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windpipe. Dukes volleyed a half-dozen unanswered punches to his head, then hammered him in the
temple with one solid fist. There was a crack like a wooden mallet banging home a fid. Amboise dropped
like a sack of beets. He convulsed, ugly little twitches running over his body. His supporters stormed the
ring and carried him away before the referee finished counting him out.
Whether the cause was the punch to the throat, the fist to the temple, or the quality of the medical
care the ring doctor had passed out from drink about the fortieth round the word soon passed
through the crowd that Amboise was dead. Which didn't stop the band from playing Dixie, or Jase and
the Senator from collecting their winnings.
The Senator's pupils had shrunk to pinpricks when he returned to the grandstand with his winnings to find
his wife was sound asleep, slumped in her finery. From her throat issued delicate, ladylike snores.
Maybe you should get a hotel room tonight, Jase suggested. We can return to Long Shanks in the
morning."
The Senator considered. The opiate hadn't affected him at all, other than to increase his air of jollification.
Bound to be some parties in Yazoo City tonight. He jingled the gold and silver in his pocket. And it's
not me who will be paying."
I'm going to get Put-Up-Your-Dukes out of sight, Jase said, before somebody thinks to arrest him for
killing that boy."
They won't serve a warrant on a Navy ship, Pendergas said.
Jase nodded. Then I know where to hide him."
He needn't have drugged the punch after all, he thought. The possibility of a murder warrant was enough
excuse to get everyone aboard the Bee and head down the Yazoo.
Amboise had become another sacrifice to Jase's success.
10.
Jason taketh the Argo to sea
It was two in the morning when General Bee pulled up to Long Shanks Landing. Jase was surprised to
see the levee alight with torches and lanterns, and the ironclad abuzz with activity.
We got a wire, sir. Yankees coming up the river, said the man Pendergas had left in charge, the artillery
officer known as Euphemism. Two Eads ironclads, Clasher and General Stone, and a double-ended
gunboat."
Sudden fire blazed through Jase's veins. Have you got steam up? he demanded.
Steam's down, sir."
Well get it up, you fool! If the Yankee squadron caught Arcola tied to the bank and unable to move,
Jase and his crew might as well be in Paris for all the good they'd do.
The army lieutenant's eyes widened, and he turned to give the order, then hesitated. Where's General
Pendergas, sir? he asked.
In Yazoo City! Now get that steam up! He turned to Harry Klee. You'll take command of the Bee.
Get that torpedo ready."
Klee grinned. Lovely, Captain. Couldn't have worked out better."
Most of General Bee's crew poured off the tugboat to help ready Arcola for combat. Jase had a pair of
coal barges warped alongside Arcola on the river side so that the Yank boats couldn't ram her while she
was helpless against the bank. Harry Klee took the Bee down river on a reconnaissance.
Jase brought order to the Arcola, had the gunners standing by their pieces, the guns loaded and run out
the ports while the stokers worked like fury to raise steam. When one of Pendergas officers volunteered
to ride to the telegraph office and send the Senator a wire, Jase cursed him, called him a coward, and
ordered him back to his post.
The last thing he wanted was for Pendergas to show up on a chartered boat just in time to make himself a
hero.
At five in the morning Chief Tyrus reported that Arcola had a full head of steam. The National squadron
hadn't turned up. Bee returned at dawn without having scented any Yanks. Jase sent the crew to
breakfast by watches and had a chat with Harry Klee.
How's Put-Up-Your-Dukes? he asked.
Not talking much, Klee said, but I reckon he's all right. He spat. You think those Yankee boats
even exist?"
Jase stroked his unshaven jaw as he gave the matter his consideration. That wire was pretty specific,
down to the names of the Eads boats, he said. We've got to assume that the Yanks have a squadron
up the Yazoo somewhere. What with all the boasting our papers have been doing about this ram, it may
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