“You certainly are a cool and calm player. I thought that you were going to fold but you just kept going. Davidson is not going to like you from now on.” Jane told Daniel when the others had departed. “I am fairly certain that he could not afford that loss.”
“What is his first name? Everyone seemed to call him Mister Davidson.”
“That is because he is President Jefferson Davis’s political adviser. He carries a lot of clout in this government.” Jane commented.
“Surely a man like that could not be short of money?”
“Well, he can if this is not the only poker game he plays in.”
“You are saying that he is a big gambler?”
“I cannot say for sure but I have heard rumors about it.”
“Does the President know about his gambling?”
“Thaddeus Davidson has been with Jefferson Davis right from the secession, in fact, I think he recommended the succession. If Davidson was a bank robber, the President would simply accept it. Now, that’s enough about Thaddeus Davidson. Let’s get down to the real business of this night: are you coming to bed?”
The following morning Daniel allowed himself to be shaved, brushed and combed and he set out for work without awakening Jane.
He was early and Major Anson had not yet arrived. Daniel picked up his list again and studied it anew. He had not noticed it before because yesterday the name had no meaning for him, but Thaddeus Davidson’s name was second from the top of the list.
Daniel looked at his birthplace it was Bethlehem in Pennsylvania but he seemed to have done everything else in his life in the deep South. Apart from his love of gambling, Davidson appeared to be the safest bet on the list with the possible exception of Jefferson Davis himself.
Daniel put down the list and stared out of the window as he thought about it.
“Hah! Already up to the golden boy tricks, Captain Beauregard? Staring out of a window instead of getting down to work?” Major Anson jeered.
Daniel did not reply because Sergeant Basson saluted and said: “The General’s compliments, captain. Would you be so kind as to attend him?”
Daniel went in immediately.
“You wished to see me sir?”
“Have you got any further with that Absalom matter, Captain?”
“No sir, on paper everyone around the President looks to be Southerners to the core. No one has the name Absalom and no one has Jewish ancestry. The closest association I can make out is that Thaddeus Davidson was born in Bethlehem.” Daniel said with a smile. “But that is in Pennsylvania not Judaea.”
“Son, you can cross Davidson off your list. He is the President’s closest friend and confidant.”
“General, I thought that perhaps if I saw all of the people on the list I might be able to identify the name Absalom in one of them.”
“That is easily arranged. I am seeing the President this afternoon. You may accompany me as my aide. Time is running out on this matter. I am giving the President my reasons for attacking northward and I am confident that he will approve no matter what my chief of staff and the other generals say. In that event we will be marching out tomorrow. You will be with us, of course.”
Daniel was so worked up about reviewing the Presidential staff that he could hardly apply himself to anything else. Not even catching a view of Major Anson looking into his office in the hope of finding him staring out the window could motivate him to do any other work.
In due course, he took his place in the carriage carrying the General to the President’s office. The General was determined to win the President over to his point of view which was, when all was examined, no more than ‘attack is the best form of defense’.
The General went into the interview alone leaving Daniel free to wander about introducing himself to the employees and becoming acquainted with each person’s function. They received him pleasantly enough and all were willing to explain their function within the presidency. Davidson was in the meeting at the President’s side so Daniel had to make do with speaking to his male secretary, a fussy little man with an obsession about neatness and orderliness.
“Mister Davidson is meticulous in his insistence that every document that crosses his desk or is produced by him is either burnt, and the ashes pulverized, or correctly filed in his locked strong-room, depending upon its importance. He never takes documents home because he feels that they cannot be adequately protected from prying eyes. Anything that he has not read or has not yet completed is placed in his ‘in’ tray and locked in the strong-room overnight. This is our invariable procedure. I have been his secretary for the past ten years and I know his ways thoroughly. He personally sees that the president himself follows the exact same rules.”
When the General came forth from the meeting with the President his face was radiant with triumph but Daniel was none the wiser for his investigations. His best bet, Davidson, appeared to be scrupulous about security and accordingly most unlikely to be the traitor that Daniel was looking for.
“Do not worry about it any longer, my boy, we are going onto the attack once more. Tomorrow we will be on the march and the Federals will get a taste of the own medicine.”
Daniel returned to Jane’s house and ordered his bag packed.
“My sweet, where are you going?’ Jane asked in great concern.
“We are going back on the attack. The general has ordered that we march at dawn and so I have to be there tonight.”
“Ah, I shall miss having you to hold me in bed at night.” she said sadly. “Promise me that you will take great care. I do not want to lose another man to this infernal war.”
Daniel reported for duty and was immediately sent out to poll the regiments on their state of readiness. It took him most of the night to complete the task and report back to Major Anson who sat calmly in his office dozing and occasionally filling figures into the returns upon his desk.
