Read Mississippi Raider Online
Authors: J.T. Edson
Tags: #adventure, #mississippi, #escapism, #us civil war, #westerns, #jt edson, #the confederates, #the union
Mississippi Raider (27 page)
“
I
know
that!” Belle admitted in a bitter tone.
“
There’s nobody else I could send who knows the route as
well as you,” Rose stated. “Or who stands your chance of getting
through. If there was, I wouldn’t ask you to go under the
circumstances.”
For several seconds, Belle
looked into her aunt
’s face. Conflicting thoughts churned through her. The men
whom she had seen murder her mother and father were close by, and
she was confident that she could reach them to wreak the revenge
she had sworn to take. On the other hand, when she had enrolled in
Rose Greenhow’s organization, she had taken upon herself a duty to
the Confederate States that overrode considerations of personal
vengeance. Furthermore, she had sworn on the name of her parents
that she would never allow thoughts of taking revenge upon
Tollinger and Barmain stand between her and her duty.
Never had Belle faced such a dilemma.
If she took on the delivery of
the information, the girl might never again be so close to the two
men for whom she felt such bitter hatred and they might escape her
for a
ll
time.
Should she decline the task and seek
personal revenge?
Or should she do her duty as an agent for
the Confederate States and deliver the information, even though
carrying out this would almost certainly result in Tollinger and
Barmain escaping?
There was, Belle knew, only one
decision she could reach if she wanted to uphold the promise she
had made to Rose the night they met. Raised in the rigid Southern
code of conduct, which they had taught her to follow, Electra and
Vincent Boyd would expect it of her. Furthermore, if she should
refuse the assignment, she would never be able to look herself in
the face again even if she achieved her desire to take revenge on
Tollinger and Barmain. What was more, she would be honor-bound to
tender her resignation and be finished as a member of the
South
’s
Secret Service.
“
Give
me the message,” the girl said after drawing in a deep breath and
standing stiff as a bar of steel. “And I’ll get it
there!”
“
I
knew you would say that!” Rose claimed, looking at Belle with pride
and knowing full well what giving the agreement had cost. “It’s
what I would expect of one who is already gaining a name among the
Yankees as a Rebel Spy!”
Wanting a son and learning his
wife, Electra, could not have any more children, Vincent Charles
Boyd gave his only daughter, Belle,
xviii
a thorough training in several
subjects not normally regarded as being necessary for the
upbringing of a wealthy Southron girl. At seventeen she could
ride—astride or sidesaddle—as well as any of her male neighbors,
men who were to help provide the Confederate States with its
superlative cavalry. In addition, she was a skilled performer with
an
epee de
combat
or a
saber,
xix
an excellent shot with any kind of
firearm, and an expert at
savate,
the French style of foot and fist boxing. All
these accomplishments were to be very useful to her as time went
by.
Shortly before the commencement
of the War Between the States, a mob of pro-Union supporters led by
two
“liberal” agitators who fled north immediately after
stormed the Boyd plantation. Before they were driven off by the
girl and the family’s Negro servants, they had murdered her parents
and burned her home to the ground. On recovering from the wound she
sustained in the fighting, hostilities having broken out between
the South and the North, she joined the successful spy ring
organized by her aunt, Rose Greenhow.
xx
Wanting to find and take revenge upon
the leaders of the mob, Belle was not content to operate in one
locality. Instead, she undertook the dangerous task of delivering
other agents’ information to the appropriate Confederate
authorities. Adding an ability at disguise and in producing
different dialects to her other accomplishments, she graduated to
handling even more important and risky assignments, attaining such
proficiency that she won the sobriquet “the Rebel Spy.” On two
missions she worked with Captain Dustine Edward Marsden “Dusty”
Fog, Company “C,” Texas Light Cavalry.
xxi
Another had first brought her into
contact with the Ysabel Kid
xxii
and later, in his company, she had
concluded her quest of vengeance upon the men responsible for the
murder of her parents.
xxiii
While the
“Yankees” were given reason to
hate the Rebel Spy when she was engaged in her duties against them
during the war, the majority had no cause to feel other than
gratitude after peace was brought about by the meeting at the
Appomattox Court House. On signing the oath of allegiance to the
Union, she was enrolled in the United States Secret Service.
Despite all the trouble she had given that organization throughout
the hostilities, she served it loyally and with equal efficiency.
