* * * * *
The highbinder bowed before the head of the local Chinatown's leading tong.
"Your visitor has arrived, Illustrious Liu."
The latter, dressed like a mandarin of the now-defunct Ming Dynasty, gestured for the highbinder to show the man in. Thirty seconds later, Jeb Daniels gave a courtly bow to the hookah pipe-smoking figure enthroned before him. And, Illustrious Liu returned it with a half-nod, before commencing the conversation.
"My brethren in San Francisco tell me you wish to buy some opium, Mr. Daniels."
"Y-Y-Yes," Daniels stammeringly replied: "But, th-they told me that I had to s-s-see you, first. As you handle all the d-d-distribution east of the Rockies."
"That is my humble purview, yes. Exactly how much opium do you wish to purchase?"
Jeb worded his next reply, very carefully.
"Enough to put an elephant to sleep!"
Illustrious Liu arched his right eyebrow at this bit of peculiar vernacular.
"Are you, perchance, going into the ivory importation business, Mr. Daniels?"
Jeb (just barely) stifled a nervous giggle.
"Oh, no! I'm donating it to the medical school of my old alma mater, Harvard University, in Massachusetts."
Now, it was Liu's turn to chuckle: "I see. Very well! Will one hundred barrels of the powder be sufficient for your needs?"
Jeb grinned and energetically nodded. So much so, the tong leader thought he would give himself whiplash!
"Very well," repeated the former: "The price will be a great one, however. One thousand dollars per barrel! Can you meet that price?"
Jeb nervously gulped, before nodding.
"Excellent!" exclaimed the tong leader: "Do you wish the powder sent directly to Massachusetts?"
"N-N-No," Jeb went back to stammering: "P-Please send it to my hometown; Tonkawa Springs, Texas. That way, I can relay it to Boston via New Orleans as...Louisiana cane sugar."
Illustrious Liu chuckled, again: "Then, it shall be so."
* * * * *
PECOS COUNTY, TEXAS
Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Lancer had been born "Mateo Gallegos." His paternal grandfather, Aiden Gallagher, had fought in the Napoleonic Wars as a platoon sergeant in the British army's 87th (Prince of Wales' Irish) Regiment of Foot. While his father, nee Sean Gallagher, had helped the Mexicans fight for independence from Spain as "Juan Gallegos!"
Unfortunately, the latter had ultimately dishonored himself by putting his Mexican lancer regiment under the sway of an ancient she-demon called an empusa. One who had demanded blood sacrifices in the style of the ancient Aztecs! So, during Mexico's war with the United States (1846-48), the so-called "Jaguar Knights" had killed--and accordingly mutilated--wounded American stragglers at the Battle of Cerro Gordo.
Followed by similar treatment of wounded French stragglers, during the Juarista Revolution, twenty years later.
It was for this reason that Matt had attended military school in Vermont under a safer-sounding American name. Yet, as fate would have it, his father's sins finally caught up to both of them in post-Civil War West Texas. Juan Gallegos paying for his own with his life. While Matt's penance seemed to be deprivation of his long-overdue promotion to full colonel.
Or, at least, that was the hypothesis being ventured by Ezekiel Cousins in Matt's office.
"It could be those dang Yankees, in Washington, figure the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree. It would certainly explain why the townsfolk didn't re-elect Reuben Sillitoe as mayor of Tonkawa Springs, back in '66*! But, if such is the case, you can kiss that little gold bird (let alone, any chance of someday reachin' general) adios."
There was a long, awkward pause before Matt finally replied.
"Even if what you speculate is true, Mr. Cousins, what does that have to do with your request?"
The shady cattle baron leaned forward and half-whispered his reply.
"You get those Hale rockets here, from Massachusetts, in two weeks or less? And, I'll give you a check, in your name, made out to the equivalent of what a three-star general gets in a year!"
This time, the pause was less awkward...and much shorter.
"You've got a deal."
* * * * *
From THE MEMOIRS OF "MALARKEY" JOHNSON
"When they got back to my parsonage, Dooley and Becky told me where they was headed, next. But, they had one request before they left. They wanted to renew their weddin' vows, Christian-style! Yvette Reardon havin' been raised a strict Catholic."
"I agreed. And, after their post-nuptial kiss?"
"They left."
"I didn't hear anythin' from or about them for the next two weeks. Then, one day, a messenger boy come over to my parsonage from the local telegraph office. With a message from Becky and Dooley!"
"It had been sent from a Mexican border town, just east of the Big Bend country. Yvette was with 'em, and just fine (considerin' all she'd been through). They were gonna need my help, though, on account of somethin' they'd learned from Tom Bigby. One of Echota's Cherokee cousins, who also scouted for the Texas Rangers. And, accordin' to him?"
"U.S. Cavalry from Fort Pecos would be waitin' for all three of them at the border."
To be continued
Giantess World
Author's Chapter Notes:
DENVER, COLORADO (1875)
Chapter End Notes:
*See A "SMALLER" SHADE OF GRAY.