“Sir, the Yankees get the regiments to submit their returns instead of sending out one man to collect them all.” Daniel pointed out.
“Ah, indeed so do we, captain but I felt that this would give you a good idea of what was needed, who does the work and what it was required for.” The major said smugly.
Daniel was pleased when the General arrived and called him to his side.
“Stay with me captain. I need someone I can rely on to be on hand when troubles arise.”
All that day Daniel stayed beside General Lee carrying orders to the brigades and gathering reports on any matter on which the General needed answers.
Moving an entire army is slow work even when the army was in readiness for such a move. Daniel watched the swathes of men marching, pulling and pushing wagons and cannon, loading and unloading supplies and ultimately setting up camp having moved but fifteen miles. In the course of the day, Daniel must have ridden those fifteen miles at least ten times. He was exhausted. He forwent supper, collapsed onto his blanket and slept until reveille was sounded.
At breakfast he ate like a trencherman and was out on the road as the sun peeped over the horizon.
The general said: “Captain, take a look at this map. This is the way that I want to go but no-one can tell me if these roads can handle the heavy traffic I am going to put on them. I am particularly worried about these two bridges. I know you are not an engineer but I value your common sense. Take a look at the road up to this point where I intend to stop for the night and then make certain that the road ahead of that does not have any problems for us.”
Daniel rode out and inspected the two bridges. Both would need attention by the engineers but were otherwise sound. He checked the road beyond the proposed night stop and found one point where the engineers would have to blast away an overhang that would obstruct the wagons. He wondered why the general had not sent out engineers ahead of them to provide a much more profess
ional assessment.
He reported back to the General explaining each of his proposals.
“Don’t worry too much about it my boy. You see I was an army engineer at one time in my career so I like to have the engineers think that I have personally surveyed the route and have an idea of what needs to be done before I send them out. It is just an old man’s vanity.”
The army continued to move on for some days before the General decided that he was in a position to commence his attack.
He started to assault the Yankee town, which was deemed to be undefended except for a small garrison only to be met with a counter-attack from a full division.
It was only with Lee’s brilliant defensive moves that disaster was staved off and the enemy pushed back out of the town but at the next town exactly the same situation pertained.
“Captain,” General Lee said to Daniel privately. “We have to do something about Absalom. It is clear to me that my entirely plan of action has been passed to the Federals otherwise they could not have been in position to oppose me. I shall be amending my plans and detaching you. I want you to go back to Richmond and give the Presidency whatever story you are able to concoct that will display to you the identity of this traitor. I cannot disclose this plan to the President for fear that the very person we are trying to catch will get to hear of it so you will have to tread very carefully until the matter is resolved. All I can do for you is to provide you with this document that attests that you are acting for me on a secret mission. I wish you God speed and success to your endeavors.”
Daniel rode away from the front lines and headed back to Richmond. He made the return in very few days since he did not have to drag the army with him.
“Oh my darling, you are back!” Jane exclaimed as soon as she saw him. “What a lovely surprise! Is the war over so quickly?”
“I fear not, my dear. I have been ordered back by the General on a confidential matter. I will have to make an appointment to see the President tomorrow.”
“You will be able to arrange your appointment this evening. I have been invited to dinner at the home of Mister Thaddeus Davidson. I shall send him a note to say that you are returned and I am sure that he will extend the invitation to you also.”
“Thank you that will be helpful.” Daniel knew that the President would amend his diary at Davidson’s request.
Jane immediately penned the note to Davidson and sent off a servant to the Davidson household.
“Come my darling, we have a few hours before we have to be there. Let us go up to my bedchamber and celebrate your safe return.” Jane said taking his hand and towing him to the stairs.
Chapter Seventeen
They arrived, a trifle late, for the dinner which was intended to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Davidson’s marriage.
Daniel was immediately surrounded by the other guests all seeking the latest news of the conflict.
Davidson urged them all into the dining room where the dinner commenced with Daniel still fielding questions from the diners.
During the meal, whenever possible, Jane took Daniel’s hand and caressed his leg and whispered ‘I love you’ in his ear.
When the dinner was completed and after a number of speeches and toasts the gentlemen moved to Davidson’s study for cigars and cognac or corn whisky according to taste. Davidson suggested a game of poker and most of the guests were willing.
Daniel followed his usual practice of watching the cards for a while before starting to play and so he wandered around the study looking at the many fine leather-bound books in Davidson’s collection while the cards were collected and the card table set up and chairs were gathered for the players.
The draw for the first dealer had just commenced when Daniel’s eye fell upon a book lying upon the floor close to the chair and hidden to frontal view by the pedestal of the desk. It had been published by Box and Letterman and it was a large-type Bible in the King James Version.
