Mississippi Raider (10 page)

“
Poppa
taught me all he knew,” Belle admitted. “But I would like you to
teach me all
you
know. With what I have to do, should I need to use a sword,
it won’t be for formal dueling, and I’ve already learned just how
much difference there is between fencing practice and using a sword
for what it is really meant. What I can learn from you could make
the difference between life and death for me.”

“
So
you want to know how to fight by foul methods,” de-Farge declared
rather than asked, his face remaining an expressionless mask. “And
your father didn’t know enough about them to teach you, but you
feel sure I
can.”

“
I’m
not so foolishly naive that I believe all those hotheads who live
for the
code
duello
are
noble sportsmen who stick to the rules at all times,” Belle pointed
out, realizing how the reason for her request could be interpreted
and seeking to make amends for any offense she may have
inadvertently caused. “And I’m aware that a man who has gained a
reputation as a duelist is sometimes challenged by men seeking to
gain a reputation by defeating him to such an extent that they
don’t care what means they use to bring it about. It’s the same as
Joe Brambile says about cheating at gambling: he doesn’t do it—or
you either—but you have to know how it can be done to stop others
doing it to you.”

“
Joe
has a good point, I’ll admit.”

“
I’ve
always felt so, and Poppa always used to tell me that if you want
to learn something, go to somebody who knows what it is all about.
Well, I may need to know how to fight any way I have to if I want
to stay alive and do what I mean to do.”

“
You’re going after Tollinger and Barmain?” the gambler
said, once again making the words more statement than
question.

“
I’ve
no brothers to do it,” the girl replied quietly. “And, as I told
Reverend Jacob, Poppa always raised me for the son he never had, so
it’s up to me to avenge his and Momma’s murder.”

“
Then
I’ll do as you wish,” de-Farge promised, and a faint smile came to
his lips. “May I ask if you will do something for me in
return?”

“
Of
course I will.”

“
You
may not approve when you hear what it is.”

“
You
probably don’t
really
approve of teaching me how to fight by foul means—and not
because you object to giving away what might be called trade
secrets,” Belle countered. “So what can I do for you?”

“
I
have a slender young Irish girl who looks like butter wouldn’t melt
in her mouth and even Roxanne is rather careful not to antagonize,”
the gambler explained. “She likes nothing more than to fight with
other women, and I have a rival with a lady for whom he has the
greatest regards along the same lines. If Andrea had at least some
of your skill at savate—!”

“
It
would give her what I’ve heard you gambling men call a decided
edge,” the girl guessed. “So you want me to teach her savate and
will make money by betting on her to win a fight?”

“
I
have something like that in mind,” de-Farge admitted with a
grin.

“
There
are some who would say doing it would smack of sharp practice,”
Belle pointed out, but she too was smiling. “Would you stoop to
such a thing?”

“
I
never
stoop, ma’am,” de-Farge asserted. “It’s just that, as you
suspect, I prefer a reasonable edge, as I have never believed in
gambling if doing so was avoidable at any point of my life. That is
why I run this house instead of playing in one owned by somebody
else.”

~*~

“
And
now, gentlemen, for the main attraction of the evening. The
settling of an affair of honor between Lady Roxanne
Fortescue-Smethers and her unknown assailant, whose identity will
only be exposed to you if she loses, Madame Mask!”

Standing with her shoulders
resting against the soft cloth sack filled with cotton hanging over
the wooden post in one
corner of the raised dais at the center of the
main room of Captain Anatol de-Farge’s gambling house, Belle Boyd
had never before appeared in public wearing such scanty and
revealing attire. With her hair—which had been dyed blond— drawn
back and held by a strip of black cloth in the way a later
generation would call a pony tail, her face was covered, except for
her eyes, nostrils, and mouth, by a silk mask of the same material.
She was clad in a figure-hugging sleeveless and white cotton bodice
with a more extreme décolleté than anything she had previously even
seen, short-legged matching pantalets, and ballet slippers without
padded points on her otherwise bare feet. Conscious of the
lascivious scrutiny to which she was being subjected by the male
occupants, she thought wryly that she had only herself to blame for
being there clad in such a fashion.

Accepting the offer of
assistance for Andrea that the girl had given, the gambler had
commenced her first lesson in fighting rather than merely fencing.
By the time she left for the Thatcher mansion in the evening, she
had already started to acquire some of the basics of
less-than-sporting combat with an
epee de combat.
She had also found her pupil for
lessons in savate to be equally enthusiastic over the possibility
of using such methods in physical conflict against other female
opponents and eager to learn all she could teach. The eagerness
displayed by the slender and agile brown-haired Irish youngster
toward the thought of fighting members of their sex had done much
to remove the misgivings she had had when agreeing to supply the
instruction. Therefore, de-Farge had found he had two willing
pupils seeking to acquire knowledge— albeit in different subjects
and for diverse purposes—working with assiduity under his
roof.

With the exception of Sundays,
for the past four weeks Belle had spent from nine in the morning
until five in the evening at the gambling house. Having been
summoned on the first Sunday to meet Mattie Jonias at the house on
the Baton Royale estate where she was recovering from the
gunshot
wound,
the girl had discovered that she knew what was taking
place. What was more important where Belle was concerned had been
that the elderly Negress not only guessed why she was behaving in
such a fashion, but—despite the disapproval often shown over her
less-than-ladylike activities before the attack on her home—stated
unqualified agreement with what she hoped to achieve. There had
been an added benefit for the girl in addition to receiving the
approbation from Auntie Mat-tie. Word had been spread among the
other colored folks by her former “mammy” that whatever Miss Belle
did was to be treated as a secret not to be disclosed under any
circumstances. Therefore, she knew that she need not fear even
accidental exposure by any of them and also was given cooperation
by all the grooms at her temporary residence when she went to
collect her horse each day.