Her participation in thwarting a plot to assassinate President
Ulysses Simpson Grant prevented friction and possibly another war
between the Southern and Northern States.
xxiv
Assisted by Martha “Calamity Jane”
Canary
xxv
and Belle Starr,
xxvi
she brought to an end the reign of
terror caused by a murderous gang of female outlaws.
xxvii
With the aid of the OD
Connected ranch’s floating outfit, she broke up the Brotherhood for
Southern Freedom.
xxviii
In the same company she
prevented diplomatic difficulties between the United States and
Haiti.
xxix
She joined forces once more with
Belle Starr and the Ysabel Kid when involved in the efforts of the
international
master criminal Octavius Xavier “the Ox” Guillemot to gain
possession of James Bowie’s knife.
xxx
Working with Calamity Jane and
Captain Patrick Reeder of the British Secret Service, she wrecked
two attempts by European anarchists to create hostility between the
U.S.A. and Great—as it was
then
—Britain.
xxxi
Assisted by the successful British
lady criminal Amelia Penelope Diana “Benkers” Benkinsop, she dealt
with the man who had sold arms to the plotters.
xxxii
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i
Some of the events that occurred as a result of a proposal
by the United States Cavalry to employ muck ponies in snow during
winter campaigns against the Indians on the Western frontier, but
not the experiments themselves,
are recorded in
THE BULL WHIP BREED.
ii
Descriptions of some of the breeds of dogs used for hunting
raccoon and various animals, including some qualifying as big game,
are given in
HOUND DOG MAN.
iii
The reason for the unconventional education received by
Belle Boyd is explained in the Appendix.
iv
Sir Reginald Front de Boeuf, master of Torquilstoen Castle
in medieval England, was an early example of more unsavory members
of the family. See
IVANHOE
by Sir Walter Scott. Two descendants of Sir Reginald who
inherited his worst traits were Jessica and her only son, Trudeau
Front de Boeuf. To antagonize the rest of the family, she always
used the surname instead of that of the man she married. Incidents
involving their criminal activities are recorded in
CUT
ONE, THEY ALL
BLEED; Part Three, “Responsibility to Kinfolks,” OLE DEVIL’S HANDS
AND FEET;
and
Part Four, ‘The Penalty of False Arrest’ MARK COUNTER’S
KIN.
v
Mark Counter inherited the physique but not the
objectionable traits from the maternal side of his bloodline.
Information regarding his family background and special
qualifications is given in the
Floating Outfit
series.
vi
Although Winston Front de Boeuf was a successful rancher,
he did not remain based in Texas; see
THE CODE OF DUSTY FOG.
vii
Information about some incidents in the career of
professional gambler Joseph “Joe” Brambile is given in
DOC LEROY, M.D.;
THE HIDE AND HORN SALOON;
and
Part Two, ‘Jordan’s Try,’ THE TOWN
TAMERS.
viii
How the participants in the so-called “apartment-house
wrestling” by a later generation carried out a similar judicious
faking is told in
THE TEAM,
the latest volume to be added to the
Rockabye County
series.
ix
The occasions when Belle Boyd was required to indulge in
less-than-serious barehanded combat with another woman are
described in
THE
BAD BUNCH
and
THE WHIP AND THE WAR LANCE.
x
Information about the later careers of Colonel Myles Raines
and his daughter, Louise, can be found in
WAGONS TO BACKSIGHT
and
RETURN TO
BACKSIGHT;
also by inference with regard to the Colonel in
ARIZONA RANGE
WAR.
Having given a phonetic
simulation of the way in which Alfred Higgins spoke throughout this
chapter, for the rest of the narrative we will employ normal terms
except where the specialized jargon used by the British criminal
classes of the period is concerned.
xii
The code that was currently in use was based on the song
most used by the Union as a comic counter to the South’s
“
Dixie.”
Yankee doodle came to town riding on a pony,
He stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni
YANKEDOLCMTWR I GPHSUFB J QVXZ
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26
ABCDEFGHI J KLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
9 6 5 20 15 17 14 22 4 8 10 3 7
16 23 13 18 11 18 11 19 24 12 25
1
26
There was no punctuation and the recipient
had to use judgment in forming the words of the actual message.
Nevertheless, we are informed that there were very few errors on
this account.
The very patriotic and rousing
words put to Daniel D. Emmett’s minstrel song, “Dixie” by General
Albert Pike, C.S.A., are recorded in
TO ARMS! TO ARMS! IN DIXIE!
xiii
An admittedly brief description of how the game of faro was
played is given in
RANGELAND HERCULES.
xiv
Information regarding the Williams rapid-fire gun is given
in
THE REBEL
SPY.
xv
The use to which one Agar Coffee Mill gun was to be put is
told in
THE
DEVIL GUN.
xvi
How Belle Boyd was later brought into contact with a
Vandenburg Volley
Gun is told in
THE COLT AND THE SABRE.
xvii
What the scheme was and how it came to be implemented is
told in
THE
DEVIL GUN.