No sooner did Daniel see this than the thought came into his head: Who was King David’s son? Absalom! So Davidson equaled Absalom: it was so obvious that he did not comprehend why he had not seen it earlier.
Now the big problem was how to bring this particular drama to its proper conclusion.
He would have to think this through later when his mind was not blurred by alcohol, so he set his consciousness on the cards and began to mentally record every one that was exposed on the card table. With fourteen cards exposed at every game it took him but five or six games to record the pack. When the cards were shuffled the order of some of the subsets was disturbed but that rarely made a difference to order within the sets, so that if Daniel saw the King of Hearts come up he could be fairly certain of what cards were likely to follow it and if they did, he would know that the particular subset was more or less intact. This gave him and enormous advantage over the other players who merely accepted the cards they received without any cognition of what cards might be held by the other players.
When one of the players withdrew from the game complaining that his luck had deserted him, Daniel took his chair.
As was usual for him he played quietly throwing in his hand early in the game and thereby losing minimal stakes until he received a hand that he could play and was satisfied that no other player was likely to have a better hand. He watched quietly while Davidson pushed up the ante and began to try to buy himself the game. Daniel merely met the betting and waited until Davidson asked to see him and offered a note-of-hand for the amount. Then Daniel presented his cards and took the pot.
“Captain Beauregard is a very capable player. I have played with him before. He never seems to win at all until the pot is at its biggest then in a single move he takes the lot.” Davidson remarked good-humoredly, although there was sweat on his temples on this cool evening.
“Your luck certainly seems to be in, captain.” Another commented.”You’ve cleaned us all out.”
“Let us rejoin the ladies.” Another suggested.
The group rose and began to return to the drawing room where the ladies were waiting.
Davidson caught Daniel’s arm as he was gathering up the money.
“Captain may I ask you to give me until the month end to settle the note? I find myself a trifle short at the moment.”
In normal circumstances, Daniel would have agreed but inwardly he was seething over the proof he had received that Davidson was the traitor. He was also heated by liquor to which he was not well accustomed.
“I fear not, Mister Davidson. I do not accommodate traitors!” Daniel said pointing unambiguously at the Bible on the floor. He turned on his heels and walked to the drawing room where Jane was waiting for his return.
“Whatever is the matter darling? Everyone says that you were the big winner! Why are you looking so angry and upset?” She put her arms around him as if to soothe him.
Just then Davidson stormed into the room holding a cocked pistol in each hand.
“Beauregard! You will never live to prove it!” Davidson shouted as he raised a pistol and pointed it at Daniel. Jane glanced over her shoulder and saw the cocked pistol pointed at Daniel’s chest she moved over to protect him just as Davidson pulled the trigger. The bullet entered her back and penetrated her heart.
A man dived at Davidson’s right hand and sent the gun spinning to Daniel’s feet. Daniel laid Jane down and picked up the pistol firing it from the floor. The bullet entered under Davidson’s chin and blew away the top of his skull even as he raised his left hand.
“Damnation! What on earth came over Davidson?” One man asked, as the women were hurried from the room.
“I’ve seen sore losers before but never like this!” Another commented.
“What was he talking about ‘you’ll never live to prove it’? Captain Beauregard, did you accuse him of cheating?”
�
��Don’t be a fool, John, Davidson lost and Beauregard won. If Thaddeus had accused Beauregard of cheating it might have made sense but we all saw the Beauregard did nothing that could be regarded as cheating. He was not the dealer, Davidson was.”
‘Well sir,” John Hammond, who was a magistrate, said to Daniel. “Are you able to tell us why Davidson should have attacked you in such a manner?”
“Mister Hammond if there was a reason it would have had to do with the Presidency and I am unable to venture a guess until I have first discussed it with the President.”
“May I help you with Mrs Arbuthnot’s body, Captain?” Hammond suggested. “I am sorry for your loss. She was very much in love with you as we could all see. I believe that she saved your life. She moved her body to shield you from Davidson’s bullet.”
They carried her body out to the carriage.
“I think that I shall not return inside, Mr Hammond, please convey my apologies to the guests. I cannot think of what I could possibly say to poor Mrs Davidson: it was her wedding anniversary.”
“Do not give it another thought, sir. You could not have done otherwise. You may well have done the poor woman a favor. How much worse would it have been for her to have her husband live to be tried for attempted murder and manslaughter? There were too many highly credible witnesses for the outcome to have been anything other than disastrous for her. If I know the President he will be kind and generous to her. whatever her husband did it was no fault of hers.”
Daniel rode back to Jane’s house alongside her body in the carriage. The servants were in turmoil when the coachman informed them of what happened as reported to him by the Davidson servants.
Daniel locked himself in his assigned bed chamber, in which he had yet to sleep, and spent the night in sorrowful contemplation of his short time with Jane.
The Texican Way Page 13
