Chasing the Texas Wind Read online

  “Let’s move out,” Ham ordered. “Oh, sorry, General. I guess this is your job.”

  “No, no, I’m retired, and I know you’re not,” Jude replied. “I also know you’re capable of handling something as simple as getting fifteen people, one of them bedridden, out of enemy territory without any help from me, Ham. According to John Duvall you’ve done wonders already. I can’t wait to see the finale.”

  “Me, too,” Ham grunted. “By the way, we need John, since he’s here. There’s one detail I was worried about that we can now take care of, though it’ll be that much more unbearable for poor Zach.”

  “Oh, no,” Zachary groaned.

  The funeral procession formed in front of Vienta’s house. Maeve drove the buckboard with Ham by her side. The wagon was overflowing with flowers and draped in funeral fabric. The large coffin rested in the center. People crowded around it, bearing more flowers and singing a Mexican folk song in some semblance of unity. The supposed Chollo visitors preceded the local townspeople. Mia and her mother sang as loud as the rest. The guards appeared and ranged around the wagon. Jorges approached the buckboard and looked uncertainly at the coffin.

  “Why is it so large, Señorita?” he asked. “I understood your father was a small man.”

  “My father asked that certain of his possessions be buried with him,” Maeve replied. “Things I brought here from Chollo for his comfort. He had a trombone he used to play, and other things that made it necessary for the coffin to be large.”

  “A trombone,” Jorges frowned. “Open it up, please, Señorita. I know el teniente would wish me to show respect for you father in his name, as you take him from us to his rest.”

  Maeve looked back at Jude Morrow. He jumped up on the buckboard. “This was my father’s best friend, Carlos Alvarez,” she explained. “Please open it, Señor Alvarez.”

  Jude complied, taking a tool to the lid, and in a moment he swung it back. There on a bed of white cotton lay John Duvall in his “papacito” disguise, utterly peaceful looking. The bell of a trombone, provided by the miracle-working doctor, poked up by his head. Jorges crossed himself, as did the rest of the company, and then nodded. Jude closed the lid and resumed his place. The procession moved on. Jorges followed to the edge of town, then turned back. The soldiers continued on down the road alongside the buckboard. A short time later the townspeople dispersed.

  About three miles passed before Avecita was hidden from sight behind a rock outcropping. As soon as that event took place the Chollo mourners plus ten more men who had been waiting there leaped on the soldiers and overpowered them. No one even fired a shot. The battle took less than ten minutes. They hid the bodies and kicked and brushed up the bloody sand and dust until nothing could be discerned. Meanwhile Ham scrambled up onto the back of the buckboard and pried open the coffin. John tumbled out, and they ripped away the white cotton and the crude framework that had supported John to reveal Zachary, whose breath burst out of him as if he had been holding it the entire time. Then he burst into tears. Ham cradled him in his arms as if he was a little child.

  “I know, Private,” he murmured. “I know. Well done. Mission accomplished. We’ll be in Parmenos before long, my boy. Home to the arms of your loving father and sister. You’ll be so spoiled you’ll forget this night ever happened.”

  Day Five

  “Zach, if you ain’t a man, I don’t know what is,” John exclaimed, mussing his cousin’s hair. The other Duvall brothers, who had been waiting in the ambush, crowded around with love and praise for the littlest Duvall. Zachary lay on a thick featherbed, and claimed he was perfectly comfortable now that the lid was off the coffin, but Ham sat beside him and talked softly to him for a long time, speaking so low no one else could hear. Zach held onto Ham’s hand and his knuckles were white, but Ham didn’t mention it.

  They moved slowly to spare Zachary as much jouncing as possible, so it was fully dawn before they reached Parmenos. Jedediah Duvall and his daughter were a mile down the road from the ranch, on horseback, waiting for them. Jesse scanned the faces in the grimy, bloody, face-painted assortment of men, then flew to the buckboard and found Zachary in his coffin dozing in the early sun. He awoke to find his sister bending over him, drinking in the sight of his battered face and breathing a prayer of thanks while tears dropped on his chest. He reached up a hand, pulled her down, and kissed her.

  Jesse looked up and smiled her gratitude at Maeve and Ham.

