The Floating Outfit 39, page 19
‘Whooee!’ Dusty breathed. ‘I don’t ever want to be put that close into jeopardy again!’
Walking forward, with his re-cocked Colts ready for use if they should be needed, the small Texan only required a brief look to know they would not be,
‘Beguinage is dead!’ Dusty thought, studying the motionless figure. ‘A lot of folk’ll be able to sleep easier in their beds from now on.’
Yet, even as he was making the summation, the small Texan knew his work was not ended. There were others who wanted the Crown Prince Rudolph killed. However, still looking down, he told himself that—with Beguinage dead—the greatest threat had been brought to an end.
Details of how the Crown Prince of Bosgravnia fared against his enemies can be read in:
BEGUINAGE IS DEAD!
About the Author
J.T. Edson was a former British Army dog-handler who wrote more than 130 Western novels, accounting for some 27 million sales in paperback. Edson’s works - produced on a word processor in an Edwardian semi at Melton Mowbray - contain clear, crisp action in the traditions of B-movies and Western television series. What they lack in psychological depth is made up for by at least twelve good fights per volume. Each portrays a vivid, idealized “West That Never Was”, at a pace that rarely slackens.
The Floating Outfit Series by J. T. Edson
The Ysabel Kid
.44 Caliber Man
A Horse Called Mogollon
Goodnight’s Dream
From Hide and Horn
Set Texas Back on Her Feet
The Hide and Tallow Men
The Hooded Riders
Quiet Town
Trail Boss
Wagons to Backsight
Troubled Range
Sidewinder
Rangeland Hercules
McGraw’s Inheritance
The Half-Breed
White Indians
Texas Kidnappers
The Wildcats
The Bad Bunch
The Fast Gun
Cuchilo
A Town Called Yellowdog
Trigger Fast
The Trouble Busters
The Making of a Lawman
Decision for Dusty Fog
Cards and Colts
The Code of Dusty Fog
The Gentle Giant
Set A-Foot
The Law of the Gun
The Peacemakers
To Arms! To Arms, In Dixie!
Hell in the Palo Duro
Go Back to Hell
The South Will Rise Again
The Quest for Bowie’s Blade
Beguinage
... And more to come every month!
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1 How this came about is told in GOODNIGHT’S DREAM and FROM HIDE AND HORN.
2 ‘Kicker’: in the terminology of draw poker, to hold a third card—usually an ace or a king—with a pair as an aid to improving the value of the hand. The odds against the draw making up even two pairs are five to one and those of producing a greater improvement are proportionately higher. An explanation of the relative value of poker hands is given in TWO MILES TO THE BORDER.
3 ‘Inside’ straight’: one which has a card missing from the sequence; i.e. 2.3.5.6. The odds against ‘filling’ the straight are eleven to one.
4 ‘Four flush’: self-explanatory; a hand containing only four cards of one suit. The odds against obtaining the fifth on the draw are 4.5 to 1.
5 Why Francisco Castro no longer ran his cantina, which was still a notorious den of thieves, is told in THE BADBUNCH.
6 ‘Full house’: three of a kind and a pair; i.e. 999-33. Beats everything from a flush down. The odds against receiving one on the deal are 693 to 1.
7 Some authorities advocate discarding the smaller pair and drawing three cards. The odds against improvement are then the same as when taking three cards to a single pair: making a second two pair hand, 5.25 to 1; three of a kind, 8 to 1; full house, 97 to 1; four of a kind, 359 to 1. These odds only apply when no ‘wild’ cards, which can be used in place of whatever is needed, are being played. When wild cards are permitted, calculating the odds is practically impossible.
8 One occasion is described in THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN.
9 The previous occasion is described in HELL IN THE PALO DURO.
10 In 1872, after long deliberations, an international committee sitting in judgment on what became known as the Alabama’ Arbitration Tribunal had ruled in favor of the United States of America. For allowing Confederate States’ naval cruisers such as the Alabama, Florida and Shenandoah to be built in and operate from their ports, as well has having been involved in other activities which had been detrimental to the Union’s cause, the Government of Great Britain had been ordered to pay compensation of $15,500,000 to the U.S.A. So, for many years after, the U.S. Congress trod very warily where Britain’s interests were concerned. In fact, although as is told in THE QUEST FOR BOWIE’S BLADE, Belle Boyd, q.v., had recently been in Texas, she was at that time engaged in another preventive measure, which is told in THE REMITTANCE KID and THE WHIP AND THE WAR LANCE.
