Frenchman's Promise
by Hank Valon

EXCERPT

Chapter 1

The carriage hurtled down the dirt road throwing up mud with each wheel. On top in the driver’s seat Oscar the driver handled the pair of bays and dodged the mud thrown up by their hooves while Old Simon the butler, struggled just to stay aboard. Inside, even though they had their feet braced against the seat opposite and were hanging on for dear life, the jolting unsprung frame bounced the three female passengers free of their seats occasionally. The dirt road with its occasional large rock and potholes gave quite a jolt at eight miles an hour. The driver’s sudden “Whoa! Whoa there!” and the resulting skidding stop as the brakes were applied. Amanda was thrown up out of the seat and across the coach to land on top of her mother and sister.

Extricating herself from the pile of petticoats and dresses, she struggled to her feet angrily. With hat and curls askew she unlatched the door and intended to step out in a dignified manner and reprimand Oscar severely for his careless driving. However her heel caught in the hem of Rebecca’s dress and sent her diving out the door headfirst. She landed in the mud with her posterior skyward and the rest of her buried under a pile of petticoats.

The sound of several male voices laughing uproariously did not bode well. It was Rebecca that pulled her into a more upright position and dug into the pile of petticoats and quickly restored her modesty, though not her dignity. Her hat was askew and the brim torn through and down around her neck when Rebecca pulled her to her feet. It was at this point she could see the sources of the laughter. A semicircle of horses faced the coach. The mounted men were masked and held fusils pointed at Oscar and Simon. “The highwaymen!” flashed through her mind.

“Good day to you, ladies,” said the tallest of them. He didn’t tip his hat, which was clamped down over a black hood. I hope one of you is Miss Amanda Greene?”

“I’m Amanda Greene,” she said trying to be belligerent instead of scared to death. “What do you want? We aren’t carrying any money.”

“Well now missy, we didn’t expect you to be carrying the family fortune today, but we thought your papa should be willin’ to part with some of it to get you back. We have calculated you to be worth about two hunnerd pounds.

“Davy, fetch the lady her horse.”

A tall thin rider led a horse from the bushes. “We takin’ both of ‘em?”

“No, we’re not greedy,” said the leader. “Don’t want ta take all a man’s daughters bein’s he doesn’t have any sons. This one will do for now.

“Now Madam Greene, you tell Mr. Greene we’ll be notifyin’ him as to how to pay the ransom. Don’t want no tobacco or corn nor cattle. We want coin of the realm, gold or silver.

“Git her up there, Davy?”

“’ope she don’t fall off,” replied Davy.

“I won’t fall off. You men will rue this day,” she warned as two of the ruffians hoisted her aboard the horse sideways. She slipped her muddy shoe into the stirrup “You just wait. I am engaged to be married to Giles Sanford. He’ll have every ranger in the colony after you brigands.”

“Why, missy,” said the leader. “That is plumb frightening, but the last time I looked we already have every ranger in Virginia looking for us. Haw, haw. Let’s go.” He waved his hand over his head and lead the band into the trees. In just a few seconds they were gone.

* * * *

The leader of the highwaymen was alone when he rode up to the huge barn in the darkness. He could see the same carriage parked in front of the house. The two bays were standing patiently. He dismounted and walked his horse into the breezeway.

“That you Harry?” came a voice in the darkness.

“Yes, You Red?”

“Yep, Gilly’s got visitors. Mr. Greene is bringin’ Gilley the bad news ‘bout his daughter bein’ kidnapped. Ain’t that a shame,” said the mocking voice.

“Just terrible,” replied Harry. “Poor thing, she had to eat with her fingers tonight.”

“You have any trouble keepin’ her on the horse?”

“You know, we was surprised. She stayed on that horse the whole way to Number Two. Never fell off once. I warned Davy to keep an eye on her. She can ride purty good. If she gets loose and makes it to a horse she’ll be the devil to catch again. You got a bottle out here? Looks like Gilley might be busy awhile.”

“I’ll go fetch you one from the house,” said Red. “Want something to eat? Tully can get the cook to fill you a plate?”

