Fort Hays Bustout (A Searcher Western Book 9) by Len Levinson

Author:Len Levinson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: the old west, sioux indians, john stone, 7th cavalry, the wild west, len levinson, general custer, josh edwards, us frontier life, ebook westerns, fort hays, westerns online
Publisher: Piccadilly Publishing

Chapter Six

Stone ate breakfast in the Headquarters Company mess hall, a wood-slatted building with rows of long tables lined up on either side of the aisle. The meal consisted of fried hardtack with molasses, bacon, and muffins. The bacon tasted rancid. A baked maggot resided in the muffin. The coffee was thick as mud and evil as Jezebel.

His table was jammed with grumbling sleepy soldiers, some with hangovers, in various stages of uniform regulation. Except for an occasional request for the sugar or salt, they said little.

Stone evaluated them with a professional eye. They’d joined for adventure, or couldn’t find work on the outside, and ended at this remote little fort in the middle of nowhere. They had nothing to hope for except discharge, and not much could be expected of them. He dropped his plate at the dishwasher’s sink, walked outside, and spotted an officer with the bronze leaf insignia of a major on his shoulder boards.

“Don’t I know you?” the major asked.

“We met at West Point, sir. John Stone.”

“I’ll be damned!” Major Reno took a step backward and looked at the ex-cadet. “It’s you, isn’t it, Johnny?”

“It’s me, all right.”

Scheduled to graduate with the class of 1855, Reno didn’t get out until 1857, when Stone was a freshman. Reno accumulated 1,032 demerits – a West Point record.

“What’re you doing here, Johnny?”

“Hired to scout for the regiment.”

“Worked as a scout before? I don’t mean to be rude, but the general appoints family and friends to jobs they’re not qualified to handle. You and he were quite close at the Point, isn’t that so?”

“We were friends, if that’s what you mean.”

“Unfortunately I wasn’t a friend of his, and he treats me like dirt. He’s a blowhard and a showpiece, yet he’s in command while far better men languish in the lower grades, because they didn’t know the right newspaper reporter.” Major Reno leaned closer to Stone and narrowed his right eye. “There’s a plot to keep me down, and Custer’s at the root of it. The man resents me, because I know how stupid and incompetent he really is.”

Major Reno paused, a knowing smirk on his face, waiting for Stone to respond, but Stone didn’t say a word. He thought Reno was mad, and he was Custer’s second in command? How did this lunatic manage to stay in the army?

“Custer knows how I feel about him,” Major Reno said. “I don’t care, really. And the feeling is mutual, I assure you. I won’t hold it against you, that you’re his friend. May we always cherish the happy days we had together when we were cadets at the Point.”

Major Reno propelled himself toward the officers’ mess, while Stone resumed his walk. How could Custer go into battle with an officer like Major Reno? Stone approached Custer’s house, the door opened, General Custer stepped out, wearing his black hat and buckskin suit, dogs yapping at his heels.

“You look a little pale this morning, Johnny. Anything wrong?”

“I just ran into Major Reno.”

“He’s enough to ruin anybody’s day.

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