  “Don’t forget to thank Angelita,” Zachary said. “Without her I wouldn’t be here, sure.” He reached up and caught hold of the girl’s hand.

  “Zachary?” Jesse said, startled. “Don’t tell me you’re going to break your vow.”

  “I just might,” Zach said bashfully. “Colonel Jessup straightened me out on finding the right woman and I got that all settled now.”

  “Jesse, let’s get everyone to the house,” Jedediah interrupted. “They look done in.” He urged his horse up alongside the buckboard and looked down at Zachary. “Welcome home, son,” he said, blinking back tears. “Welcome home.”

  A short time later Maeve came out into the vast family room of the Duvall ranchhouse drying her hair with a towel, wearing a lovely blue dress she had borrowed from Jesse and which had undergone severe alterations for her much smaller frame. Ham sat on a massive bearskin rug before the fire.

  “Where is everyone?” Maeve demanded. “This house was so full of people half an hour ago it was wall-to-wall.”

  “In the kitchen, in the study, in the sunroom, still getting cleaned up,” Ham shrugged, waving his hands in various directions. “It’s like a beehive here. Everything’s so purposeful, so busy. And I guess my job’s over.”

  He leaned back onto the rug. Maeve sat down beside him and played with his still-damp hair. He grabbed a lock of her hair and smelled it long and deeply.

  “Ham!” Maeve gasped suddenly. “Look at your leg! You’re bleeding.”

  Ham hastily pulled a serape from the nearby sofa over his right thigh, where a slight dark stain had formed on the fresh trousers he had just put on. “It’s nothing,” he growled. “The new leg doesn’t exactly fit. They’re made to order, you know. This one was made to order for somebody smaller in pretty much every way than me, and it’s heavy as lead, and it’s worn me a little raw.”

  “Let me see,” Maeve ordered. Ham balked. “I am your wife, Hamilton Jessup, for real, now. Let me see.”

  Ham obeyed and Maeve cried out when she saw the damage the poorly-fitted leg had done. “You’ll keep that thing off, and we’ll get a doctor to look at you,” she said. “I understand why you had to keep it on in Avecita, but Ham, it must have been horribly painful, and look what you’ve done to yourself when it wasn’t needed anymore.” She helped him arrange the serape for modesty’s sake.

  “I needed it,” Ham said in a low voice. “I need to be a whole man, Maeve, even if it’s only a fantasy.”

  “That’s foolish pride,” Maeve chided. “I don’t know anybody who can match you for manhood, Hamilton Jessup, and we’re in the middle of the finest crop of manhood I’ve ever seen. You don’t need to posture for me or anyone.”

  “You don’t know the half of my posturing,” Ham snorted. “I was lying here because I fell down just before you walked in the room. You thought I was being casually romantic, didn’t you? Please say you did.”

  Maeve kissed his forehead. “There’s nothing casual about your romance, Ham,” Maeve sighed. “Just because the wrong person got swept off his feet doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate your efforts.”

  Ham pulled her close and kissed her lips. “How did this happen?” he whispered. “I’m still in a daze. How did I get you?”

  “God answered your prayers,” Maeve smiled. “He answered so many prayers. And here we are. Do you know where we’re sleeping? Because I’d like to be doing it soon.”

  “I’m afraid to ask,” Ham said. “With all these visitors it might be right here. And we already missed our wedding night.”
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  “I won’t stand for it,” Maeve said, rising. “You stay right here and look romantic. Keep the blanket on. I’ll find out when the doctor’s coming to see Zachary, and I’ll make sure he sees you, too, and then I’ll get us a room if it has to be a stall in the stable.” She flounced out. Ham sank backward and grimaced. Jude Morrow entered and caught him before he could rearrange his face. Jude touched his toe to the artificial leg sticking out at a most peculiar angle.

  “You’ll frighten the womenfolk with that thing like that,” Jude cautioned. Ham hastily tucked it out of sight. “I noticed you were limping. John told us about your leg. Bad fit, eh?”

  Ham nodded, shifted a little, sucked in a breath. “May I have a peek?” Jude asked.

  “Next I’ll be selling tickets,” Ham gritted, but permitted Jude to lift the serape.

