The Black Jacks

Every morning, McAllen awoke to an almost irrepressible urge to saddle Escatawpa and head west. He had to convince himself on a daily basis that if Caldero really was trying, then he had a much better chance of getting Emily back that way. He couldn't do Emily much good dead—which would be his likely fate if he ventured alone onto the Llano Estacado. Finally he decided to give Caldero two months. If he hadn't heard anything by then he would go on his own, come what may. Two months wasn't much time, but McAllen could not give more; if he waited much longer than that to get started he would be slowed by the onslaught of winter.

He tried to immerse himself in plantation affairs. There was plenty of work to do, and McAllen felt as though he had neglected his home all summer long. The sugarcane was maturing fast. Soon it would be time to cut it with cane knives. Stalks stripped of their leaves would be placed in a hopper, and the rollers, turned by mules, would press the juice from the stalks. The juice would then have to be boiled to form sugar crystals.

In the mill, or "sugar house," the raw cane juice was first placed in the largest of three kettles, la grande, where lime was mixed in to act as a flux for releasing impurities. As the liquid heated up, the foreign particles rose to the top and were removed with copper skimmers into a wooden trough. La grande's contents were then ladled into a smaller kettle, la flambeau. Here the juice continued to boil, creating more scum to be skimmed off. As the juice cooked, it thickened and fewer impurities were released.

Finally the syrup was ready for the smallest and hottest kettle, la batterie. Here the syrup was boiled to the consistency needed for crystallization, at which time the batch was ready for "striking," removal to the cooling vats. Throughout the cooling process the syrup continued to granulate. Completely cooled, the raw sugary material called massecuite was transferred into large barrels for the final purging of molasses. What remained were brown crystals, or raw sugar, ready to be marketed. Arrangements would have to be made to transport the sugar and the molasses down the Brazos by boat.

In addition, a large quantity of wood would need to be cut and stored for heating and cooking during the winter months. In the process, fences that needed mending would be attended to. Early corn had already been picked, and a second crop was being planted. These and a dozen other tasks demanded attention. But McAllen's problem was that Jeb had proven himself an extremely efficient overseer and quite capable of handling everything in a more than satisfactory ma

Bits and pieces of important news reached him. Major Charles Stewart was found guilty of the murder of Jonah Singletary and sentenced to hang. Many people had expected Sam Houston to intervene on the major's behalf, ironically, it was President Lamar who stepped in to save Stewart from the hangman's noose. Lamar commuted the Englishman's sentence, and then went so far as to pardon him. McAllen presumed that the president had struck a deal with Stewart, giving the Englishman his life in exchange for political ammunition in the form of details regarding the co

Stewart, however, did not leave Texas alive. After arriving in Galveston to seek passage on a British ship, he was found dead in an alley near the wharves. The consensus was that a gang of Irish wharf rats had attacked him—the corpse had been stripped of everything of value. But McAllen had a sneaking suspicion that Leah's father might have been behind the killing. Assuming he knew that Stewart had raped his daughter, Henry Pierce would not have let the Englishman escape justice. Of course, Pierce was an important man in Galveston—important enough to get away with murder. If there was a co

The French chargé d'affaires, Saligny, was more successful than Stewart in leaving Texas. Having had all he could stomach of Bullock's pigs, the count had shot and killed one of the i

Brax Torrance, having recovered from the amputation of his foot, disappeared from Grand Cane, and rumor had it he had gone to join the Texas Rangers. As for Yancey, McAllen never expected to see his friend again.

Finally, in early October, McAllen's suit for divorce, on the grounds of adultery, was adjudicated and finalized.

The very next day, Jeb came ru

I have found her. Meet me at the Caves of the Colorado in a fortnight.

There was no signature, but then there didn't need to be.

Within the hour McAllen was ready to go. Joshua had the horses saddled, and Bessie had put some provisions in a gu

"As you can see," said McAllen, "it's been witnessed by Dr. Artemus Tice. Whether I come back or not, Jeb, you and the others are free. I've sent a copy to Robert Mills, my factor. You know him. If I die, you'll get your own section of land. If I come back, I'll pay everyone who wants to stay a percentage of what we make off the crops."

"You'll come back, Marse John," said Jeb. "And I reckon we'll all be right here waitin'."

McAllen nodded, climbed into the saddle on the gray hunter, and with a wave to Bessie and Roman, who stood on the porch, rode down the lane with Joshua following. Jeb joined the others on the porch and read them the letter.

"Lawdy, lawdy," moaned Bessie. "Dat mean he don't think he be comin' home."

"He'll come home," said old Roman, and settled resolutely into a rocking chair. "And I'm gwine sit right here till he do."

"You a crazy old man. You gwine sit dere, day and night, for who knows how long? Bessie shook her head. "Leastways, I won't have to worry 'bout you killin' yourself by workin' in dat garden all day."

Rocking back and forth, Roman didn't say anything, his eyes glued to the lane that led down to the river road.

"Ol' fool," muttered Bessie, and turned to go inside. She paused at the door and glanced back. The fondness in her eyes as she gazed at the old man belied her words. She knew he would do it. He was stubborn enough, and devoted enough to Marse John, to see it through. And tonight she would come out after he was asleep and put a blanket around him and touch his weathered face and say a little prayer.

Chapter Thirty-two

The caverns had been formed millions of years ago in an uplift of limestone. Water had done the work, leaking through cracks and crevices, dissolving the limestone; the flooding which followed heavy rains roared through these passages, widening them. Dripping water formed stalagmites, stalactites, columns, and flowstone. Blind albino fish swam in underground streams. Some of the main openings into the underground labyrinth were sinkholes ranging in size from ten to hundreds of feet across.