‘Good for Dusty!’ Captain Douglas Staunce enthused, springing from his horse agilely despite the Light Artillery saber which dangled from the slings at the left of his weapon belt and counter-balanced the Army Colt in the close-topped official pattern holster on the right. ‘He was right about the way they would come.’
‘Yes, sir,’ agreed Sergeant Major Smalley, remaining mounted and peering through the trees towards the bottom of the wide valley. ‘Permission to set up and make ready, sir?’
‘Go ahead,’ Staunce confirmed, continuing to look at and feel admiration over the visible proof of Captain Dusty Fog’s astute tactical reasoning. ‘Make sure that the men don’t show themselves and that they know where Captain Fog and his detail are hiding.’
Once Red Blaze had gathered his information regarding the balloon and had set off with his two-man detail the previous afternoon, Dusty and Staunce had held a council of war. Their work had been simplified by the fact that the small Texan had recently carried out a long and thorough reconnaissance in the area. He also possessed a range-bred Texan’s capacity for remembering terrain after having once traversed it. So his recollections of the vicinity had made up for any possible deficiencies in the large-scale maps which General Hardin had caused to be produced.
Harriet Cable had been called upon to repeat all that she had learned about the big gun and the composition of its escort, particularly about the nature of the officer in command. Being a shrewd, intelligent girl, her comments had been constructive and very helpful. She had told how Captain Stabruck had received orders to run for safety if there should be any danger of the Parrot being captured or destroyed by the Confederate States’ Army. In her opinion, he would be only too willing to carry out that order for he was more vicious than courageous.
Trying to put himself into Stabruck’s position, after listening to Hardy’s unflattering summation of the other’s character, Dusty had formed certain conclusions. Red’s attempt to destroy the balloon, whether successful or not, would have served as a warning that the Southrons were aware of its connection with the big gun. So, particularly if Red should be fortunate enough to achieve his intentions, Stabruck would assume that the Parrot was in grave peril. In all probability, the Yankee officer would not delay in starting to make good his escape. Harry had stated that she believed the small Texan was thinking on the right lines.
The next question had been where Stabruck would look for the big gun’s protection.
While the nearest Union troops were a detachment on the northern bank of the Ouachita River, covering the approaches to the town of Camden, Dusty had doubted if Stabruck would go there. There was only one company each of Infantry and Cavalry, acting as support for two batteries of Napoleons’. They would hardly make an adequate defense against an attack in force and would be far too accessible when one was launched. So Stabruck would go instead to the headquarters of the 6th ‘New Jersey’ Dragoons, probably the best and most efficient Yankee regiment in Arkansas.
Having reached that point, the Small Texan and the Englishman had started to consider ways in which they might prevent the big gun and its escort from escaping. Although Dusty had suggested the valley into which Staunce was now looking, they had regretfully concluded that they could not move out immediately. Nor could they leave their attempt until the following night. That meant they would be compelled to carry out their work in daylight.
Except for one detail, Dusty and—more particularly—Staunce would have been content to operate by the light of day. It would permit the howitzers to be aimed with greater ease and so produce better results. There was, however, one vital point which they could not overlook.
The threat to Eli Cable’s life.
Apart from the engineer being with the Yankees, it would have been an easy matter for the howitzers to shell the big gun out of existence while the Texans held back the escort.
Harry had appreciated the difficulties created by her father’s presence amongst the enemy. However, she had stated her belief that he would prefer to take his chances rather than continue to be a party to the murderous work being carried out by Stabruck.
Bearing in mind the danger faced by Cable, Dusty had suggested a place and the means of making the attack. The plan was based upon his conclusions of the route which Stabruck would take if making for the Dragoons’ main camp. It would offer Cable a measure of protection, but also placed Dusty and several members of his Company in grave danger.
Staunce smiled as he thought of the response to Dusty’s call for volunteers. Every member of Company C had immediately offered his services and, despite having been warned of the risks involved, the ten men he had selected were still as ready to play their parts.
Allowing the enlisted men to rest for the remainder of the day, Dusty and Staunce had continued to develop their arrangements. During the late afternoon, Kiowa Cotton had returned. He was a puzzled man, having found the tracks made by the big gun and its escort without discovering evidence that it was being drawn with a team of horses. Dusty had enlightened his sergeant on the reason for this phenomenon, then had ordered him to grab some sleep. When the Company and battery had moved out after sundown, Kiowa was once more roaming ahead as its scout.