“If you would. I didn’t stay to eat with the others.” Harry led his horse to a stall and slipped off the bridle and saddle.

It was an hour later before the carriage left and Harry walked up to the house. Tully led him into the big hall with its long table. Gilley was sitting at the table with a bottle and glasses in front of him.

“I take it everything went as planned,” said Gilley pouring two glasses.

“Without any problems,” replied Harry taking a seat. “Your part?”

“The fool couldn’t wait to sign the note for a mere two hundred. He is working harder than we are to make this work. It’s hard to believe. He thinks he’s taking advantage of me! Can you believe it? Last month he comes to proposition me to marry his daughter so she’ll be financially secure. He tells me she is his heir to bait me into the proposition. He has title to twenty thousand acres. Five thousand is already under cultivation with twenty tenants. I already have that much and more so he has to make his daughter seem worth my time. He signed a marriage contract that gives the whole thing to her when he dies. Then tonight after you kidnap his daughter he comes to me to borrow the ransom money. He doesn’t have the cash, just tobacco and land. He signed this note, which he thought was a collateral note for the two hundred pounds. He thinks he’s to repay me two hundred pounds in tobacco next spring.”

Harry sipped his whiskey. “What does it say?”

“It says that he borrowed two thousand pounds and if he dies before next spring his property comes to me if his estate can’t come up with two thousand pounds in gold or silver to repay the loan. Of course I had to agree to marry his oldest daughter, Amanda. I had to write in a lot of words to befuddle his mind. He doesn’t read too well. He was only interested in getting me to agree to marry his daughter. He ignored the rest.”

“So we still have to work the ransom for the two hundred?” asked Harry.

“Well, that will just give your boys something to do. The two hundred will go to them. We have to keep them happy and out of trouble. We don’t want any of them going off and working on their own and getting caught. Think of me, I have to marry the girl. From what I have seen she looks all right, but she’s spoiled rotten. I doubt she can make a decent cup of tea.”

“And we have until next spring to make her an orphan,” said Harry.

“And then me a widower. That’s a whole year,” said Gilley. “I daresay we could murder the both of them a hundred different ways in that length of time. We can sell the land or put a good overseer on it and retire to Williamsburg or Charlestown and drink good whiskey and make bastards for the rest of our lives.” He raised his glass in a toast.

“Sounds good enough,’ agreed Harry. “But I don’t know. I don’t think I could live the life of a gentleman. I get the urge to cut a throat every now and then. Gentlemen aren’t allowed to do that.”

“Oh, but they are,” replied Gilley. “A gentleman is allowed to do things the common folks can’t. If a gentleman gets caught stealin’ he just says it was all a mistake and here your honor, here’s a hundred. Why don’t you buy your wife a new butler? Or Mr. Smith you thought I stole your horse? Why I was just buyin’ him. Here’s a sack of money.”

“But I was sayin’ throat cuttin’,” said Harry. “That’s a little different.”

“Not so,” said Gilley. “You just have to know who to pay for the privilege. After we sell these estates we’ll have more than enough to pay for all the privilege we want.”

“Speakin’ of privilege,” said Harry, “Some of the boys went over the mountains to see what was there. They run across some Shawnee Indians out huntin’ buffalo. There weren’t many Indians, so they lit into ‘em. They collected some scalp bounty and took a couple women and a boy for slaves. The boy escaped and one of the women come down sick so they traded her to some other Indians for buffalo hides. The one woman they brought back they brought for you. They know how you like your play women. This one is about as pretty a woman I ever saw. And just about as mean a one too. You like ‘em with a little fight. This one nearly killed Quint. She caught him lookin away and hit him in the head with a rock and she was tied up at the time.”

“You say she is pretty?” said Gilley brightening.

“Very,” said Harry. “Every bit as pretty as that bit of fluff we took to Number Two.”

“And frisky?” Said Gilley smiling.

“I’d call it vicious,” said Harry. “I’d slit her throat and sell her scalp. But you have different tastes. Couple of the boys insisted we save her for you. We’ll bring her around. You can always slit her throat later, if she don’t slit yours first.”

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