In Galveston, Jules was being saved the fate his friends feared by locals who suspected the seriousness of what he could face. After his talk with the local priest, Father Drew went to the garrison offices to see what Jules was wanted for. Jules had become fully informed about the occupying army and the unfriendly climate he was in. The army was not corrupt, and he had nothing the local military governor could want, but once in military custody, he would be beyond reach of any help if things went badly.
The newest area commander was a tall, smartly dressed officer with a harried look about his blue eyes. The man, from somewhere in Virginia by his accent, explained as he offered the priest a seat.
"That man was lying to you and Mrs. Ridgemont. Lieutenant Jules Verne was part of the Confederate Army in the Louisiana Cavalry. He has been tried for the murder of union soldiers in Louisiana and sentenced for execution. Lieutenant Verne escaped his prison after sentencing." The garrison officer paused his story, pulling a file out of an enormous pile of files to show the priest. "It's just dumb luck that he was seen in Galveston and reported."
"As much as I wish we had found him, I'm glad he isn't rooming with the Ridgemont widow anymore," the officer said. "No telling what would have happened to her if the man had been there when the arresting officer came for him."
"Despite that officer's insistence, we will not arrest her for giving Verne shelter," He said. "I'm not going to cause an uproar in town arresting a respected widow with as many other problems as I have. I'm not my predecessor, sir. He was heavy-handed, and that has made my transition a nightmare. I'm not going to follow his example. I just want to keep things peaceable."
He pulled back in his chair. "Despite what I just said, things were about to change in ways you locals aren't going to like." He eyed another shorter pile of dispatches with the bad news. "I'm going to need you and other community leaders to help smooth things over."
Preparing the priest for the bad news, the officer said, "This spring's yellow fever cases seem worse than last year. We have registered twenty deaths a day this week. I suppose you know of that, from your line of work."
Father Drew sadly confirmed it as he scanned the file the officer had given him. "At least half of those deaths were from my parish."
Father Drew listened and read from the files as the man spoke. The reports he read, on a whole, damned the young Frenchman good. If not for what Father Drew knew from the confessional and his instincts, he would have believed everything written. The Jules Verne the priest had been ministering, however, was too new to America for any of this to be true. The young law student had never fought on any battlefield. That experience marked a man.
And as Father Drew looked over the file, he noticed all of it had been written on fresh paper without the time to be smudged or creased. Not only that, but all the handwriting seemed the same, as if one person had written all the reports over Lieutenant Verne's military career. Of course, the local army clerk would not have noticed that. Not with all the work he would have with such a busy garrison. And he wouldn't have bothered about a rebel already sentenced for murdering union officers.
"Orders are coming soon to institute strict quarantines along the coast," the officer said. "I'm told this fever has been running through the city since before the war ended. It has got to be stopped before the entire Gulf Coast is ravaged. When you see her, tell Mrs. Ridgemont to stay out of town. It will be better for her that way. The quarantine area will encompass the all the City of Galveston."
Father Drew accepted the message for Mrs. Ridgemont. He did not argue Verne's cause with the officer. He was a politically knowing man and the present climate was too uncertain to work in. With the first Reconstruction Act that broke the South into military districts under the command of the Army, existing governments had been declared provisional. Texas had been placed in the Fifth Military District. From the beginning, General Griffin, the commander in Texas, had made noises about removing local officials who impeded advancement of reconstruction. The General had died recently in the epidemic, but his successor, Joseph J. Reynolds, had taken over, carrying the same mindset. That threat had everyone nervous.
Father Drew thanked the commander for speaking with him and left to tell what he had learned.
"You are in terrible trouble, young man," Father Drew said when he visited the Ridgemont farmhouse that evening. "There will be no trying to convince the garrison commander of your innocence. You must leave Galveston right away while you can. The quarantine I was warned of will trap you if we wait."
"But this is ridiculous," Jules said. "I'm no soldier; I'm not even an American."
"According to the papers the Army has, you are both, and a murderer," Mrs. Ridgemont said. "The trial has already have taken place. If the Army catches you, you will be hanged without hearing. I know it is hard to take Jules, but you must leave Galveston. My brother in Harrisburg could hide you until I receive word from your friends in Europe. Harrisburg is a sizeable area. The Army may not expect you to go inland."