Robert Conroy - 1882 - Custer in Chains

“Major, I have a sneaking suspicion that there is going to be a real circus when the order is given to embark. Therefore, I want an armed platoon on each of our ships to protect them from being stolen out from under us.”

“Do you think that’s really necessary?”

“Yes I do. You’ve seen some of these units. I was recently told that to call them mobs would be to insult a true mob, yet they all want to be in the first convoy and get all the glory. Since there aren’t enough ships to take everyone, it’s possible that some of these so-called warriors will try to steal our transports. Look, we’ve been training hard and it shows. However, some of our sister regiments have been acting like this is a picnic with rifles.”

Barnes laughed. “You’re right. I’ll have men on each ship and they’ll be armed and ordered to use force to repel boarders. By the way, colonel, what have you heard from Haney?”

“Nothing and I don’t expect to, at least not for a while. If he can, he is going to meet us off Florida. If not, we’ll wait until we land at Matanzas. Right now he’s probably running around Cuba with a pack of rebels and having a wonderful time killing Spaniards.”

* * *

For Kendrick it had been one of the most awkward dinners in memory. Gilberto Salazar had tried being a gracious host, but had showed up drunk for the meal and continued to drink throughout it. His wife, a stern and plain woman named Juana had been there as well and had glared daggers at her husband. That there was no love lost between them was an easy conclusion.

To make matters even more awkward, Salazar had brought a German woman named Helga to sit beside him, and she was clearly his mistress. Helga was blond, plump, and looked vacantly around the room. It was clear that she’d been drinking as well and, with each deep breath she took, her ample breasts threatened to spill out of her dress. That Juana wanted to kill both of them was evident. Kendrick found himself feeling sorry for the slighted woman. Salazar’s wife was thin, had a hook nose, and wore her dark hair pulled back in a severe bun. She was dressed in black like a caricature of a nun and said almost nothing throughout the meal.

Just as the dinner was grinding to an end, a messenger came with information that enraged Salazar. He crumpled the note and threw it across the room before announcing that rebels had attacked a patrol and killed several of his men. He would have to leave immediately. He lurched to his feet and ordered his horse saddled and a troop of cavalry to accompany him. Kendrick had no idea what use Salazar’s presence would be since, by his own admission, the rebels would be far, far away from the site of the killings by the time he got there. Kendrick was delighted that he was not invited to accompany him.

Just before departing, Salazar turned on his wife. “I brought you to this meal to meet the American,” he snarled. “I thought you would at least be civil.”

Juana was not intimidated. “How can I be civil in the presence of your whore? Why do you insist on flaunting the simple creature? Why don’t you just leave her in bed where she belongs?”

Salazar grabbed Juana’s arm and pulled her to her feet. She showed no emotion while Helga commenced to blubber. “See what I have to put up with, Kendrick? My own wife, a woman who should be submissive, shows no respect for me. Do you like women, Kendrick?”

“Of course,” he answered softly, wondering what the hell kind of trouble any answer would result in.

“Excellent,” Salazar said as he roughly pushed Juana back into her chair. “Tonight she will come to your room and you have my permission to fuck her. No, I insist that you fuck her.”

With that astonishing pronouncement, Salazar left. Kendrick figured that Salazar would be gone the better part of a week. With his angry departure, the diners abruptly left for their respective rooms.

As was customary in Cuba, they had eaten late and Kendrick had not gotten to his suite until midnight. He stripped to his cotton underclothing, sat on the bed, and lit a thin cigar. He normally enjoyed a good Cuban smoke, but not this evening. He was too tense to fall asleep so there was no danger of fire from smoking in bed.

He heard a noise and watched as the doorknob turned and the door opened. To his astonishment, Juana entered. She was wearing a long nightgown and carried what looked like a robe over her right arm.

She stood a few feet in front of him and dropped the robe from over her arm. She had a derringer in her hand.

“My husband commanded me to come here and submit to you. If I don’t, he will beat me. The servants have seen me enter your room and will believe that you and I will have done what he wished.”

This is incredible, Kendrick thought. “You don’t have to worry about me, Juana. I would never hurt you or take you against your will.”

She blinked and nodded. “I’d like to believe you, but I don’t. Gilberto has been cruel and brutal, but he’s never done anything like this before. I think he has been slipping further into madness each day. Regardless, if you try to force me, I will kill you.”

“No you wouldn’t.”

“And why not?”

He noticed that her hand was shaking. “You didn’t cock the pistol.”

She looked bewildered. “What?”

“With that model, you have to cock the hammer to make it fire. Are you even certain it’s loaded?”

Her jaw dropped. He reached over and took the derringer from her unprotesting hand. She hadn’t cocked it, but it was loaded. He removed the bullet and handed the pistol back to her.

“If you’d like, you may hit me over the head with it. However, you will have no reason to.”

Juana smiled wanly and sat down in a chair across the room. “In truth, I was never too worried. Some of Gilberto’s friends are as monstrous as he, but you did not strike me as one of them. Now, however, I must stay here long enough for the two women who spy for him to be satisfied that we have consummated his command. Someday I think I will delight in having those two shrews whipped within an inch of their lives, but that would mean I would sink to his level.”

“Would he really beat you?”

Juana shrugged. “He has in the past. Nothing serious, just a few slaps and punches to places where the bruises won’t show. He’s a very cruel person who has had people who offended him whipped and mutilated, especially the peasants. Some he’s even had killed. He will do nothing like that to me. My uncle is a bishop here in Havana and Gilberto fears for his immortal soul in his own strange way.”

Kendrick knew many men who beat their wives. It was quite common, although, as a bachelor, he didn’t know how to judge someone who did. He was no saint, but he had never struck a woman and couldn’t imagine circumstances where he would. Self-defense, of course, was another matter and a woman with a pistol was a clear threat. He was glad that Juana was so inept with guns.

“How can I help you, Juana?”

She smiled again and this time it was with a measure of warmth. “Since we are going to be together for a while, you might get me one of those cigarillos.”

* * *

President Custer read the latest intelligence estimates and was appalled. “Are you telling me that as of only a few years ago, the Spanish had a quarter of a million soldiers in Cuba? Dear God, I didn’t think they had a fifth of that.”

Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln was equally dismayed. “This information only came to light recently. The large numbers of Spanish soldiers was as a result of their long war against Cuban insurgents. We have no idea how many of them remain. We do know, however, that significant reinforcements have landed and that others are en route.”