Jamie must have looked like a mountain to the man.
“I’m going to leave you with a horse pointing east, and these words of warning,” Jamie told him. “If I ever see you again, no matter what the circumstances, I will kill you where you lie, sit, squat, or stand. Is that understood?”
The man was unable to speak because of his shattered jaw, but he nodded his head vigorously.
Jamie turned his back to the man and walked out, and yet another chapter was added to the mushrooming legend of Jamie Ian MacCallister.
Fifty-two
“Any trouble in town?” Kate asked, noticing the tiny cuts on Jamie’s cheek from the flying adobe.
“Not much,” Jamie said. “I just met with some ol’ boys who came out west to see me.”
“Were they glad to see you?” Kate asked, her tone dry enough to empty a well.
“I don’t think so,” Jamie replied, washing his face and hands in a bucket of water and drying off with a rag. “But I’m the last thing they saw before they met the devil.”
“Uh-huh. You missed the nooning; we’ve already eaten. But I saved some stew and bread for you. You think you can stay out of trouble long enough to eat?”
Jamie grinned, bent down, and kissed her. “I will sure try, darlin’.”
Kate blushed as the kids giggled. She shoved at him, perhaps moving him an inch, at best. “Oh, go on, you!”
Jamie sat down and began eating, as Martine and Carbone returned and began whispering to the others. Hannah smiled, and the others shook their heads in astonishment.
A few minutes later, a delegation from town rode out and approached Jamie warily, after making certain Jamie could see they were not armed. “Sir,” a well-dressed man said. “Those men back there... ah, the recently deceased, they were carrying ample funds.”
“I don’t want it,” Jamie said, sopping a hunk of bread into the seasoned stew.
“They had no papers on them, so we don’t know where to send the money.”
“How about the man with the busted jaw?”
“He left town quickly. Heading east. He was in considerable pain but would not let the doctor examine him.”
“Smart man. Do whatever you want to with the money. Give it to the poor.”
“Will you be leaving soon, sir?” another man asked nervously.
“Come the morning.”
All the men seemed to sigh.
“How many men did my husband kill?” Kate asked.
“Ah... seven, ma’am.”
“Is that all?” Kate said with a straight face. “A few years ago, he killed forty.”
“Forty!” a rather plump gentleman blurted. “Good God!”
Jamie sighed and finished his bowl of stew. He hoped Kate would hush up, for he knew only too well what a wicked sense of humor she had.
Kate smiled at him and walked over to the wagon to finish packing away supplies. Jamie breathed a bit easier. “We’ll be leaving in the morning,” he told the delegation. “And I apologize for the trouble in town.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Mr. MacCallister,” another man said. “What bothered some people was your... coolness about the entire affair. There was quite a crowd gathered to witness the, ah, demise of the last, two, ah, gentlemen.”
Jamie grunted. Then he stood up, swiftly and silently as was his fashion. The group of businessmen all quickly backed up and that move infuriated Jamie. But he very carefully held his temper in check and smiled and was cordial as he shook hands with the men, bidding them good day.
When they had departed, he heard the sounds of muffled giggling coming from the wagons. He turned to see all the women gathered up in a knot, aprons covering their mouths to stifle the laughter.
“Very dangerous fellow there, Kate,” Hannah said, then bent over double with laughter.
“Yes,” Sarah said. “How can you sleep at night knowing such a brigand is lying next to you?”
“Isn’t it a disgrace?” Kate said, trying her best to keep a straight face. “I’ve never been run out of town before.”
The women all started laughing and Jamie shook his head and walked off, leaving the women howling at the disgusted expression on his face.
Swede caught up with him. “What in the world is all that about, Jamie?”
“I just got run out of town.”
“And they think it’s funny?”
“Hysterical.”
Sam and Juan walked up. “What set the women off? They’re laughing like a bunch of idiots.”
“Jamie just got run out of town,” Swede said.
“Run out of town? And they think that’s funny?”
“I guess.”
“What’s so funny about that?” Juan asked.
“I don’t know,” Swede said. “You’ll have to ask Jamie. He told me.”
“Jamie...” Sam started.
“This is where I came in,” Jamie said. “Excuse me.” He walked off just as Moses and Wells walked up.
“What’s wrong with the women?” Wells asked.
“Jamie got run out of town,” Sam said.
“And they think that’s funny?” Moses asked.
Jamie covered his ears with his hands and went down to talk to the horses.
* * *
Just as dawn was splitting the sky with color, Jamie swung into the saddle and took the lead. “Let’s go see the mountains,” he said, and the wagons moved out.
Outside of town, Jamie swung off to one side and looked back at the Alamo as the wagons and livestock lumbered past him. The sun was touching the old mission, bathing it in a pure light from the Heavens.
Jamie smiled, recalling Bowie’s words as he read them by the dim candlelight in Bowie’s room. He imagined Bowie when he was full of life and how he might have spoken those words. He could almost hear Bowie’s strong voice.
“My fellow Texans, and to freedom-loving people all over America. These are my final words from this post. I pray God they will be read over and over, for years to come. For these words, these thoughts, these emotions, they are not just from me, but from all the brave men gathered here who have chosen to die for liberty and freedom.
“Oh, but shed no tears, for we shall not die in vain. For in the pools of our spilled blood in this old mission, shall be written the song of freedom for Texas. Nay, not just for Texas, but for the whole of the United States. Sing it loudly, men and women of America. Sing it to your children and to your children’s children and to every generation until the whole world knows the tune. Sing it so we shall never be forgotten. Sing it before armies go into battle. Remember the Alamo. Let it be a battle cry that rolls off of every tongue in every conflict from this moment on. Don’t forget us, Americans. Don’t. I beg you. Don’t let our memories die. Don’t have these brave boys die for naught.
“Santa Anna thinks this will be an easy victory. But we are going to teach Santa Anna a hard lesson about men’s dreams of freedom. I think after the smoke has cleared, and the last ball is fired, Santa Anna will know he’s been in a fight. I have my brace of pistols and my good knife. So let them come. I shall soon be in the arms of my darling Ursula.
“It will be over for us in a few hours. And I want everyone to know that William Barret Travis has my respect. He is a brave and resourceful leader and I would follow him through the gates of Hell and probably will.
“So — life ebbs and comes down to this. I wonder what the thoughts are of those men huddled against those walls, seeking relief from the bitter cold and the loneliness of separation from family and home. Much like mine, I would think. Sad, perhaps mingled with a touch of fear. Oh, not fear of the act of dying itself, but fear of the unknown. For who among us knows what lies beyond the veil? Ah, well, we’ll all soon know.