On reaching the valley, Dusty and Staunce had decided that it would suit their needs. There was some work to be carried out, but time had permitted them to make all their arrangements before the enemy had put in an appearance.
Although the bottom of the valley was level and comparatively unobstructed, its sides rose fairly gently and bore a scattered coating of trees, bushes and rocks which became fairly close woodland at the tops. Set up among the trees, Staunce’s four howitzers would not be too obvious to anybody passing below but had a good field of fire. They would be shooting from a distance of about half a mile and had need to be accurate. While the main body of Company C was hiding with their horses in the woods on the opposite rim, Dusty and his detail had concealed themselves carefully close to the bottom. They were on foot and covered by foliage or other means to prevent themselves from being detected, but leaving them free to appear quickly when the time came.
They were also very close to the area into which the howitzers would be hurling shells!
Before resuming his scrutiny of the enemy, Staunce glanced around to ensure himself that his men were working as swiftly as possible. All was going as he wished. Not that he had expected to find otherwise from his battery’s well-trained veterans.
Due to the nature of the terrain they had to traverse, the battery had not been able to move the howitzers limbered for draught. Instead, each piece was carried split into its major components. The tube and the shafts to be used when limbered for draught were on one pack horse, the wheels and carriage on another. Nor had the ammunition been brought in a lightweight ‘prairie cart’. Instead it was carried—a pair to a horse—in eight-round boxes.
Each crew was rapidly re-assembling its piece, working without the need for orders or close supervision. Other members of the battery were off-loading and opening the ammunition boxes, to expose the waiting fixed rounds xviii of various kinds ready for use.
Satisfied that all was well with his side of the affair, Staunce raised a pair of field glasses. Although he knew the positions occupied by Dusty’s detail he could not locate any of them as he looked downwards. From there, he made sure that Sergeant Major Billy Jack was holding the remainder of the Texans in their places of concealment.
Changing the direction of the field glasses, Staunce studied the approaching Yankees. From all apperances, they were not expecting trouble. No advance guard preceded the party, nor were there any out-riders on the flanks. That was all to the Southrons’ advantage.
A captain and two lieutenants—one of whose head was swathed in bandages—formed an arrowhead in front of the column. Behind them—with Eli Cable standing at the steering wheel on the control platform and his Negro helpers feeding the furnace—Pulling Sue hauled the heavy burden with greater ease than any manageable team of horses could have achieved. Next came the escort. Apart from the first sergeant and sergeant in the lead, who had Spencer carbines dangling from leather carbine slings, the enlisted men were carrying their rifles suspended across their shoulders. The balloon’s two supply wagons brought up the rear.
Briefly, Staunce wondered what had happened to Red Blaze. None of the redhead’s party had rejoined the main body. However, the fact that the balloon had not been put into the air that morning and that the big gun was being moved away from its intended victims implied that something had been accomplished by the three Texans. Staunce wished that he could find something to suggest that Red had escaped after completing the assignment. The Englishman was equally aware that Dusty was deeply concerned regarding the welfare of his Cousin Red.
‘Battery mounted and ready, sir,’ Sergeant Major Smalley reported, returning on foot to his officer.
‘Aim for the main body of the escort,’ Staunce replied.
‘Solid ball, shell, or spherical case, sir?’ Smalley inquired.
For a moment, Staunce did not reply. Solid ball would not serve their purpose, being intended for battering holes in objects like walls. Nor was shell, which exploded on arrival provided its fuse had been set correctly, entirely what was required. That left spherical case; which also detonated, but sprayed out seventy-eight musket balls. While the balls were ideal for use against a body of men, they flew indiscriminately and would be dangerous to anybody in their immediate vicinity.
Dusty and his volunteers would be within the range of the balls.
‘Spherical case,’ Staunce finally stated, reaching the decision reluctantly but making it.
‘With respect, sir,’ Smalley warned, ‘there’s not much margin for error.’
‘Captain Fog and his men accepted that when they took up their positions.’ Staunce replied. ‘They’re game to take their chances and we’ll have to hope for the best.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Smalley answered.
Both Staunce and the sergeant major were aware of the desperate risks to which Dusty’s detail must be exposed in the hope of minimizing the danger to Eli Cable. The smooth bores and round balls of the little howitzers did not make for extreme accuracy, particularly when using spherical case. There were too many unpredictable factors involved for Staunce to have been able to offer his companions complete safety once his battery opened fire.
