“Yes, sir.”
What had the colonel expected, that Montgomery didn’t know the answer to something? He rose from behind his desk, put his hands behind his back, and began to walk about the room. He must try to keep the joy from his voice. “As you know, General Yovington is a very important man and he has reasons for what he does. He does not allow people like you and me to know those reasons, but then, you and I are mere soldiers and ours is to obey, not to question the reason behind an order.” He looked at the captain. There was no impatience on his face, no annoyance, just that calm look he always wore. Perhaps the colonel could break that perfect calm. He’d give a month’s pay to be able to do that.
The colonel went to the desk and picked up the letter. “I received this by special courier this morning. It seems to be of utmost importance. The general, for whatever reasons, seems to have formed an, ah…attachment to an opera singer and now that…lady wants to sing for the gold miners. He wants her to have an army escort.”
The colonel looked hard at Captain Montgomery, his eyes wide, for he didn’t want to miss the man’s reaction. “The general requested Lieutenant Surrey, but as you well know, the poor unfortunate man won’t be able to make it, therefore I’ve thought long and hard about a suitable replacement, and I have chosen you, Captain.”
Colonel Harrison almost did a little jump of joy when Montgomery blinked twice and then tightened his lips. “You’re to keep her out of trouble, see that the Indians don’t bother her, keep the miners from making advances toward her, see that she’s comfortable. I guess that means see that’s she’s fed and that her bath water’s hot and—”
“I respectfully decline the assignment, sir,” Captain Montgomery said, his back straight, his eyes straight ahead, which was some inches over the colonel’s graying head.
Colonel Harrison’s heart swelled. “This is not a request, it’s an order. You are not being asked, you are being told. It is not an invitation you can refuse.”
To the colonel’s astonishment, Montgomery dropped his rigid posture and, without being given permission, he sat down in a chair, then withdrew a thin cigar from inside his jacket. “An opera singer? What the hell do I know about an opera singer?”
The colonel knew he should reprimand the captain for sitting without permission, but if he’d learned nothing else in the last year, he’d at least learned that the western army was not like in the East, where discipline was understood. Besides, he was enjoying the perfect captain’s consternation too much.
“Oh, come now, Captain, you can figure it out. Who better than you? Why, in all my twenty years of service I’ve never seen a man with a better record. Commissioned on the field of battle, an indispensable right-hand man to any officer. You’ve fought Indians and whites. You’ve rounded up outlaws and renegades. You’re a man’s man and yet you can advise the ladies on how to set a table, and according to what I hear from the ladies, you dance divinely.” He smiled when Captain Montgomery gave him a malevolent look. He hadn’t broken that façade even on the day he’d taken the twenty lashes for the private.
“What’s Yovington to her?”
“General Yovington didn’t make me his confidant. He merely sent his orders. You’re to leave in the morning. As far as I can tell, the woman has already reached the mountains on her own. You’ll recognize her by…” He picked up the letter, trying hard to conceal his smile. “She’s traveling in a modified Concord wagon. It’s red and it has, ah…let’s see, the name LaReina painted on the side. LaReina is the woman’s name. I hear she’s very good. At singing, I mean. I don’t know what else she’s good at besides singing. The general didn’t tell me that.”
“She’s traveling in a stagecoach?”
“A red one.” Colonel Harrison permitted himself a small smile. “Oh, come now, Captain, surely this isn’t a bad assignment. Think how this will look on your record. Think where this could lead. If you perform this duty well, you could start escorting generals’ daughters. I’m sure my own daughter would give you a recommendation.”
Abruptly, Captain Montgomery stood. “With all due respect, sir, I cannot do this. There is too much unrest now and I am needed elsewhere. There are white settlers to protect, and what with this slavery controversy and the possibility of war, I do not believe I can desert my post to—”
Colonel Harrison lost his sense of humor. “Captain, this is not a request. This is an order. Whether you like it or not, you are on an assignment of indefinite length. You are to stay with this woman as long as she wants, go wherever she wants, do whatever needs to
be done, even if it is no more than pull her coach out of the mud. If you don’t do this, I will slap you in jail, court-martial you, find you guilty, and have you shot. And if I have to, I’ll pull the trigger myself. Is that understood? Do I make myself clear?”
“Very clear, sir,” Captain Montgomery answered tightly.
“All right, then, go and pack. You’re to leave at dawn tomorrow.” The colonel watched as the captain seemed to be trying to say something. “What is it?” he snapped.
“Toby,” was all the captain could get out through a jaw tight with anger.
So, the captain did have a temper, the colonel thought, and he was tempted to antagonize him further by insisting that the orders had not included the garrulous, scrawny little private who was never more than a few feet from the captain’s side. But the colonel remembered too well the anger of the enlisted men the day the captain had taken an enlisted man’s lashes. “Take him,” the colonel said. “He’ll be of no use here.”
The captain nodded his thanks but didn’t speak them as he turned on his heel and left the colonel’s office.
After the captain was gone, the colonel sank onto his hard chair and let out a sigh of relief, but at the same time he was a little nervous. Could he control this unruly fort, where most of the “soldiers” were farmers who’d signed up merely to fill their bellies? Half of them were drunk most of the time, and desertion was rampant. For the last year his record had been excellent, but he knew that was due a great deal to Captain Montgomery. Could he rule the fort on his own?
“Damn him!” he said, and slammed a desk drawer shut in anger. Of course he could command his own fort!
’Ring Montgomery stared at the woman through the spyglass for a long moment, then angrily slammed it closed.
“That her?” Toby asked from behind him. “You sure she’s the one?” He was a foot shorter than ’Ring, wiry, and had skin the color of walnut juice.
“How many other women would be fool enough to travel alone to a town of forty thousand men?”
Toby took the spyglass and looked through it. They were standing on a hill looking down into a pretty valley where a bright new red stagecoach sat, glittering in the setting sun, a tent not far away. In front of the coach was a woman sitting at a table, slowly eating her dinner while a thin, blonde woman served her.
Toby lowered the glass. “What d’you think she’s eatin’? It looks like somethin’ green on her plate. Do you think it’s peas? Maybe string beans. Or is it just green meat like the army has?”
“I couldn’t care less what she’s eating. Damn Harrison! Damn him to hell and back! Incompetent bastard! Just because he can’t run a fort the size of Breck, he sends me off to do his dirty work.”