done to make the quartet believe they had nothing to fear
and to lure them closer.

When Verde and the three white
men were about a hundred
and fifty yards away, ignoring the muttering from
the girl at his side—although he could hear that it consisted of
profane comments about what she assumed to have been his stupidity
in emptying his weapon—the Texian returned the butt to his right
shoulder. He had already pressed on the operating lever and watched
the magazine creeping through the aperture. With all ready for
aligning the sights, he manipulated the hammer with his right
forefinger.

Sighting at Al along the forty and
five-sixteenths of an inch octagonal barrel, Ole Devil selected him
because his rifle was most probably unfired and, at that distance
he would be the most dangerous of the four. Squeezing the trigger,
the Texian felt the thrust of the recoil. Although smoke swirled
briefly between them, his shooting instincts told him that he had
held true.

Caught in the chest by a
.45 caliber bullet,
Al was knocked backwards from his saddle and the rifle pirouetted
out of his hand. The other three men were surprised that their
intended victim had been able to fire as they had not seen him do
anything which they could identify as recharging his
weapon.

‘
What
the hell—?’ Soapy ejaculated, glaring from Verde to
Mucker.

‘
It
must have two barrels!’ the
vaquero
answered, although he had a suspicion that was
incorrect. ‘Keep going, if s empty now!’

As double-
barreled rifles were not
uncommon, Soapy and Mucker were inclined to accept Verde’s
solution. However, they were puzzled to see Ole Devil was still
lining the rifle. So was the
vaquero,
but his thoughts on the matter ended in
consternation as he realized that the strange weapon was being
directed towards him. Before he could do anything to save himself,
it spoke again. Shot in the head, he crumpled from his horse and
was dead by the time his body struck the ground.

‘
What
the hell kind of gun’s that?’ Mucker wailed, trying to slow down
his racing horse.

‘
Come
on!’ Soapy ordered, being made of sterner stuff than his lanky
companion. ‘It must be empty now.’

Seeing that the last two men
were not turning aside, as he had hoped they would, Ole Devil made
ready to deal with them. He took no pleasure in what he was having
to do, but knew he had no other choice. Not only were the
approaching pair traitors to Texas, but neither of them would
hesitate to kill
him, or the girl, if they were given the chance. Should
they capture the girl after disposing of him, her fate was likely
to be worse than a quick death.

Operating the mechanism of the Browning, Ole
Devil turned its barrel towards Soapy. While Mucker was doing as
his companion had ordered, he showed less resolution and was
allowing the other man to draw ahead.

Finding himself the object of
their intended victim
’s attentions, Soapy thrust out and sighted his
pistol as well as he could from the back of his galloping mount He
stood up on his stirrup irons, letting the empty rifle slip from
under his leg, in an attempt to form a steadier base for his
efforts. Fifty yards was a long range for a hand-gun, but he had
seen sufficient of the Texian’s marksmanship not to chance holding
his fire until he was closer. The pistol bellowed and the sound
coming so close to the horse’s ear caused it to swerve.

Although the bullet threw up
dirt between Old Devil
’s feet without harming him, the shot was not
entirely wasted. Squeezing the rifle’s trigger, he saw his target
swing aside and, being too late to prevent the discharge, knew that
he had missed.

Thrusting down on the lever
with his right thumb, Ole Devil switched his aim to Mucker as the
magazine crept onwards to position the final chamber in front of
the barrel
’s
bore. The lanky man might be allowing his companion to take the
lead, but he still held a loaded weapon. Ignoring Soapy, the Texian
turned loose his last available bullet Attempting to steer his
mount so as to put Soapy between them, Mucker caught the lead in
his right shoulder. Screeching in agony, he lost his balance and
toppled from the saddle.

That still left Soapy!

Seeing that he had missed with
his pistol, he regained control of his horse and sent it tearing
onwards. Hurling the empty weapon ahead of him, he saw Ole Devil
fend it off with the barrel of the rifle. Reaching for one of the
pistols which were hanging in their holsters from his saddlehorn,
he knew that he would need time to open the flap and draw it
Guiding the horse straight at the Texian, so as to ride him down,
Soapy hoped to gain it Just a moment too late, he realized that
the
‘boy’
was raising a pistol in both hands and lining it at him.

‘
Take
him, Di!’ Ole Devil yelled as he threw himself aside, hoping that
the girl would at least be able to create a diversion.

Even as the
Tex
ian moved
and shouted, he heard the deep-throated boom of a pistol. Looking
up, he saw Soapy’s head slam back and the hat flying from it. The
speeding horse missed Ole Devil by inches as it passed between him
and the girl. Its rider’s lifeless body was already starting to
slide from its back as it went by.

After glancing to where Mucker
was sprawled face down and motionless, having been knocked
unconscious when he landed from the fall,
Ole Devil turned his gaze to Di. She
was lowering the smoking Manton pistol and did not appear to be
distressed, or even greatly concerned by having had to kill a
man.

However, as it had been because of him that
her life had been endangered, the Texian doubted whether his
standing with her grandfather would be improved.

‘
Grandpappy Ewart,
this here’s Cap’n Hardin,’ Diamond-Hitch Charlotte
Jane Martha Brindley announced, leading the way into the sparsely
furnished main room of her home. ‘He’s come over from San Antone
with a message from General Sam-’