Ole Devil and the Caplocks (3 page)

“
Which
is lucky for Texas,” Ole Devil declared. “Provided we can get them
to General Houston, they could change history.”

“Then we’d best be getting
to doing something more than standing and talking,” Di announced,
replacing the rifle and wiping her hands on her thighs.

“I’ll go and make
arrangements for the canvas,” Rassendyll offered.

“
Bueno
,” the girl replied. “We can
start splitting ’em into twelves, Devil.”

Crossing to the Bostonian
Lady in the jolly boat, Rassendyll bought sufficient canvas for
Di’s purpose. On his return to the shore, he found the work of
making the consignment ready for onwards transportation was being
carried out. So he took the opportunity to pass on some private
information which he was sure Ole Devil would be very pleased to
receive.

“Kerry Vanderlyne has
proved who killed Saul Beaucoup, Devil,” the supercargo said,
having taken his friend beyond the hearing of the rest of the
party. “That clears your name. There’s nothing to stop you going
back to Louisiana.”

“That clears your name.
There’s nothing to stop you going back to Louisiana.”

Beauregard Rassendyll’s
words still seemed to be keeping time with the big line backed dun
gelding’s two-beat gait— wherein the off fore and near hind and the
near fore and off hind alternately struck the ground at the same
time—and Ole Devil Hardin tried to shake them from his thoughts as
he rode “posting the trot”
^ix
into an area of woodland some five miles southwest of Santa
Cristobal Bay. They had been so perturbing that, wanting to
consider them without distraction, he had left Diamond-Hitch
Brindley, Mannen Blaze and the supercargo to attend to the
consignment of Caplock rifles while he, ostensibly, made the rounds
of the pickets.

While Rassendyll’s news
had been very welcome in one respect, from another it had presented
its recipient with the making of a very difficult
decision.

From the beginning of the
affair that had caused Ole Devil to come to Texas, but he could
have proved that he was innocent of Saul Beaucoup’s murder but for
one vitally important detail. He had had a perfect alibi, except
that he could only use it by besmirching the honor of the woman he
loved and creating a situation which could have had grave
repercussions throughout the whole State of Louisiana.

Not that Melissa Comforth
would have objected, or refused to help Ole Devil. In fact, she had
begged him to ignore the consequences and allow her to do so.
Despite the precarious nature of his position, he had declined to
accept her suggestion. He had appreciated the ramifications of
permitting her to compromise herself. They went far beyond the
disastrous effect which such an action would have had upon her
social standing and future.

As was frequently done by
upper class Southrons, Melissa’s parents had arranged what they
considered to be a suitable and mutually advantageous marriage for
her. Apart from one factor, she would have been content to conform
with their wishes. The man in question was Kerry Vanderlyne, whom
she had known since they were children. He was handsome and, while
there had been no romantic feeling between them, she had always
been on the best of terms with him. Unfortunately, shortly before
their betrothal was announced, she had met and fallen in love with
his best friend —Jackson Baines Hardin.

Hoping to find some way of
resolving the situation without hurting or embarrassing Vanderlyne,
of whom they were both fond, Melissa and Ole Devil had met secretly
to discuss it in an unoccupied cabin on the boundary separating her
parents’ and his uncle’s plantations. Caught by an unexpected and
violent thunderstorm, they were compelled to spend the night there.
Although Melissa had contrived to return home the following morning
without anybody discovering what had happened, a serious
complication had arisen.

During the night, a
wealthy Iberville Parish
^x
bully and trouble-causer, Saul Beaucoup, had been murdered in
Crown Bayou.

In spite of his family’s
social prominence, Kerry Vanderlyne, having become interested in
law enforcement, was serving as town constable and deputy sheriff
in Crown Bayou. So it had fallen upon him to conduct the
investigation. All the available evidence had suggested that Ole
Devil was the culprit. There was known to be ill will between him
and Beaucoup and a sword belonging to him was buried in the other’s
back. What was more, while unable to make a positive
identification, a witness claimed to have seen a man answering to
Ole Devil’s general description hurrying away from the scene of the
crime at about eleven o’clock the previous evening.

When questioned by
Vanderlyne, Ole Devil had stated he was innocent. The sword was one
of half a dozen he had brought with him and had been in the
salle de armes
at the
Blaze plantation from where it could easily have been removed
without the loss being noticed. However, he had refused to account
for his movements at the time that the murder was being
committed.

There had been excellent
reasons for Ole Devil’s reticence and refusal to let Melissa speak
on his behalf. When her parents heard what had happened, they would
never forgive him even if he married her. Nor, no matter how
Vanderlyne accepted the loss of his fiancée, would the rest of his
kin. As the two families formed a powerful support for the Hardin,
Fog and Blaze clan in the state’s affairs, he had no desire to
bring such an advantageous alliance to an end if it could be
avoided.

Although convinced of Ole
Devil’s innocence, Vanderlyne had been forced to take him into
custody. Failure to have done so would have been contrary to the
oath the young man had sworn on becoming a peace officer. In
addition, it would have antagonized the Beaucoup family and their
friends who were hinting that justice would not be done. So a
refusal would have embroiled the citizens of Crown Bayou and the
parish seat, Plaguemine, in the controversy. With so many
influential people involved, most of Louisiana’s population would
probably have taken sides. Once that had happened, a feud of
statewide proportions and costing many lives was almost certain to
have developed.

