Chapter 4

The dispatch rider got us an audience with the commandant much faster than I would have been able to do. James tried to hide his surprise at seeing me, but that was quickly wiped away as the young trooper came to attention and reported that Fort Ramson was under attack by the Rebels and requested relief. I then added what I knew.

“McComber’s Battalion,” James said to his adjutant, a lieutenant I did not know. “That’s a mounted infantry unit out of Arkansas, I believe. What the devil do they want with Fort Ramson?”

The lieutenant shook his head.

When James looked at me again, I saw he longed for a private moment, but there was no time. “Thank you, Otter, for your aid. This man owes you his life.”

I nodded acknowledgement with a solemn face while my heart lifted at what I had read in his look.