11 Nemenuh: ‘The People’, the Comanches’ name for their nation.
12 Jefferson Davis (1808-89), U.S. statesman and President of the Confederate States of America from 1862 to 1865.
13 Set down, also known as being set a-foot; the worst disgrace that could happen to a cowhand. Usually if one was fired and he did not own a horse, his erstwhile employer would loan him one so he could ride off in search of another job. If the circumstances of his dismissal were sufficiently bad, such a loan would be refused and other potential employers would fight shy of taking him on.
14 Mark Counter’s meeting with Beatrice, Vicomtesse de Brioude, is told in A HORSE CALLED MOGOLLON.
15 Manadero: the Spanish-Mexican term for the master stallion in a herd of wild horses.
16 How this came about is told in THE YSABEL KID.
17 How this knowledge was acquired is told in THE MAKING OF A LAWMAN and THE TROUBLE BUSTERS.
18 This trait is illustrated in THE RIO HONDO KID.
19 Told in THE REBEL SPY.
20 Bred for centuries in the Far East as a pond and ornamental species, the goldfish, Carassius Auratus (L), was first brought to Portugal in the early 1600s, spreading from there to the rest of Europe and, eventually, to the United States of America. The first purely American variety, the long-tailed, fast-swimming ‘comet’ was first produced during the 1880s in ponds near Washington, D.C.
21 Introduced in 1873 as the Colt Model P ‘Single Action Army’ revolver, but more frequently referred to as the ‘Peacemaker’, production was continued until 1941 when it was taken out of line to make way for the more modem military weapons required in World War II. Over three hundred and fifty thousand were manufactured in practically every handgun caliber—with the exception of the .41 and .44 Magnum, which did not come on the scene during the production period—from .22 Short rimfire to .476 Eley. However, the majority fired either the .45, or the .44.40 which allowed the same ammunition to be used in the Winchester Model of 1873 rifle. The barrels were from three inches in the ‘Storekeeper’ Model—which did not have an extractor rod—to the sixteen inches of the so-called ‘Buntline Special’. The latter was offered with a detachable metal skeleton butt so it could be used as a carbine. The main barrel lengths were: Cavalry, seven-and-a-half inches; Artillery, five-and-a-half inches; Civilian, four-and-three-quarter inches. Popular demand, said to have been caused by the upsurge of action-escapism-adventure Western series on television, brought the Peacemaker back into production in 1955 and it is still in the line.
22 Although the military sometimes claimed derisively that it was harder to kill a soldier than a sailor, the weight factor of the respective weapons had accused the naval authorities’ decision to employ a revolver of .36 and not .44 caliber. The weapon would be carried on a seaman’s belt and not—handguns having originally and primarily been developed for use by cavalry—on the person, or saddle, of a man who would do most of his travelling on the back of a horse. Therefore, .36 became known as the ‘Navy’ caliber.
23 Tehnap: an experienced warrior. An adolescent boy is a tuinep, a young brave a tuivitsi and an old mat a tsukup. As with the word Pehnane, these are the nearest phonetic spellings of the Comanche language.
24 Told in RANGELAND HERCULES.
25 An example of this is given in OLE DEVIL AND THE CAPLOCKS. The family continued to retain their prominence through the Prohibition era (1919-33) as is explained by inference in ‘CAP’ FOG AND J. G. REEDER, up until the present day.
26 Gasogene: A figure 8-shaped glass vessel, the upper part fitted with a handle and nozzle like a modern day soda siphon. Gas generated by a mixture of acid crystals and soda passed from the upper into the lower chamber, which was three parts filled with water. This was aerated and used to mix with drinks.
27 Told in BACK TO THE BLOODY BORDER.
28 After an abortive attempt in 1858, the first successful telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean became operable in 1866 and a second, partially laid on the previous year was also brought into use. A third cable, linking the United States of America with France, was put down in 1869. Only fifteen letters a minute could be sent over the first cable and the minimum cost of a message was one hundred dollars. However, by the time of this narrative, in spite of every message needing to be handled by six different operators, the service had speeded up. According to Alvin Dustine ‘Cap’ Fog’s researches, Turtle’s message had been, ‘Wish to buy Beguinage ferret, what is ability, bloodline. If not known, consult European agents.’
29 The ‘Ox’; Octavius Xavier Guillemot, see THE QUEST FOR BOWIE’S BLADE.
30 ‘Cowtown’; the colloquial name for Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas, at which Rameses ‘Ram’ Turtle currently had his headquarters.
31 See CAPONE: THE LIFE AND WORLD OF AL CAPONE, by John Kobler, Michael Joseph Ltd., London, 1972.
32 One example is given in the ‘Little Throat-Cutter’ episode of CUCHILO.
33 Told in A TOWN CALLED HATE.
34 Chicano: a native of Texas who was of Spanish, or Mexican, parentage.
35 ‘Lit a shuck’: left, generally hurriedly. In trail drive, round up and other night camps, ‘shucks’—dried corn cobs from which the grains had been removed—were available to supply illumination for anybody who had to leave the firelight and walk in the darkness. As the ‘shuck’ burned quickly, a person using one had to move fast if he wanted to benefit from the light it gave.
