Chapter 9

The Ridgemont brothers did a good job of their search. They found the base and reported it just like they intended to. Only because of that, they were now in a small-town jail cell and had been for over a week. It was not one of the better prisons they had been made to visit. The floors were dirty, and the place was ice cold in the mornings. Yet if one could overlook that, the food, which was brought in by the deputy's wife, was quite good. Matt and Mark had praised the lady every day when she brought them their meals.

At the beginning of their search, Matt and his brother had had no trouble finding a guide to the League settlement. All they had had to do was follow the riverboats north. For a few days, they had watched cargos of goods going in and out of Lynchburg. Then one afternoon, they had watched a large cache of supplies being handled by men both brothers remembered meeting in their gun running days. The boys had married that cargo following it cross Galveston Bay. There, the goods had changed boats heading northeast up the San Jacinto River. A day later, the cargo had been offloaded to the shore, where a muleskinner took it to a nearby railroad depot. The train carried it northeast past West Liberty.

Hopping the train had been no trouble when no one had been looking. As boys, they had done it several times before going to sea. From a perch on the roof of a freight car, the brothers watched a man with a lantern flag the train to a stop late in the night. That man had the cargo offloaded onto wagons by black laborers, and slowly driven north into the thicket.

Thinking the route over in his mind, Matt wondered why the cargo had not been taken straight to Liberty by the Trinity River rather than up the San Jacinto.

His answer would come later.

The boys left the train, following the slow wagons on foot. Near noon, they saw the wagons enter a large settlement deep in the woods. There had been men in the dark blue uniforms of the League guarding the main entrance. From their safe distance, there had been no way to tell more. Too many guards and too much forest obscured the view. Mark wanted to scout further, but Matt thought better of it.

"We know we have found the place. Let's not get ourselves caught before we can tell anyone." On his insistence, the brothers backtracked their way down the path to the railroad tracks and crossed the Trinity River railroad bridge, going east to Liberty town. Toward late afternoon walking the tracks, Matt and Mark were found by a union army detachment doing rounds in the area.

"Hold there!" The company leader ordered. "What are you boys doing out here afoot?"

"Looking for you, actually," Mark said. "We need to report some trouble. Where are you camped?"

"To the north of here," the cavalryman said. "I'll take you in to see Captain Johnson."

Once at the camp, Matthew had spoken to the commander, Captain Harris Johnson, telling all about the League and the weapons and settlement location. "I have a letter from the American Ambassador in England that will verify what I've said," Matt had added. "These people are dangerous."

"Is there anyone else that knows of this?" Captain Johnson said after he had heard it all.

"Just us and a friend from France that came over with us," Matt had told him. "I can make you a map of the settlement location."

"Yes, go ahead, make your map, and give me your friend's name and location. This Frenchman will need to be contacted to verify what you have told me. If I need more from you, I will let you know before we move out tomorrow."

With that, the Ridgemonts were given paper to make the map and write a letter to Jules for a messenger to take to Galveston. It explained what would be needed. Once all that had been done, the Captain ordered a tent found for them to sleep in.

Even an army bedroll had looked good to Matt and Mark that night. They had been up three days straight following the trial to the League base. The brothers thanked Captain Johnson and fell asleep instantly.

The next morning, Matt and Mark were rousted early and shackled.

"What's this?" Matt demanded as they fought against the soldiers.

"Just proper treatment of deserters," Captain Johnson said. "You two were attached to the Fifth Military District Regional Command in Austin. Why'd you quit the army without properly resigning? It is all here in your papers," the captain said, smiling down at them with a satchel in his hand. "According to this, you have both been tried and convicted of desertion. You are to be moved to Liberty and held there until the next train to New Orleans comes. Your sentence will be carried out there where no one will know the difference. Austin is a long way from here and the League pays really well for its protection. You two should have stayed in Galveston."

Matt and Mark marched to Liberty where they were turned over to a deputy who had been sternly ordered to hold them until the train to New Orleans came. Mark had tried to get the deputy's aid, but Johnson's officer heard him and came back fast. The soldier pulled his pistol and dropped Mark on the floor with a blow to the back of his head.