  “Merciful God, Ham,” Jude said. “I’m sure I could get you to a bed here somewhere, though in the present overcrowded situation I’d have to check on which one. How long do you think it’ll be before you can even get fitted for a new leg?”

  “It better be very soon,” Ham said.

  “Why do you say that?” Jude demanded.

  “Chaco’s moving his guns up to Monterrey and meeting Ampudia there,” Ham replied. “The guns are already in Avecita, in Vienta’s cantina. He’s moving them soon, and I don’t think he has any more to move. It’s endgame time before the end of this month.”

  “Do you know exactly when?” Jude asked soberly.

  “The littlest Duvall does,” Ham replied. “He made sure to tell me, and I also told John, but you ought to give him his due because he was one fine soldier and did more than his duty to get it here. You mean you haven’t debriefed Zach yet? This operation is sloppy from beginning to end. Too much emotion getting in the way of duty.”

  “Jesse says nobody sees him until the doctor gets here,” Jude shrugged. “I know we’re sloppy and sentimental, Ham, but we’re doing this for our families and the people we love. You’re so tough because you were hatched under a rock.”

  Ham grinned. Jude left the room quickly. Maeve returned a few moments after he had gone.

  “I got you willow bark tonic and some of Mammy’s famous salve,” Maeve said. “But as far as the bed, Beulah said Mrs. Jesse makes those arrangements and she is presently guarding Zachary’s door to keep these menfolk away until he is seen by the doctor and pronounced well enough to talk. He had a rough time, Ham, and a rough trip home, and he’s not over the closed coffin episode yet.”

  “Nor will he be for some time yet,” Ham conceded. “But Maeve, we can’t let Chaco move those guns. We can’t let him give them to Ampudia. Look at that map up there.” He pointed at a large, beautiful map above the fireplace. “Ampudia was retreating. Santa Ana’s been telling him to keep retreating, to Saltillo, is what we hear now. Will he listen, or will he stop at Monterrey? Chaco and his guns will be there, maybe soon. That may decide him whether to make a stand, having those guns or not having them. People are going to die while I nurse my stump and Zachary gets over his fear of closed places.”

  “The other men can take care of it,” Maeve protested. “Ham, you’re not going anywhere. You did your job. You saved Zachary, and you got the information here. It’s time to rest.”

  “I rested for ten years,” Ham stormed. “I need to work. I wish I could feel that God’s finished with me, as far as this job is concerned, but to me it’s just begun. At least I could help with the planning. I don’t have to have two legs to do that, do I?”

  “You don’t have to have two legs to do anything you please, obviously,” Jedediah Duvall said as he strode into the room. “Jude just told me what you learned. I don’t know why no one thought to talk to you about Chaco’s plans. Colonel Jessup, can I ask you to join us in the study?”

  “Well, I’d be delighted, but –” Ham broke off as Matthew and Levi Duvall appeared behind their father and presented Ham with a chair made from their loglike arms twined together. Maeve and Jedediah helped Ham into the makeshift seat and Maeve rearranged the serape.

  “The doctor’s still looking at you,” she whispered in his ear, then kissed it. Matthew and Levi bore him off to the oak-paneled study where Jude, John, Edward Costain and Lemuel McElroy waited. Ham flushed a deep crimson at the sight of Edward Costain. Dan’s brother jumped up and shook Ham’s hand heartily as he settled into a chair and once again rearranged the serape. Ham stared at him in disbelief.

  “It’s under the blood,” Edward said. “I’m gladder than I can say that you’re here, because otherwise Zach Duvall wouldn’t be, and besides, you are finally where Dan wanted you to be.”

  “Welcome, Colonel Jessup,” Lemuel McElroy said. “We’ve heard a little about your exploits but we’d like to hear the whole story, if you please.”

  Ham told it, trying to keep to bare facts. When he finished the men began to ask questions. Everyone had at least one, most had a number. Ham found himself telling a great deal more than he had intended, making himself sound like the star of the show. He hastened to clarify the parts that everyone else had played, even the doctor, and the others listened patiently. Finally there were no more questions. Everyone seemed to be looking at Lemuel McElroy, but he sat with folded arms, silent, staring into the fire.

  “You see, Lem?” Jedediah asked.

  “Of course I see,” Lemuel McElroy snapped. “But it’s still impossible. He can’t direct our part of the Monterrey operation. Look at him!”

