The Floating Outfit 37 by J.T. Edson

Author:J.T. Edson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: texas, historical ebook, belle boyd, piccadilly publishing, confederate spies, jt edson, the floating outfit, dusty fog, western fiction ebook
Publisher: Piccadilly

Chapter Ten – You Tried to Get Me Killed

‘This is the best we could do in the time, Captain Fog,’ apologized the plump, red-faced Albert Pieber—in the mock deprecatory tone of one who knew that he had done an excellent piece of work—as he watched the blond giant draw on the tunic which had had made during what remained of the night.

‘Happen it fits as comfortable as the breeches,’ Mark Counter answered, ‘it’ll be real fine.’

Having accepted the idea that they might be able to pass off Mark as Dusty Fog, Baroness Virginie and de Richelieu had wasted no time in implementing the scheme. De Richelieu’s questioning had satisfied him that his ‘officers’ had not told the ‘enlisted men’ of Corbeau’s mistake. Probably the Creole had had something to do with their reticence, for he had been furious over his error and in a dangerous mood. Or their silence may have stemmed from another source. Being aware of how slender a hold they had over the lower ranks of the Brotherhood, they had hesitated to let it become known that two of the ‘officers’ had been hoodwinked.

So excellent had the web of secrecy been that even Petain did not know of Mark’s true identity. Inadvertently, the young Creole had helped to divert the ‘enlisted men’s’ interest from the shooting of Roxby and Brown. As Mark and Corbeau had suspected, the young man had gone in search of the vedette who had neglected to challenge them on their arrival. After a search, Petain had located the man asleep under a tree. Going up quietly, he had taken the vedette’s rifle. Kicking the man awake, he had smashed the butt of the rifle on to his head as he rose still half-asleep. Then, leaving his victim sprawled on the ground with a fractured skull, Petain had gone to send the sergeant of the guard to collect him. The Creole’s action had been sufficient to lessen the speculation that might have otherwise been felt over the two men’s deaths.

On returning to the main house, full of his importance and efficiency, Petain had not been pleased to hear that ‘Captain Fog, was to assume command of the training schedule. However, the Creole had kept his thoughts to himself and stalked angrily off to his room.

For his part, Mark had spent a most useful and instructive couple of hours before going to the quarters which were assigned to him. He had seen something of the extent to which the Brotherhood’s preparations had advanced. Even if he had doubted it before, he had then realized just how serious a threat they might easily become.

Not only had de Richelieu been able to produce sufficient cadet-gray cloth, brass buttons, gold braid and other items to create a uniform, he had had located a weapon belt and a pair of Hessian boots for Mark to wear. Pieber and his assistant, fetched from their quarters by the Baroness, had taken their measurements and worked without stopping until they had delivered the first outfit.

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.