Cooper could have leaped for joy when his canoe left the small tributary they had been navigating and sailed out onto the brown waters of the Mississippi River. He looked left and right, hoping to see another boat. His hopes were dashed when he realized they were all alone.
"God be praised, we've made it," said Rose, turning her head to look up at the clear blue sky.
"Any idea where we are?" asked Cooper.
Rose shook her head. "No, sorry."
Hawkins hurried to catch up to his compatriots. "Captain, Joe says he thinks he knows where we are."
"And where might that be?" said Cooper.
"I done sailed up and down the river for years with my father and Master Legrand," explained Joe. "He called the river the big muddy."
Cooper raised a hand. "Joe, please, I'm tired. Can you tell me where we are?"
"I think we be about five miles north of our old warehouse. You done been there, Captain. That be where we found the bodies of Master Andrew and Miss Willow."
"Thanks, Joe. Any idea how long it'll take us to reach the warehouse?"
"It shouldn't take us more than two hours."
Rose reached back and placed a hand on her sleeping husband. "Did you hear that, Louis? Just two more hours and this nightmare will be over."
"Until we reach Mercy Plantation we're still in danger," said Cooper. "So, let's keep moving. Our traps may or may not have slowed Taylor down. Either way, we can't let our guard down."
"Captain, since Joe knows his way down the river, why don't we take the lead," suggested Hawkins.
"By all means, lead on." Cooper waited for the other boat to get a few lengths in front of them before placing his paddle in the water. With an end to their struggle only a matter of hours away, all of the aches and pains he felt throughout his body didn't seem to bother him as much anymore.
"There, do you see 'em?" said Blondie, ducking down so Taylor could see past him.
Taylor leaned to one side and peered into the distance. To him, they looked like a pair of logs floating downstream with the current. But the one thing he had learned over the years was to trust his younger comrade's eyesight. If he said he saw them, that was more than good enough for him.
"How far ahead do you reckon they are?" asked Taylor.
"Four, maybe five hundred yards."
"Then we've got 'em," said Moses, sounding excited. He brought his Bible to his chest. "In the good book it says 'and there came a voice to him, Peter, rise; kill and eat.'"
"Eat we shall," said Taylor. "Come on, my brothers, let's pick up the pace and catch them bastards before they run into some Yankees and spoil our day."
Blondie thrust his paddle into the water and pulled back hard. The canoe surged ahead.
The men in the other boats let out a loud yell and raced after their fleeing prey.
Rose took her paddle out of the water for a moment to rest her weary arms. She wiped the sweat from her brow and looked back at Cooper. Her eyes widened the instant she saw their pursuers, paddling as fast as they could to catch them.
"Captain, look!" said Rose, pointing behind them.
Cooper turned his head and swore. He could see the three canoes closing in on them. They were no more than three hundred yards away and getting closer by the second. Cooper got up on one knee, thrust his paddle into the water, and pulled back as hard as he could. He gritted his teeth and willed his boat to move faster.
A shot rang out.
"They're shooting at us," cried Rose as she ducked down.
"They're wasting bullets. They won't hit a thing from that distance," replied Cooper.
Hawkins alerted by the gunfire saw the cannibals approaching and rowed as fast as he could. Ahead, the river turned to the left. In seconds, all four people rowing were covered in sweat as their muscles strained with each pull on their paddles.
Another shot cut through the air. The bullet landed harmlessly behind Cooper's canoe. He knew it was just a matter of time before Taylor's people got within rifle range. Once that happened, they were finished. For a few seconds, when they sailed around the curve in the river, the trees lining the riverbank provided them with some protection.
"Captain, the General Bragg," hollered Hawkins as the beached paddlewheel boat came into view.
"Row for the Bragg," replied Cooper. Without any weapons and with the severely injured pastor to slow them down, even if they made it shore, they wouldn't make it more than one hundred yards before they were gunned down. He resolved to fight Taylor and his murderous gang to the death while everyone else got away.
The whip-like crack of a bullet flying over his head made Cooper duck. As they got closer to the boat, Cooper saw it was, at least, two hundred feet long and had twin paddlewheels, one on either side of the ship. It had two tall black funnels and consisted of two decks above the waterline. Metal plates covered the front of the riverboat. A gun mount sat silently on the foredeck. Its gun, years ago, had been confiscated by the Union Army. They rowed down the length of the ship and came to a sudden stop at the back of the vessel.
"We have seconds before they're on us," said Cooper. "Joe, you have to take Mrs. Melancon and the pastor ashore. Sergeant Hawkins and I will stay here to buy you time to escape." As soon as he finished speaking, Cooper reached up and pulled himself onto the aft deck of the ship.
"Hurry up, Joe," ordered Hawkins, holding the side of Rose's canoe with his hands so the young man could crawl over into the other boat. The instant Joe was in the canoe, Hawkins pushed it away from him and toward shore.
"Here," said Cooper, offering Hawkins his outstretched arm. He took it and joined his comrade on the tilted deck of the General Bragg.
"We've got seconds, so what's the plan, sir?"
"How would you board this ship?"
"From both ends at once."
"Okay then, you take the aft section of the Bragg and I'll take the stern. Let's see how many of these sons of bitches we can kill while the others get away."
At the riverbank, Rose and Joe helped carry the pastor ashore. As fast as their legs would carry them, they dragged Melancon up the steep bank and into the woods. In seconds, they were gone from sight.
"So, Captain, how do suggest we get our friends' attention?" said Hawkins.
"Like this." Cooper bent down and picked up a piece of scrap metal off the deck and edged to the side of the ship. The lead canoe with the Bearded Man sitting up front was barely a few yards away. Cooper hauled back his right arm and threw the metal as straight as he could. With a wet thud, the projectile hit the Bearded Man on the side of the head, cutting a deep gash from the top of his scalp to his left ear. Cooper jumped back out of sight just as a pistol fired in his direction.
"I think that should do it," said Cooper, holding out his hand for his comrade to shake.
Hawkins grinned and shook his colleague's hand. "Give 'em hell, sir."
"You too." Neither man expected to come out of the fight alive. They were outnumbered and other than Hawkins' knife, they did not have any weapons. The odds stacked against them were long indeed.
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