  Ham flushed all over again. “I had no intention of directing,” he said, suddenly finding himself barely able to speak. “I just – I hoped I could help in some way, listen to your plans and – make suggestions.”

  “Lem, for six months we’ve been without a leader,” Jedediah said. “Zachary’s assignment was the first we’ve attempted and it almost ended in disaster. Then this man appeared and we not only saved my son, we have entirely new and unexpected information. It would be foolishness to pass up this opportunity.”

  “How did Mr. McElroy get to be the one who decides how we do things anyway?” Edward demanded. “Dan always said he’s a great business manager and without him we’d be broke but we’re not talking about money. We’re talking about people and homes and murderers who want to destroy them because they want to be free. We live here. We’re not Tejano, we’re American. But we came here because we’re tired of Mexico saying Texas can’t be American. It won’t be if we let Ampudia run over our neighbors and friends.

  “I can’t even imagine what half-baked plan we’ll come up with this time if we sit down here in the study and try to work out every detail ahead of time. Things happen. Things change. Did you listen to what Jessup said, how many times he had to modify his plans, use people on the spot at the time, go with what was happening that moment or listen to a whole new plan from somebody unexpected? Did you hear how he kept working even when he lost his leg? Do you understand that everyone worked together and did things they never imagined because he kept them going?”

  “I just want you to explain to me how he can go with you and be a part of the field operation,” McElroy said.

  “We have to work that part out,” Edward admitted. “But in the meantime, Ham, let’s get started on what we can do.”

  Lemuel McElroy got up. “If you’ll excuse me,” he said, “I don’t think I’m needed here anymore.”

  “Don’t go away bitter, Lem,” Jedediah pleaded. “Ed just said we all have to keep working together, and we have to take this one step at a time. Just as all these people contributed to making Jessup’s mission a success, we need all our people available to contribute to this mission. God will show us how to do what’s best in His time. Please, stay.”

  As usual, Ham found that going to a doctor meant finding out bad news. The doctor had pronounced his leg seriously infected, in danger of developing gangrene, and absolutely forbade any attempt at attaching anything to it for two weeks.

  “Listen to me very carefully, Colonel Jessup,”
Doctor Weedum said sternly, looking over his half-glasses with eyes that looked sleepy but somehow captured Ham’s whole attention, “not only will you have nothing left to attach a new leg to if you don’t let this heal, the infection could spread to your other leg or some organ you can’t cut off. Do you understand? I advise rest, mild activity if you can tolerate it, plenty of Mammy’s secret salve and plenty of spoiling from your new wife. Mrs. Jessup, take a lesson from Mrs. Costain. Don’t let these men near your husband, or they’ll kill him.”

  Fortunately the doctor had come after the meeting was over and Ham discovered that he wasn’t dead yet. But the doctor’s words troubled him, especially when he saw how Maeve took them. He remembered all too well what had come of not listening to a doctor ten years ago. Dr. Weedum had brought a wheeled chair, intending it for Zachary, but he ordered Ham to use it and, since the Duvall ranch house was laid out completely without steps he discovered it was fairly easy to obey. After the meeting and the doctor, Ham visited Zachary.

  “Better and better,” Ham said, grinning at Zachary’s much-improved looks. “I was pretty worried about you, my boy.”

  “I can get up tomorrow, Colonel,” Zachary grinned back. “For fifteen whole minutes.” Then he colored. “Sorry. I guess you’re stuck on inactive duty too, huh?”

  “It appears so,” Ham shrugged. “They tell me God works miracles, though. Has anyone talked to you about the Monterrey job?”

  “John told me some,” Zachary nodded. “Sounds like we’re gonna miss out on something. Wish I could go.”

  “Me too,” Ham muttered. “But what I really wish is that nobody had to go to Monterrey. I wish we could stop Chaco from moving the arms in the first place, destroy them right in Avecita. That should keep Ampudia headed farther away, and destroy Chaco’s effectiveness and credibility.”

  “That’s the thing to do, Colonel,” Zachary agreed. “But with a hundred men guarding the town, Chaco’s own town, and him no doubt mad as a hornet after finding out we got clean away with his woman, it’s not likely we’d get near the place.”