"What was that for?" The deputy demanded.

"For trying to escape again!" The soldier said. "This one can spin a good yarn. Good enough to have kept him and his brother on the dodge for weeks. Keep him quiet and do not, I repeat, do not let anyone talk to them. It took us too long to track them down. They know the area and all the rabbit holes to hide in. Lose them and we may never catch them again."

"Understood," Deputy Fraser said. Deputy Fraser had no love for the union army, but he had little sympathy for union deserters either. After carrying his knocked-out brother into a cell, Matthew had also tried to explain things after the soldiers left. He did not get two words out before being told to keep his mouth shut while he waited for their train.

"I've got a spring yellow fever outbreak going through town," Deputy Fraser said distractedly. "I don't have time to babysit deserters and don't want to hear your sob stories. You two will have to keep yourselves company. Most of the town is sick. As long as you are kept in here away from everyone else, you should be ok. My wife will feed you twice a day. Otherwise, you won't see anyone."

With that, the deputy left and did not come back for the rest of the day. His wife came with dinner close to sunset. She only stayed long enough to put their trays on the floor by the opening at the foot of the door and leave.

Captain Johnson gave another officer orders to head for Galveston to deal with Jules Verne. "Find a post with a good clerical department first," he said. "Dealing with this over one will require more work. You know what to do?"

The officer saluted and grinned. "I'm a good storyteller, sir, and I know plenty about army paperwork."

After a few more unsuccessful tries, the Ridgemonts stopped talking and asked to write a letter instead. The deputy had not been given orders against writing. Fraser let Matt write a message to a relative in Houston, read it first, and then sent it off by the mail rider. A few days later, their uncle, Captain Jason Singleton, showed up at the train depot looking for his nephews.

The Deputy had been watching for the visit. He met the man, hiding his enthusiasm and nervousness as best he could. Jason Singleton was a tall man, not awe-inspiring at first sight, but few men of his kind looked anything but rough and well worn. The deputy refused to allow Singleton access to his prisoners. "I couldn't let you in town anyway, because of the fever."

"What are the boys being held for?" Jason asked.

"Desertion from the occupying army," Fraser said. "My orders were to keep them here until the New Orleans train comes for them. That may be awhile. The trains aren't taking on passengers here because of the sickness."

"My nephews were never in the army." Jason said in a flat, strong voice. "Not confederate and damn sure not union. Let me see those orders!"

"I can't do that, sir," Fraser said, holding his ground. "To do that, you would have to come into town, and I won't allow that."

"Do you know who I am, deputy?" The old man said quieter.

Deputy Fraser met the man's hard gaze, rose taller and said, "Yes, sir. I know you, Captain Singleton. Nobody in East Texas wouldn't know of you by now. The men that came home from service with Terry's Rangers are well respected. I know you and your reputation, sir. I do sympathize if what you say is true, but the sheriff and the mayor died two days ago, leaving me the only authority around here. The cavalry gave me orders not to let those boys see anyone. If you come back with higher orders, I won't stop you. Without such orders, I have to abide by what the Yankees want."

With that, he left the Ranger at the depot heading back into town. Fraser felt it a mark of bravery on his part, turning his back on the old Ranger. He had not done it deliberately; he just didn't have a choice. There was a time that such a move would have gained him a bullet, but the war had changed a lot. For now, the Rangers had been disbanded and former confederate officers like Singleton had to watch themselves. Nonetheless, the deputy felt very uneasy about thwarting the man.

The deputy's wife told the prisoners of their Uncle Jason's visit when she took them dinner that night. That and that the old soldier had not been allowed into town.

"Now is when we could use that pretty English lady to come bust us out," Matthew said. "Uncle Jason was the only ace I had left."

"From your lips to God's ears," Mark said sleepily from his cot across the cell. "Too bad Miss Fogg and her cousin are in France. You think Jules will be ok in Galveston?"

"Not after we told Captain Johnson. They know where he is and that he could verify our story," Matt said. "I'm afraid we gave our friend a trip to the Galveston garrison under the same sentence we're facing."