Crouching behind a rock that was closer to the valley’s bottom than the positions of his men, Dusty Fog watched the Yankees drawing nearer. An uprooted bush was placed as naturally as possible above him and its foliage had not yet withered sufficiently to betray him. So far, none of the Yankees appeared to have located any part of the ambush. That was not surprising. There had been considerable effort put into selecting and—although the word had not yet come into general usage—camouflaging the hiding places of his detail. Every man whom he had picked was a veteran Indian fighter and had learned the value of remaining practically motionless at such moments.
Like Staunce, Dusty was deeply concerned over his cousin’s fate. To divert his thoughts from how Red Blaze might be faring, the small Texan studied Stabruck and wondered what the Yankee captain was pondering upon.
Riding in the lead of his command, Captain Arthur Stabruck scowled continuously to his front. He slouched morosely on his saddle, ignoring his two lieutenants. All too well he could guess what they were thinking. That it had been his disobedience of orders which was causing their withdrawal and had lost them a valuable observation balloon. So he was trying to decide how he might exculpate himself, or turn the blame elsewhere, when called upon—as he was sure to be—to explain why he had deviated so far from his original orders.
In the first place, Stabruck had merely been dispatched to make a long tour of various outfits, so as to display the hauling powers of the traction engine. It had been drawing its tender, two ammunition caissons and the Parrot rifle. Lyle’s idea had been to impress the various regiments’ commanding officers and gain their backing for the rest of his scheme.
While travelling down the trail from Malvern to the river opposite Arkadelphia, one of the caissons had broken a wheel. Intending to pass the time while letting his men attempt repairs, Stabruck had ordered the balloon sent up. When the lieutenant who acted as observer had reported a large number of Rebel officers entering a building in Arkadelphia, Stabruck had decided to show initiative. So he had ordered the bombardment. Although he had failed to create the havoc he had hoped among the enemy’s officers, he had done considerable damage to a number of buildings before being ordered—by the commanding officer of the detachment covering the approaches to the town—to stop the indiscriminate shelling.
However, the sending of the Rebels’ cavalry company—seen and reported by the observer in the balloon—had allowed Stabruck to avoid being called to account for his behavior. Using the information, he had set up an ambush and driven off his attackers with heavy losses. After which, he had turned off the trail and headed east parallel to the Ouachita River.
A chance meeting with a friend who was a member of the United States Secret Service had presented Stabruck with what had seemed—at the time—an ideal opportunity to gain personal acclaim and to win an important, influential supporter. Learning that his friend had a contact on the other side of the river, he had caused the printer of the Fordyce, Dallas County, newspaper to produce the warning notices. By doing so, he had hoped to secure General Culver’s release from captivity.
With the balloon stolen, Stabruck had been fully aware of the danger. So he had set his men immediately to breaking camp. While he was heading for the main body of the 6th ‘New Jersey’ Dragoons, he had not sent a messenger with word of his coming so that he might have been granted a larger escort.
There had been two reasons for the omission.
Firstly: if the Rebels had not sent a force to destroy the Parrot, Stabruck would have been regarded as a cowardly alarmist who had panicked and fled without any cause to do so.
Secondly: the reaction of the detachment’s commanding officer had warned him that his activities might not receive a favorable reaction; especially when he had failed to achieve his purpose.
So Stabruck intended to arrive at the Dragoons’ camp, as if on the mission for which he had been dispatched. If he should be questioned about the bombardment of Arkadelphia, he would claim he had been trying to wipe out a large number of Confederate senior officers.
Once certain that there was no danger, Stabruck could return to Nimrod Lake and rejoin Lyle. Later, after a new commanding general had been appointed, they could put up their idea to force the Confederate States’ Army to return across the Ouachita River. Having brought about the full-scale confrontation, they could use the second of Cable’s machines to ensure a Northern victory.
Thinking about the latter point, Stabruck saw something which he might use as an excuse for revising Lyle’s plan. He would claim that he had hoped to secure Culver’s freedom so that the confrontation and defeat of the Rebels could be accomplished without delay.
While the Union captain and his men rode onwards along the bottom of the valley, completely oblivious of their peril, the crews of the four howitzers had made everything ready to open fire.
Each chief-of-piece had aligned his barrel and adjusted its elevation to the correct five degrees angle for the distance over which it would be firing. The fuses had been cut so that—in theory at any rate—they would cause the burster charges to detonate when the cases were a few feet above the mass of Yankee horsemen; and the fixed rounds were rammed fully home.
