Free How Few Remain by Harry Turtledove Page B

here,” Stuart told the troopers when they drew close to the U.S. soldiers. “They didn’t come here to start a fight, not under flag of truce.” He and his aide-de-camp rode on toward the men in blue.
    Lieutenant Colonel Foulke and the officer who’d been using the telescope imitated his practice, so that the four leaders met between their small commands. “A very good morning to you, General,” Foulke said politely; seeing his baby-smooth skin and coal-black mustache reminded Stuart he himself would be fifty soon.
    He didn’t let himself dwell on that. “The same to you, Lieutenant Colonel,” he answered. “I hope you will not mind my asking the purpose of your visit to the Confederacy here.”
    “By no means, sir.” Hearing the polite phrase in Foulke’s Yankee accent—New York, Stuart thought—was strange. The U.S. officer went on, “I have been instructed by the secretary of war, Mr. Harrison, and by the general-in-chief of the United States Army to inform you personally that the United States willview with great concern any movement of Confederate forces into the territory of the Empire of Mexico.”
    “I would point out to you, sir, that, when and if the purchase arrangements between Mexico and the Confederacy are completed, the provinces of Chihuahua and Sonora shall no longer be the territory of the Empire of Mexico, but rather that of the Confederate States of America.” Stuart’s smile looked ingratiating, but was anything but. “Surely, Bill—”
    “William,” Foulke said. “I prefer William. William Dudley Foulke, sir, at your service.”
    “Beg your pardon, William,” Stuart said easily, wondering what such a pompous little fellow was doing so far out West. “As I was saying, surely the United States cannot be thinking of forbidding the Confederate States from moving their forces from one part of their own territory to another.”
    William Dudley Foulke took a deep breath. “I am requested and required to inform you, General, as the government of the United States has informed President Longstreet in Richmond, that the United States consider the sale of Sonora and Chihuahua to be made under duress, and therefore to be invalid and of no consequence.”
    “Oh, they do, do they?” Stuart had understood that to be the position of the United States, but had never heard it explicitly till now. The way it was stated … “William, I assure you I mean no offense by this, but you talk more like a lawyer than a soldier.”
    Foulke smiled: he was amused, not angry. “I considered a career in the law in my early days, General Stuart. In the aftermath of the War of Secession, I determined that I could better use my talents in the service of my country as a soldier than as a jurist. As I am of Quaker stock, my family was distressed at my choice, but here I am today.”
    “Here you are,” Stuart agreed. “And since you are here, Lieutenant Colonel Foulke, I have to tell you that the view of the Confederate States is that, if the sale of Sonora and Chihuahua be completed, those two provinces become territory belonging to the Confederate States of America, to be administered and garrisoned at the sole discretion of the government of the CSA. In plain English, sir, once they’re ours, we’ll do with them as we please.”
    “In plain English, sir, the United States do not aim to let themselves be outflanked on the south,” Foulke said. “The United States do not aim to let the Confederacy take advantage of a weakneighbor, as you did when you bullied Cuba out of Spain a few years ago. I expect you will wire a report of this meeting back to Richmond. Rest assured that I am telling you nothing different from what Minister Hay is telling President Longstreet there, or for that matter what President Blaine is telling Minister Benjamin in Washington.”
    Major Horatio Sellers spoke up: “You Yankees keep barking that way, Lieutenant Colonel, you’re going to have to show whether you’ve got any