Chapter 10

As Fogg and West were being captured, Jason, Rebecca, Jules, and Agent Gordon were heading for the seed wagons to destroy them. The fire would allow the others to get away with the wagon of records in the stable, if that was indeed what was in it. As they were too far away from the front gate to see, they never knew of the soldier's arrival or the first group's danger.

The sounds of horseman rounding the field to post guards surprised them near the fence. There was nowhere to hide but the field of castor plants. The thick foliage would be better cover than the manicured grounds. From there, they noted all the soldiers moving about the perimeter and backtracked to see what was going on.

Looking out from cover toward the house, they saw Jim and Phileas being led into the front yard at gunpoint. Both men were pushed to their knees on the ground as Dr. Loveless and Captain Johnson were called outside to view the prisoners. Words were exchanged, but not heard over the distance. West was hit hard across the face by one soldier covering him. Fogg was questioned and given the same treatment. As their friends watched, unable to help, Captain Johnson put an end to the public interrogation. The prisoners were picked up and moved into the house as a bugler gave a signal blast from his instrument.

The sentries that could be seen turned their heads at the sound, and then resolutely pulled their weapons and began a thorough search.

"We've got trouble," Jason said. "That warning will have the entire property searched."

Agent Gordon said, "Split up, head for the seed barn. We can still destroy the castor seeds."

"I didn't see my nephews caught," Jason said. "They could do the rescuing for us. The fire's important, but it hasn't rained in weeks. Be careful how you do that, or we could end up taking out half of East Texas."

They broke up in three directions. Jason moved like a ghost through the foliage, skirting around two soldiers as they searched the field. Agent Gordon had moved off to Jason's left.

"Freeze," someone said behind him.

Gordon felt a rifle barrel poking at his back.

"Out of the field and to the house, nice and easy." A soldier said.

Artemus stepped off through the thick plants. He caught hold of one of the tall woody plants as he walked by and let it go. The stalk swung backward, knocking his guard's rifle off its target. Gordon turned on the distracted soldier and plowed a fist into his jaw. The soldier went down between rows with a grunt. Two more solid blows and the man was out cold.

Rebecca and Jules headed off together to the right. The way was worse for them. They had two soldiers heading directly for them, spaced four rows to either side of them. They could hear the men as they approached.

"John, see anything?"

"No, you?"

"Not a thing. Be careful, you could walk right up on a bear in here and not know it."

Rebecca went down into a crouch for better cover. She was still dressed in her riding habit. It was comfortable enough to work in and covered her against the insects better than her fighting suit.

Jules came down low beside her. His borrowed hide coat blended in with the colors of the soil. His curly brown head came close. "I have an idea."

As the soldiers drew near, Jules reached into his coat pocket and shook something Rebecca thought sounded like a baby toy. Horrified at the noise, she grabbed for his hand to hold it still.

"What was that?" one soldier shouted. "Hold there, whoever you are."

Jules shook Rebecca's hand off his and gave the rattle a more vigorous, prolonged shake.

Panic-stricken, Rebecca didn't know what to think until one soldier shouted, "Back off, Ben! You're walking up on a rattler! Don't you hear it?"

Jules shook his snake rattle again, making another prolonged warning. Both soldiers stopped their forward movement and backed off to either side by several rows. They skirted what they believed was a surprised rattlesnake carefully. As the soldiers backed away, walking around them, Jules stopped his rattling. In another few moments, the soldiers closed ranks again behind them, heading further into the field.

Rebecca let out the breath she had been holding and slowly stood back up. In a moment of pure relief, she gave Jules a quick hug. "That was amazing. I don't know what a rattler is, but I want one!" She whispered.

"It is a poisonous snake, and its tail sounds a warning when it's frightened," Jules said while accepting his reward with a flush of pleasure.

In the next heartbeat, Rebecca was all agent again. She led Jules out of the field to the seed barn. They found the other men already there. The wagons with their seed sacks and other packed supplies were in the barn, waiting for horses to be hitched. Jason found several large bottles of castor oil. He was getting ready to pour them out into the wagons while Agent Gordon was inspecting the contents. He looked up from his work as he saw Rebecca and Jules walk into the barn.

"We are almost ready, but come, see this." He motioned Rebecca up into the wagon and handed her a stack of papers pulled out of a box. It was part of a log of experiments. Rebecca didn't understand what she was reading right away. "Passepartout would understand this better," she said, wishing he were with them. Phileas had sent him back to the Aurora to guard her against capture. Rebecca handed what she had to Jules and looked over several other reports.

Most of what was found in the wagon appeared to be from the laboratory they found the day before. There was equipment, boxes of papers and jugs of liquid. They originally considered the bottles full of castor oil, but it didn't look right to Jason. Castor oil wasn't normally put under a wax seal.

"This could be important information about what the League is doing in America," Rebecca finally said of it. "I wish there was time enough to look it all over." She looked about. There weren't any horses to move it. "We can't destroy this," Rebecca said. "It could be too important."

"I agree," Gordon said. "We will have to wait to destroy the seed after we can get this wagon away from danger. Let's get Jim and Phileas free."

"That is foremost in my mind as well," Rebecca said.

"We're going to need more than the four of us and a few rifles to storm the house with all these soldiers around," Jason warned. "And I assume you don't want to kill anybody in the doing?"

Gordon looked down at the old confederate soldier acknowledging his assessment. "No, killing U.S. Army soldiers would not be a good thing. We're going to have to get around them to get back to the house. I think our best chance is to get to their commanding officer first. Once he is out of the way, the other soldiers should accept my authority."

Jules, who had been reading over the experiment log while the others were talking, looked up. "Poison… those jugs are full of castor toxin," he said. "It is a purified castor toxin. Dr. Loveless is the scientist working for the League. He has been working on hybrids to strengthen it. According to this, a few drops per gallon of water can kill."

Rebecca and Gordon looked at the innocent-looking jugs in the wagon with their heavy wax seals. That was what had to be destroyed, not the seed.

Together, they all pulled jugs out of the wagon. They found a secluded spot in the woods far enough away from the barn not to be seen.

"The safest thing is to pour it out on the ground." Gordon said.

"We don't know if it can poison the plants," Jules said.

"Better a few trees than whoever the intended target is," Rebecca said.

"I was more concerned about what might come by and eat them later," Jules said.

"Commendable," Jason said. "Go back to the barn. There were shovels on a wall."

When he returned, they covered over the puddle they made with dry leaves, to keep animals from inadvertently drinking it. That done, they turned their minds to their captured friends.

Rebecca said, "We should go to the Aurora first. We have more supplies for the purpose there."