Ole Devil at San Jacinto (Old Devil Hardin Western Book 4)
from his companions.
Such was the concentrated venom in his voice as he confronted the
approaching trio that they came to a halt. ‘It’s over!
Finished! Done !’
    ‘ That isn’t for you to say,’ Jaloux
protested. ‘Your seconds — !’
    ‘ Listen to me, damn you!’
the Texian commanded, his face as malevolent as that of his
namesake when condemning a sinner to eternal torment. Glancing past
the two older Creoles and he continued in a more gentle fashion, ‘What I’m going
to say doesn’t include you, M’sieur Dumoulin. You have conducted yourself with courage
and credit throughout this whole unfortunate affair. I trust that
you will agree that our difficulties have been settled honorably
and we no longer have any quarrel?’
    ‘ I do, sir,’ the
youngster affirmed, showing a greater enthusiasm than had been in
evidence up to that point.
    ‘ You
can’t —!’ Pierre-Quint commenced, looking around.
    ‘ The hell he can’t!’ Ole
Devil put in, bringing the Creole’s attention back to him. ‘I’ve played along
with your damned charade as far as I intend to. We’re engaged in a
war with a bloodthirsty, malevolent tyrant and have neither the
time nor the need for dissension in our ranks. So I’m warning you
that the next man who comes to challenge me, whether it is one of
you six or your regiment’s fencing master, he’d better be holding a weapon, because
I’ll kill him where he stands without bothering with any
formalities.’
    Nobody listening to the quietly spoken, yet
impassioned words could doubt that the speaker meant exactly what
he said. However, Pierre-Quint and Jaloux had an added reason to
take notice of the statement. They realized from the way in which
the Texian emphasized his reference to their regiment’s fencing
master that he had something specific in mind and they drew the
correct conclusions over what it might be.
    ‘ He knows, Marcel!’ Jaloux
screeched, reaching for Dumoulin’s pistol which he had pushed into
his belt when it was handed to him. ‘Defend yourself!’ xix
     

Chapter Six – He’s Lucky to Be Alive
    Standing slightly to one side
and behind Ole Devil Hardin, Tommy Okasi realized that something
must be done —and quickly—to bring an end to Lieutenant Gerard Jaloux’s
stupidly ill-advised behavior before he paid a high price for his
folly. The little Oriental also considered that he was the member
of his party best suited to bring this about. As their acquaintance
had only been brief, he did not know whether Mangrove Hallistead
was capable of handling the situation. However, one thing of which
he was certain was that his employer was not at that moment in a
mood to suffer fools gladly and might respond in a regrettable
manner. So Tommy decided to act on his own initiative. Regardless
of his small size, he was eminently qualified to do so.
    Although Jaloux and Lieutenant
Marcel Pierre-Quint had pretended to accept that Tommy was socially
eligible as the Texian’s second in the duel, the acquiescence had
been to serve their personal purposes. Neither of them had believed
the entertainer’s explanation about the little Oriental’s status as
a member of the Japanese lower nobility —which was perfectly true—or that he
was a competent warrior in his own right.
    The Creoles were to be given a very convincing proof of the latter
point!
    One of the Samurais’ most remarkable and impressive
martial accomplishments was laijitsu, the swift withdrawal of the daisho’s longer, tachi sword. xx With the possible exception of an
Ancient Roman legionary’s ability to pull out his gladius, it was a feat
unequalled by the swordsmen of the Western Hemisphere. In fact,
similar heights of rapidity would only be attained when, during the
late 1860s, the gunfighters of the Old West began to experiment
with the possibilities of drawing and shooting a revolver—which was
not much longer than the hilt of a tachi— at speed. xxi Nor would such methods achieve their
full

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