Being an intelligent girl,
Melissa had not blamed Vanderlyne for arresting Ole Devil. She had
also understood the latter’s reason for insisting that she did not
become involved, even to prove his innocence. Yet, with so much of
the evidence suggesting that he was guilty, she was determined to
save him. Taking Mannen Blaze into her confidence, she had found
that he was willing to help her. However, neither of them had been
able to decide what to do. The arrival of one of Melissa’s cousins
had provided them with a solution. Telling Rezin Pleasant
Bowie
^xi
the full story, she had obtained his support. A shrewd man,
he had produced a plan. Aided by Mannen, he had broken Ole Devil
out of jail. No suspicion of his part had fallen upon Bowie. The
cousins had fled to Texas, joining others of their kin who had
already settled there and were taking an active interest in that
area of Mexico’s affairs.
^xii

While the Beaucoup faction
had been furious when they heard of the escape and had offered a
large reward for the capture of Ole Devil and Mannen, nothing worse
had happened. Tactfully, as the bounty said “Alive Only,” the
Hardin, Fog and Blaze clan had not protested at its issue. So,
having no desire to antagonize such a powerful confederation, the
Beaucoups had announced publicly that they accepted that the
jail-delivery had been engineered by the two young men without the
knowledge, authority or assistance of their family. With an apology
from Ole Devil’s and Mannen’s fathers, made without any admission
that the former might have been guilty, the affair had been allowed
to come to a peaceful end.
^xiii

As Vanderlyne had been
handling a matter of law enforcement on the Beaucoups’ behalf some
distance from Crown Bayou at the time of the escape, one of the
factors which Bowie had taken into consideration, his career as a
peace officer, had not suffered on account of it. Not only was he
retained in office—much to the annoyance of his father, who did not
approve of him carrying out such work—but two years later he had
been elected sheriff of Iberville Parish. He had continued to
search for the truth about the killing, believing that—in spite of
Ole Devil’s escape and flight—some other person was
responsible.

The discovery that he had
finally been proven innocent was a great relief to Ole Devil. Not
only had his conscience been troubled by his having escaped from
jail, although he had had more than his own welfare in mind when
agreeing, but he had hated the stigma which he felt his actions had
put upon his name. On learning of the price which had been put on
his head by the Beaucoups, he had adopted the hornlike style for
his hair and cultivated the mustache and beard. He had always been
aware of his features’ somewhat Mephistophelian characteristics. So
he had sought to emphasize them in spite of warnings from others of
his family that they would draw attention and remind people of his
nickname. It had not been a mere act of braggadocio, but was a
subconscious wish to prove that—although he might have “gone to
Texas”
^xiv
—he had no reason to conceal his true identity.

However, the rest of
Rassendyll’s news had caused the young Texian considerable mental
turmoil and heart-searching.

Being aware of the
consequences if he should return to Louisiana with the murder
charge still hanging over him and having had no hope that his name
would be cleared by the discovery of the real culprit’s identity,
Ole Devil had reconciled himself to making his home in Texas. Nor
was there any chance of Melissa joining him. They had decided that
at their last meeting, on the road west out of Crown Bayou just
after he had made his escape from the town’s jail. For her to have
followed him would have meant the end of her engagement with
Vanderlyne and the creation of the dissension between their
respective families which they were trying to prevent. So they had
put their duty to their kinfolk before their love for each other
and had parted. Nor had they made any attempt to communicate and he
had heard little about her until Rassendyll’s arrival.

While far from being
promiscuous, having accepted that Melissa was in all probability
lost to him, Ole Devil had not entirely shunned contact with
members of the opposite sex since settling in Texas. Nor had the
opportunity to meet them been lacking. Despite knowing why he had
been compelled to leave Louisiana, or at least such of the facts as
had been made public, he was still considered an eligible bachelor
by virtue of his influential connections. More than one family had
sought to interest him in its unmarried daughters, cousins or
nieces. However, not one of the young ladies with whom he had
become acquainted had drawn even close to replacing Melissa in his
affections. What was more, according to the supercargo’s story,
there was a chance that she reciprocated his feelings.

Although Melissa and
Vanderlyne were still engaged, it had been announced that they did
not intend to marry until he was in a position to support her in
something close to the manner to which she was accustomed. The
reason for the delay was that he had become estranged from his
father by his insistence on remaining a peace officer and refusing
to accept financial assistance from her parents. He had been so
successful during his period in the capacity of sheriff of
Iberville Parish that he was to be appointed U.S. Marshal for the
State of Louisiana. Such an important post had brought a
reconciliation with his father and would also allow him to take
Melissa for his bride.

The date set for
Vanderlyne’s appointment was March 31st!

Everybody who knew the
couple was expecting that their wedding would follow shortly,
probably before the end of April!

With his innocence
established, Ole Devil was free to return to Louisiana and renew
his relationship with the only woman he had ever loved. However,
apart from any other consideration, he would have to leave Texas as
soon as possible if he wanted to arrive before she was lost to him
forever by becoming Vanderlyne’s wife.

Unfortunately, Ole Devil
had appreciated that there were a number of obstacles in the path
of his desire. One of the most important was the realization that
he now owed an additional debt to Vanderlyne. Thinking about his
and Mannen’s flight, he had always suspected the peace officer had
failed to act with his usual diligence and efficiency when
organizing the pursuit after the jail-delivery. Now it was clear
that he had continued to devote time and effort to clearing his
friend’s name.

Such an obligation was not
to be taken lightly by a man of Ole Devil’s character, background
and upbringing.

What was more, there were
others to whom the young Texian was under a debt of
gratitude.

The Bowie family had a
claim upon Ole Devil for the part one of them had played in his
escape. Not only had Rezin Pleasant Bowie planned how it was to be
done, he had risked his liberty and reputation by helping Mannen
Blaze to implement the far from danger-free scheme.