Not only had de-Farge been as good as his
word when agreeing to teach Belle the secrets of the professional
duelist who sought to gain an unfair advantage when engaged in what
was supposed to be an affair of honor—in the acquiring of all of
which she had proved herself a most adept pupil whether with sword,
pistol, or fighting knife—of his own free will and making no
suggestion of requiring payment, but he provided several items that
he claimed might be of use in her quest. That he had them in his
possession implied he had at some time had the acquaintance of a
woman who had a decided instinct for self-preservation coupled with
an absence of moral scruples.

There was a bracelet of copper treated to
give the appearance of looking gold that had a section of the upper
edge rendered razor-sharp, allowing it to be used as an effective
slashing weapon when she had gained the knack of wielding it.
Possibly having been made with the intention of seeing identifying
marks on the backs of a deck of cards, the pendant of a costly gold
locket had a glass front that could be opened to serve as a
powerful magnifying glass. What appeared to be an ordinary ring had
a large apparently diamond stone that, when moved aside, allowed
enough of a powdered opiate—a supply of which the gambler
provided—from a space below it to render a human being unconscious
when dropped into a drink.

Saying the effects produced
upon unsuspecting members of his sex were sure to make doing so
worthwhile, the gambler had also made a suggestion that Belle
adopted and was to put to good use on numerous occasions for the
remainder of her
life. This was to have the waistband of her skirts modified
so they could be liberated and would fall to allow her legs greater
freedom of movement than was possible while the garment was in its
usual place. He also suggested she should have underneath either
the snugly fitting riding breeches and calf-high boots or—which he
claimed he considered as creating an even more salutary result—the
most daring nether garments she could obtain, along with black
stockings supported by brightly colored suspender
straps.

Such was the eagerness with which Belle
absorbed all her lessons, by the end of the fourth week de-Farge
had stated that he could teach her nothing further. What was more,
the instructions at employing savate and a few other bare-handed
fighting tricks that were supplied to Andrea had reached the point
where he considered her to be ready to carry out the purpose for
which she was being trained. Therefore, accepting the assessment,
he had arranged for the bout to take place on a Saturday evening
when he knew it would attract a large number of spectators who
would become players at the various games of chance he offered.

Wanting to see the results of her efforts
where Andrea was concerned, for the first time in her association
with the owner Belle had remained at the gambling house in the
evening. Then a snag had arisen. Claiming that his contender had
sustained an accident while in training, the man upon whom de-Farge
was hoping to gain an advantage in betting sent word that the bout
would have to be delayed. Knowing of the interest aroused by word
having been passed that such an event would be forthcoming, but
wanting to keep the capabilities of the Irish girl undiscovered,
the gambler had decided to employ substitutes.

Learning that the redhead was
to be one contender and remembering the way in which they had first
met, despite having learned how skimpily whoever was involved would
be attired, it had been with a sense of impish perversity that
Belle offered to be the other participant. When de-Farge warned
that there were sure to be men with whom she was acquainted among
the spectators, she had suggested a means by which she could avoid
being recognized. She had realized that the stipulation of the mask
being removed in the event of her
losing could circumvent the scheme to keep
her identity a secret, but had stated that this gave her an added
incentive to become the winner.

The time had come for the commencement of
the bout, and Belle was unable to prevent a slight apprehension as
she considered the outcome should she lose.

T
hrusting herself forward on the order to
commence the bout being given by the small man who had been
introduced as “Our Referee, Mr. Horatio Hislop,” Belle Boyd put the
plan of campaign she had formulated into effect. She had already
tested and found to her liking the surface of what she had been
informed by Captain Anatol de-Farge was called a ring and what came
into regular use elsewhere for carrying out bare-fisted pugilism or
wrestling between men. Beneath the smooth cloth stretched tightly
across all of it was a three-inch-deep layer of straw spread to an
even thickness. This was only one of the precautions that had been
taken to reduce the chance of either combatant being injured in the
fighting.

Although she had had no experience in such
matters, even at second hand through hearing anything of the kind
discussed around the fire on a hunting expedition—where various
unusual types of sport or entertainment were occasionally the
subject of conversation—Belle could not find fault with the way in
which the bout was to be conducted. In addition to both having
their fingernails cut down and filed smooth, they were wearing
white cotton gloves to further prevent scratches from being
delivered in a way that could leave disfiguring scars. They had
also been informed by the referee of the kind of tactics, including
biting and eye-gouging, that were not permissible. For the rest,
they were instructed to continue their struggles until one was
unable to continue or stated she wished to surrender.

Darting toward Roxanne
Fortescue-Smethers, who was dressed in the same way as herself
except for her garments being bright blue, Belle watched the way
she was being approached. The good-looking and curvaceously
close-to-buxom redhead clearly had had considerable experience in
such affairs and was moving in a slightly crouching posture with
hands
held
slightly ahead, ready to take whatever action she felt the
situation required. What Roxanne did not anticipate was the way the
slender and, as she had had her eighteenth birthday shortly after
the murder of her parents, twelve-years-younger girl was
intending.