Everything was now waiting for Staunce to give the word of command.
Moving behind his battery, the English captain took up a position between the Numbers Two and Three howitzers. He stared into the valley, watching the traction engine drawing level with the small Texan’s position.
‘Good luck, Dusty!’ Staunce breathed, then raised his voice. ‘Get set, men. Ready! Fire!’
On their officer’s order, four hands tugged sharply at the firing lanyards. Even as the quartet of howitzers bellowed in what came as practically a single sound, Smalley stared towards the other side of the valley and waved his right hand over his head.
Sitting his horse at the top of the second slope, Sergeant Major Billy Jack was able to watch the battery’s preparations. Receiving Smalley’s signal, the gangling Texan swung his doleful features towards the waiting men of Company C.
‘Let’s go and get ourselves killed,’ Billy Jack suggested, sounding as if he believed that it was certain to happen. ‘Company, forward at a walk. Yo!’
With that, the sergeant major started his mount moving. The rest of the Company, formed into a single line, followed him. When the spherical case shells exploded, he increased the pace and they were soon galloping recklessly down the slope.
From his place, Dusty had been unable to make out what was happening on either rim. However, he knew that the howitzers would speak as soon as the traction engine was passing his position. Slowly it rolled level, but he refrained from moving. To appear prematurely might spoil all his carefully laid plans.
The attack took Stabruck and his men completely by surprise. Curving through the air, the shells were descending towards their targets before the bellows of the howitzers reached the bottom of the valley. One exploded too high to be very effective, but the other three’s fuses burned with greater accuracy. The triple eruption of burned powder smoke were accompanied by musket balls scattering in all directions.
Men and horses were struck by the balls. The animals which had not been hit displayed alarm and fright at the sudden noises. In a moment, the four lines of blue-clad riders were disrupted and thrown into utter confusion.
Before Dusty could start to rise, he felt something strike the bush which was covering him and a musket ball fanned his cheek in passing. Ignoring the thought of how close he had come to being struck by one of his companions’ missiles, he hurled aside the foliage and thrust himself erect.
‘Yeeah! Texas Light!’ Dusty bellowed, hands flashing down and across to draw the matched Army Colts.
The remainder of the volunteers for the assignment also sprang into view. Each man held the weapon—or weapons—of his choice and they were spaced along the bottom of the slopes.
Twisting on his saddle at the sound of the shells exploding, Stabruck was almost unseated as his horse plunged. He managed to retain his seat and started to rein the animal around.
‘Kill Cable!’ Stabruck screeched, right hand clawing at the flap of his holster.
Hardly had the words left the Yankee captain’s mouth than a bullet, fired by one of Dusty’s detail, ripped into his head and toppled him lifeless to the ground. Neither of the lieutenants survived him by many seconds, for the Texans knew the value of depriving their enemies of leadership.
Despite the confusion and pandemonium that raged behind them, Stabruck’s first sergeant and the other three-bar heard his order. They also remembered what they had been instructed to do in the event of an attack. Sending their horses plunging forward, they liberated their carbines from the clips of the slings. One of them headed along each side of the traction engine, determined to prevent the engineer from being taken alive by the attacking Rebels.
Hurdling over the rock, Dusty swung up and fired his right hand Colt. He sent its bullet into the first sergeant’s chest. Rocking backwards on the saddle, the Yankee non-com let his carbine fall and slid after it. However, Dusty knew that he could not hope to deal with the second would-be killer.
Being aware of the plans laid for his employer’s removal, one of the Negroes acted fast, He thrust the shovel he was holding into the furnace and brought it out again heaped with red-hot chunks of wood. Swinging, he hurled them into the sergeant’s face. Even as the stricken soldier started to scream, one of Dusty’s volunteers shot him in the head.
With many of their horses rearing and pitching wildly, none of the Yankee soldiers were in a condition to make a fight. Some had been thrown off, others found themselves being carried away by their bolting mounts. The remainder, conscious of having their rifles slung in an inaccessible manner, strove to regain control of their mounts and surrender.
Inside five minutes, the incident had ended. The three Union officers and two senior non-coms were all dead, the enlisted men who had not fled stood disarmed. Harry Cable was enfolded in her father’s arms and the big gun was in the possession of the Confederate States’ Army.