Mississippi Raider
Page 19
“I knew you would, my dear,” the expert replied. “And good luck to you.”
“Ah, Belle,” Rose greeted as the girl entered her room. She was holding a sheet of paper and looked grim. “I was just about to send for you—!”
“I know where Tollinger and Barmain are,” Belle interrupted before her aunt could say any more. ‘They’re less than five miles away, at Grunion!”
“And this information has to be taken to our people in Annapolis as quickly as possible,” Rose pointed out, aware that the town she named was in the opposite direction to where her niece mentioned. “It’s in the opposite direction to Grunion.”
“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 all 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!”
Appendix
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 abo
ut 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.
xi
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.
xviii According to the world’s foremost fictionist genealogist, Philip Jose Farmer—author of, among numerous other works, TARZAN ALIVE, the Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke, and DOC SAVAGE, His Apocalyptic Life—with whom we have consulted, Belle Boyd was the grand-aunt of Jane, Lady Greystoke, nee Porter, whose biography is recorded in the TARZAN OF THE APES series by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
xix An epee de combat is used mainly for thrusting and the saber was originally intended chiefly for slashing from the back of a horse.
xx One incident in Rose Greenhow’s career is recorded in: KILL DUSTY FOG!
xxi Told in THE COLT AND THE SABRE and THE REBEL SPY.
xxii Told in THE BLOODY BORDER. Details of Captain Dustine Edward Marsden “Dusty” Fog’s and the Ysabel Kid’s careers are given in the Civil War and Floating Outfit series.
xxiii Told in BACK TO THE BLOODY BORDER.
xxiv Told in THE HOODED RIDERS.
xxv Information regarding the career of Martha “Calamity Jane” Canary is to be found in the Calamity Jane series and she makes “guest” appearances in Part One, ‘The Bounty on Belle Starr’s Scalp’; TROUBLED RANGE; its “expansion,” CALAMITY, MARK AND BELLE; Part One, ‘Better Than Calamity,’ THE WILDCATS; THE BAD BUNCH; THE FORTUNE HUNTERS; Part Six, ‘Mrs. Wild Bill,’ J.T.’S LADIES; Part Four, ‘Draw Poker’s Such a Simple Game,’ J. T.’S LADIES RIDE AGAIN (“costarring” with the lady outlaw Belle Starr); Part Seven, ‘Deadwood, August the 2nd, 1876,’ J. T.’S HUNDEDTH; Part Four, ‘A Wife for Dusty Fog,’ THE SMALL TEXAN and GUNS IN THE NIGHT.
xxvi Belle Starr makes “guest” appearances in RANGELAND HERCULES; THE BAD BUNCH; DIAMONDS, EMERALDS, CARDS AND COLTS; THE CODE OF DUSTY FOG; THE GENTLE GIANT; HELL IN THE PALO DURO; GO BACK TO HELL; Part Four, ‘A Lady Known As Belle,’ THE HARD RIDERS; Part Two, ‘We Hang Horse Thieves High,’ J. T.’S HUNDREDTH and Part Six, ‘Mrs. Wild Bill,’ J. T.’S LADIES. The circumstances of her death are told in GUNS IN THE NIGHT.
The lady outlaw “stars,” no pun intended, in WANTED! BELLE STARR.
We are frequently asked why it is the “Belle Starr” we describe is so different from a photograph that appears in various boots. The researches of Philip Jose Farmer, q.v., have established the lady for whom we are biographer is not the same person as another equally famous bearer of the name. However, the Counter family has asked Mr. Farmer and ourselves to keep her true identity a secret and this we intend to do.
xxvii Told in THE BAD BUNCH.
xxviii Told in TO ARMS! TO ARMS! IN DIXIE and THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN.
“Floating outfit”: a group of four to six cowhands employed by a large ranch to work the more distant sections of the property. Taking food in a chuck wagon, or “greasy sack” on the back of a mule, they would be away from the ranch house for long periods and so were selected for their honesty, loyalty, reliability, and capability in all aspects of their work. Because of the owner of the OD Connected ranch, General Jackson Baines “Ole Devil” Hardin’s prominence in the affairs of Texas, members of its floating outfit were frequently sent to assist such of his friends who found themselves in difficulties or endangered.
Details of the career of General Jackson Baines “Ole Devil” Hardin are given in the Ole Devil Hardin, Civil War and Floating Outfit series; also Part Four, ‘Mr. Colt’s Revolving Cylinder Pistol,’ J. T.’S HUNDREDTH. His death is reported in DOC LEROY, M.D.
xxix Told in SET A-FOOT.
xxx Told in THE QUEST FOR BOWIE’S BLADE.
xxxi Told in THE REMITTANCE KID and THE WHIP AND THE WAR LANCE.
The researches of Philip Jose Farmer, q.v., have established that Captain Patrick Reeder (later Major General Sir, K.C.B, VC, D.S.O., MC and Bar) was the uncle of the celebrated British detective, Mr. Jeremiah Golden Reeder, whose biography appears in ROOM 13, THE MIND OF MR. J. G. REEDER, RED ACES, MR. J. G. REEDER RETURNS, THE GUVNOR and TERROR KEEP by Edgar Wallace. Mr. Jeremiah Golden Reeder’s organization plays a prominent part in the events we recorded as “CAP” FOG, TEXAS RANGER, MEET MR. J. G. REEDER; THE RETURN OF RAPIDO CLINT AND MR. J. G. REEDER and RAPIDO CLINT STRIKES BACK.
xxxii Told in Part Five, ‘The Butcher’s Fiery End,’ J. T.’S LADIES.
Some other activities of the very competent British lady criminal Amelia Penelope Diana “Benkers” Benkinsop during her visit to the United States in the mid-1870s are recorded in BEGUINAGE IS DEAD! and Part Three, ‘Birds of a Feather,’ WANTED! BELLE STARR. Information about a descendant of the above “Benkers”—who also followed the family tradition of retaining the full name regardless of who the father might be—Miss Amelia Penelope Diana Benkinsop, G. C, M.A., B.Sc. (Oxon.), owner of Benkinsop’s Academy for the Daughters of Gentlefolk in England, is given in BLONDE GENIUS; Part One, ‘Fifteen The Hard Way,’ J. T.’S LADIES and Part Two, ‘A Case of Blackmail,’ J. T.’S LADIES RIDE AGAIN. BLONDE GENIUS is the rarest of our books.