Shadow Appears (eBook)

The Devil's Shadow Series

Burt Tyson (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
488 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3178-1446-5 (ISBN)

Infos

The war had taken everything he valued-his home, his family, his cause-and now, his only reason for living was vengeance. All he had left were his horses, his guns, and his sense of honor. So, he pointed his horse toward war-torn Mexico to find his old life-or a new one-or to die with neither. He didn't think he cared which of the three he found.

Burt Tyson almost never takes off his cowboy hat, but he does tip it to the ladies. As a child, he loved historical adventure stories like 'Davy Crockett' and other Western TV, including 'Hopalong Cassidy,' 'The Lone Ranger,' 'Roy Rogers,' and 'Have Gun Will Travel.' As a teenager, his love of history and adventure continued as he read novels of the American Frontier. Burt continues the tradition of good men and women confronting evil in the 19th-century American West as he writes 'The Shadow Appears,' the first novel in his The Devil's Shadow series. Readers won't have difficulty identifying the good guys and gals-they'll be the ones who stand tall, saddle up despite the risk, and, if they're men, always respect the ladies. In the remote small South Carolina town where Burt writes, there are a lot of good men and women, but not too much adventure. He has to provide the adventure within his novels.

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In March of 1865, three months after being wounded, Confederate Captain Robert Hester awakens in a Richmond hospital. As one of Major Mosby's rangers, the Union Army now considers him an outlaw, and he has a bounty on his head. As Petersburg falls to the Yankees and Richmond's fall is inevitable, Mosby convinces General Lee to reassign Hester so he can't be taken from the hospital and hanged. Hester's new orders are to assist in guarding President Davis and the Confederate Treasury as they evacuate Richmond. When Davis stops in Danville, Virginia, Captain Hester and his sergeant, Josiah Turley, decide to ride out to the east to determine if there are Yankee forces there. Being so near his family home, Captain Hester decides to visit his family for the first time in four years. Nearing his family home, they watch as Yankee bummers kill his family and burn his home. He sees his father, his sister, his bride-to-be, and Aunt Callie all murdered. Fueled by grief and rage, Hester vows vengeance. In a vain attempt to reunite with Davis, they ride through the South, witnessing the destruction and devastation. When Davis is captured, they set their sights on Texas to join with General Kirby Smith's Trans-Mississippi army. Together, Hester and Turley navigate a war-torn South and confront loss, moral ambiguity, and the cost of an unrelenting thirst for revenge. After Kirby Smith's surrender, Hester turns his horse toward Mexico to join Jo Shelby to rebuild a Southern army and continue the fight for the lost cause. The war had taken everything his home, his family, his cause and now, his only reason for living was vengeance. All he had left were his horses, his guns, and his sense of honor. So, he pointed his horse toward war-torn Mexico to find his old life or a new one or to die with neither. He didn't think he cared which of the three he found.

Textauszug

CHAPTER 5

A short time later, Pompey rode up on a farm wagon.

“Let’s get them in the wagon, Cap’n Bob. They’ll rest better up on the hill.”

“Yes, Pompey. They will.”

He and I carefully carried the bodies to the back of the wagon and placed them gently in the bed. Turley came up to where we were, carrying a couple of shovels and leading our horses.

“I found these behind one of the buildings. Thought they might come in handy.”

Turley and I mounted up and Pompey climbed onto the wagon seat. We rode slowly to the hill where Mama was buried.

Turley and Pompey began digging the four graves. When they were almost finished, Turley climbed out of the grave he was digging and threw his shovel to me.

“Pompey, let the Cap’n finish these. I reckon he needs to.”

Pompey climbed out of the grave he was digging.

“You sure you want to do this, Cap’n Bob?”

“Yes, Pompey. Sergeant Turley’s right. I need to do this. They were all family, and family should take care of each other.”

I finished the four graves, and then Turley and Pompey gently laid the bodies in each grave, Daddy to the right of Mama and Midge to her left, Aunt Callie to Midge’s left and Jenny beside Aunt Callie. I shoveled dirt over each one, and then Turley took the shovel from me and he and Pompey finished filling the graves.

“You want to say some words over them, Cap’n?”

I thought for a few minutes and then removed my hat. Turley did the same. Pompey had no hat.

“Lord, these were kind and gentle people. They held no hate for anyone. They were the salt of the Earth and as good to everyone as any Samaritan. Take them to your bosom and love them as we did.”

“Amen,” Turley and Pompey said.

“And, God, tell them that I will not rest until they are avenged. Vengeance may be yours in most cases, but in this case, it is mine.”

I put my hat on and turned and mounted Ghost Runner. Pompey and Turley exchanged glances and then followed me. Turley mounted his horse and Pompey climbed back up onto the farm wagon seat, and we rode back to the yard in front of the still-burning house.

“Cap’n Bob, you remember the Island?”

“Of course, Pompey. We sure had some good times there.”

“Take the horses and the Yankee wagon over there, and I’ll meet you there in a little while. I got to see to my people. Make sure they’re all right.”

