Devil's Backbone: The Modoc War, 1872-3 by Terry C. Johnston

Author:Terry C. Johnston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Chapter 21

Shining Leaf Moon

Captain Jack waited impatiently with four others at the white man’s tent in the meadow. Boston Charley trotted up.

“They’re coming!” he said breathlessly, pointing back up the trail.

Jack turned casually and bent over to retie his cracked boots. That was the signal he had given to the two warriors hiding in the brush less than a hundred feet away, telling them all was going according to plan and the white men were approaching.

Sloluck grinned at Barncho. They had come here in the cold darkness before dawn to get into position, each with an armload of rifles, before the soldiers in the lookout tower could see movement come first light. Here the pair had shivered through the entire morning, waiting. Barncho grinned his slow-witted grin. Soon enough the shooting would start.

Jack straightened. He glanced over the rest. There was one killer assigned to each of the peace talkers. And each killer would have a backup to help finish off the victim.

“I will kill the soldier chief,” Ellen’s Man George said at Jack’s ear. “You do not want him—but I do want his scalp.”

“No,” Jack said, raspy. “I am chief. I will kill the soldier tyee.”

“I remember you wanted us to take this vow from you—”

Jack whirled on him, snagging his shirt. Ellen’s Man almost fell backward, so surprised was he with the chief’s assault.

“I told you—the soldier chief is mine.”

Ellen’s Man George would help Jack kill the soldier tyee.

Boston Charley and Bogus Charley had the honor of killing the “Sunday Doctor” who carried his good book wherever he went.

Schonchin John and Shacknasty Jim would see that old man Mee-Cham would not leave this meadow alive.

Dyar was to be killed by Hooker Jim, backed up by Black Jim.

Yet even Jack did not know that Scar-Faced Charley had crept through the sagebrush and lava rock to find his own hiding place. He was not here to assist in the killings. Instead, Charley had come here to keep his vow to kill any Modoc who raised a hand against Winema Riddle.

At that moment, Jack’s attention was snagged by the pounding footsteps and rustling brush. Bogus Charley burst into the meadow, a wide grin wolf-slashed across his face. “They’re here!” He ground to a chest-heaving halt before the others.

“Did they bring guns?” Hooker Jim asked impatiently.

He shook his head. “No guns. No soldiers!” He laughed. “We kill them all like squashing ticks!”

“Yes—we kill them, and the rest of the soldiers will run away. Just like the Doctor told us,” Hooker Jim reminded them.

“There!” Ellen’s Man shouted, pointing up the trail across the meadow.

Thomas and Canby appeared out of the trees, coming forward on foot at a brisk clip. The “Sunday Doctor” carried his Bible under one arm, dressed in a freshly pressed light-gray tweed suit. Canby was resplendent in his glittering buttons and braid and medals that caught the sunshine still draping the meadow in light despite the gathering clouds.

Jack wanted that coat. Perhaps more than anything he had wanted in a long, long time—he wanted the soldier chief’s coat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.