36 ‘Made wolf bait’: cowhand term meaning to kill. Derived from the practice of shooting an animal and, having poisoned the carcass, leaving it as a means of ridding a range of wolves.
37 Soft-shell, derogatory name for a liberal-intellectual.
38 ‘Wellington boot’: used in this context, not the modern rubber, waterproof variety, but the style of footwear—with the legs extending to knee-level at the front and cut lower at the rear—made popular during the Napoleonic Wars by Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1769-1852).
39 The author does not claim that this conversation was the basis of the joke told by the late—details of his death are given in THE PROFESSIONAL KILLERS—Deputy Sheriff Thomas Cord, of the Rockabye County Sheriff’s Office, which is recorded in Part One, ‘The Sixteen Dollar Shooter’ of THE SIXTEEN-DOLLAR SHOOTER, but it could be.
40 The faction supported by Charlene, Comtesse de Petain and Alex von Farlenheim were opposed to the reforms, which would reduce their domination over the working classes, and the liberal-intellectuals had no wish for a beneficial regime as this would reduce their chances of stirring up the population against the ruler and Government as a prelude to gaining control themselves.
41 And had not forgotten how to carry out, as is shown in BEGUINAGE IS DEAD!
42 ‘Saint’: a cowhand who is conscientious and loyal to his employer.
43 If Dusty Fog had been aware of the situation for which Governor Stanton Howard had required the services of the floating outfit and had anticipated the developments he would have brought along the walnut handles with which his Peacemakers had been equipped on leaving the Colt factory, or the 1860 Army revolvers and their holsters—interchangeable with the pair on his belt—that had been his current weapons’ predecessors, as an aid to his disguise.
44 According to ‘Cap’ Fog, the return message had been, ‘Beguinage ferret best of its kind. Bloodline not known.’
45 ‘Mount’: the Texan’s name for the horses allocated to a cowhand for the performance of his duties. In the Northern cattle-raising States, these are referred to as a ‘string’.
46 Because of its Mexican connotations, being derived from the Spanish word, cincha, Texans prefer the word ‘girth’—pronouncing it ‘girt’—and not ‘cinch’ for the short, broad band of coarsely woven horsehair, canvas, or cordage, strap, terminating at each end with a metal ring, which together with the latigo fastens the saddle on a horse’s back.
47 Details of another and later Rapido Clint’s career are given in ‘CAP’ FOG AND J. G. REEDER.
48 Pistolero valiente: an exceptionally competent gunfighter, mostly one who sold his skill to the highest bidder.
49 None of them ever found out. Having given an assurance to Rameses Turtle that he would neither disclose nor make use of any confidential information he received, unless it pertained to Beguinage or other assassination bids, Dusty Fog kept his word. The insight he undoubtedly gained into the criminal circles of Texas has never been divulged even to the other members of his family circle.
50 Even in law-abiding circles, anywhere west of the Mississippi River, a person was at liberty to select another name than his or her own to use. The only acceptable way to state disbelief was to inquire, ‘Is that your summer name?’
51 ‘Sharpshooter’: used in this context, a sniper. The latter term had not yet come into usage.
52 Like most top grade gunfighters, Dusty Fog loaded his own ammunition. To reduce the danger to innocent bystanders, he reduced the amount of powder in those cartridges which might have to be discharged while in the confines of a town.
53 Subsequent investigations proved that the anarchists who had hired Oscar Schindler considered letting the assassination be obvious murder would strengthen their cause. They intended to accuse the aristocratic faction of having arranged Crown Prince Rudolph’s death to prevent the liberal changes in the laws he was planning from being ratified.
54 On June the 27th, 1874, the Battle of Adobe Walls was terminated after a bullet from a Sharps ‘Buffalo’ rifle in the hands of scout and guide Billy Dixon killed a mounted Indian warrior over a distance of what was later measured at one thousand, five hundred and thirty-eight yards.
55 Why this was is told in BEGUINAGE IS DEAD!
56 Spear point: one where the sharpened edges of the blade come together in symmetrical convex arcs. A less utilitarian point than the ‘clip’, q.v., being mainly used on knives designed purely for fighting rather than general purposes.
57 Curare: a highly poisonous blackish, brittle resinous extract of certain South American trees of the genus Strychnos, particularly S. Toxlfera. Sometimes called, woorali or urare, it is exceptionally fast acting and used by the native Indians as an arrow poison. The author has been unable to discover from where Beguinage obtained his supply.
J.T. Edson, The Floating Outfit 39