“Take some of the food from the wagon to them. I’m guessing they’ll need it. And take any of the guns and ammunition that you want.”

“Thank you, Cap’n Bob. I’ll take some of the food, but you know none of my people know anything about guns. Besides, think about what would happen if any of the White folks around here would find a Black man with a gun. They’d be whipped and hanged. You know that.”

“But you’re free men, Pompey. You’ve got as much right as anyone to protect yourselves.”

“You’re right about that, Cap’n Bob. And we sure are grateful to Mister Charles for giving us our freedom. But we were never free except here on the farm. Once we left the farm, we were always just some more Black folks, slaves like all the rest. And that’s the way we’ve always been treated.”

“I guess I never thought about that, Pompey. I always thought of you as my best friend. Almost a brother.”

“And I always felt the same. But you can’t make other folks feel that way just because you say so. They’re pretty set in their ways.”

“All right, Pompey. I guess you know best. Take as much of the food as you want and see to them. Tell them how sorry I am that things turned out this way.”

“I will, Cap’n Bob. But it ain’t your fault. They know that.”

Pompey loaded some of the food from the Yankee wagon onto the farm wagon and climbed up on the seat.

“I’ll see to them and then I’ll come over to the Island. There’s some things I need to show you.”

He flicked the reins and drove off toward the woods that bordered the farm.

“Sergeant, let’s tie the horses behind the wagon and you can drive. I’ll lead the way.”

“Yes, sir. But what’s this Island?”

“It’s a piece of land in the river where the Dan meets the Roanoke, about four miles long. It’s where my family first settled when they came here before the Revolution. It was the safest place they could find.”

“Sounds like a good idee. You might be smarter than I thought. That is, if’n you take after them.”

“Thank you, Turley.”

“Jest one more thing, Cap’n. What you want to do about him?”

He nodded toward the Yankee bummer we had captured.

I looked over to the bound Yankee and walked over to him.

“What should I do with you, you Yankee scum?”

I looked down into his face. I couldn’t tell if it had gone white from pain or fear. I didn’t really care.

The prisoner looked up at me and stammered, “I-I-I don’t know. I was hoping you might let me go. I just come down from Illinois and joined up two months ago. I didn’t think this was what war was like.”

Turley interrupted. “How old are you, boy?”

“Seventeen, s-s-sir. Four months ago.”

I stood by watching and listening as Turley questioned him.

“Why the hell didn’t you jest stay there?”

“I-I-I thought it was my duty to come down here and fight.”

“And what you think now, boy?”

“I wish I was back home, plowing.”

I looked down at him with disgust. “So, how many other helpless women and old men have you killed?”

“I ain’t never killed nobody, s-s-sir. They just had me scrounging for food and stuff. I ain’t never even shot at anybody. I-I-I swear.”

Turley handed me the boy’s rifle. “Cap’n, his rifle ain’t even been fired.”

“Where’s Stoneman now?”

“Far as I know, he’s still down around Salem, down in North Carolina.”

“So why are you this far north and east of him?”

“They’ve burned and taken so much, there ain’t nothing left down there. So, we were ordered to move up here and see what we could find for provisions.”

“And were you ordered by that son-of-a-bitch to burn homes and kill women, children, and old men?”

“W-w-we didn’t get much in the way of orders. Just told to go find provisions.”

“So, whose idea was it to go to killing and stealing and burning?”

“That was Jake’s. He’s the one what had the painting. The one you killed. He was kind of in charge because he was too mean for anybody to stand up to. He said we could make a little for ourselves if we searched the houses and took whatever we found.”

“And what have you taken?”

“N-n-nothing, sir. I didn’t think it was right. It seemed like stealing. And the Good Book says you shouldn’t steal.”

“So, what do you think of your glorious service in the Yankee army now?”

“I-I-I wish I’d never left home. I didn’t know it was going to be like this.”

“Has Stoneman sent out any patrols into this area? Or just you damned bummers?”

“I-I-I don’t know. I think all the troops are still around Salem, raiding and burning down there.”

Turley pulled me aside. “So, what you want to do with him, Cap’n?”

“I don’t give a damn, Turley. You decide.” And I walked away.

Turley turned back to the bummer. “Boy, I ought to kill you for what y’all done to the Cap’n’s family.”

“T-t-that was his family? Oh, God!”

“You boys killed his daddy, his sister, the woman he was going to marry, and the Black woman who raised him. Pretty good day’s work, I’d guess you could say.”

“Oh, God! I don’t want to die. But I reckon I deserve it. I knew what they were doing was wrong, but I didn’t try to stop them. Just please make it quick, will you?”

“If I don’t kill you right here, boy, what you planning on doing?”

“I’d be going home. Just as fast as I could.”

“You ain’t worried about being arrested as a deserter?”

“I guess that could be a problem. But at least that way, I’ve got a chance. If you kill me here, I ain’t got none.”

“You got any money, boy?”

“I got a little bit. My wages. About ten dollars. You want it?”

“No, boy. I just want to make sure if I let you go that you ain’t going to be...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.11.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3178-1446-5 / 9798317814465