Band of Angels Page #9

- Yeah, more than an hour ago.

I'll get him. I'll get him.

Give it to him again.

Aye, there it is.

Old Alec Hinks, a blockade runner.

Oh, but I always thought

his name was Hamish Bond, aye?

Aye, so it is now, me old bucko.

Our soldier's a fine landlubber

of a gentleman, he wanted to be.

And it's requiring

an army of vast proportions...

...to send him back to sea again.

Pull up the anchor. Give me some sail.

We'll drop our cargo in New Orleans,

and come back here to pick him up.

Hey, break out two kegs of rum.

We'll be needing them.

I'm aiming at your back, monsieur.

Put it down.

Turn around.

Well, my k'la.

That is what I used to be called.

This is a new day.

Maybe for you, but not for me.

Sit down.

I told you to sit down.

Now, go ahead

and tell me about it, Rau-Ru.

Monsieur's living in the past.

Yes, you know I am.

I never got out of the old days.

I was always out in the Rio Pongo,

always living it over again.

You won't be bothered

by those memories much longer.

No? And who's going to wipe them out?

You?

Excuse me, Rau-Ru, if I don't shy too easy.

It's pretty hard for me to get the shakes

over the likes of you...

...because I've known you since

you were no bigger than a shucked oyster.

A man can't be afraid

of something he's proud of.

And believe me, Rau-Ru,

I'm real vainglorious about you.

You learned a lot from me

beside book knowledge. Yup.

Right now, you're thinking of that bounty

that General Butler has offered for my pelt.

I'll give it to my platoon.

White soldiers are on their way

to get you now...

...but I want the satisfaction

of taking you in.

Put those on.

Sure, sure.

You'll get a thousand dollars for me,

that's a pretty fair prize for a beginner.

Not much the way I used to sell them,

in bulk.

I remembered that night in Africa,

the night we burned the village.

I guess that was the biggest grab

I ever made.

But I stood in the middle and watched

the unfit Negroes get massacred...

...by my partner, Gezo, and his blacks.

Flames leaping to the top of the jungle,

a million bats squeaking in the sky.

And that's when I saw

the woman get a spear in her.

I mean, she was a woman I used to know.

I took her aboard my ship once...

...but she got home fever

so I send her back to her jungle.

But there she was now, dying,

sprawled out on the ground...

...trying to protect something

underneath her.

- A 2-month-old brawling brat...

- That's got nothing to do with now.

Then one of Gezo's men

took a spear swipe at the young'un.

I, like an idiot, jumped in the middle

and got his spear clean through my leg.

But I let him have it with my ship's knife,

right through his crocodile belly.

I guess that was the other fellow with me,

not Hamish Bond.

That started me slashing at Gezo's men

like they were the enemy.

I guess I wanted some blood too.

Old Gezo thought it was a good joke,

me all mixed up, fighting on the other side.

And then he reached down

and picked up the kid and handed it to me.

I suppose he thought

I wanted to eat the brat.

You are not talking your way

out of this.

So there I was with a messed-up leg

and a whimpering pup on my hands...

...for the rest of my usual days.

But I grew to be proud of him.

I brought him up like my own son.

Hired the best teachers for him.

Denied him nothing.

He called himself my k'la.

That is until he grew up

to know the value of 30 pieces of silver.

Go.

Go wherever you are going.

Cypress Cove.

You remember Boatswain Canavan.

- I have the prisoner, sir.

- Where'd you come from, sergeant?

- Across the bayou in a skiff, sir.

- Short way, huh?

Beat us to the big juicy prize.

Well, Bond, I've hunted game in my day,

and if it's any compliment to you...

...you're the toughest old grizzly

I ever caught.

That's no compliment from a blue-belly

who hasn't been weaned yet.

And you, you whelp.

I wish I'd let you burn in Africa.

I'm sorry that spear went through my leg

instead of your guts.

The abuses one must suffer

to gain freedom.

But nothing worthwhile is easily bought.

The agonies, the torments,

the humiliations...

...all these are the natural elements

from which the key is forged.

The key that opens the vistas

of new worlds and new lives.

The key to freedom.

You're quite a philosopher, sergeant.

Where did you get that fancy talk?

He got it from me.

With your permission,

I'll take him to the general's headquarters.

Wait a minute, sergeant.

I'll have a couple of my men

deliver him to General Butler personally.

Corporal, order the rest of my men

to search the premises.

Any wagons, plows, harrows,

confiscate them.

- Look in the storehouse and the barn.

- Yes, sir.

Well, I see he left some valuables,

at least.

Pour us a drink, sergeant.

You know, I like you, sergeant.

I like the way you handled Hamish Bond.

I'm gonna recommend you

for an advancement.

That's very kind of you, sir.

Well, it might lead to something

a lot more important than that bounty.

Which I presume you're going to claim.

Yes, sir.

- I took Monsieur Bond prisoner.

- Yes, of course.

But I was thinking that perhaps

a white officer's influence...

...might be worth some money to you.

Not unless I could change my color, sir.

Oh, I see what you mean.

And under such circumstances...

Well, let's look at it this way.

You take the money, sergeant...

...and allow me

to take the military credit.

A white man's bargain, sir?

I'd have to think of it.

Certainly. Certainly, sergeant.

I know you're a man of honor

and you're only thinking of my good.

I've decided...

...to let you have whatever glory

and bounty that's due this occasion.

- You will?

- Yes, sir.

I guess it's my sense of inferiority, sir.

Well, well. I do like you, sergeant.

I really do.

A nigg... I mean, a Negro such as you...

...I don't mind shaking hands.

Whoa. Can't take you no further, missy.

Belle Helene's across there somewhere.

But the wilderness has done

swallowed up the whole road.

- I'll find it.

- You gonna get lost.

Monsieur Hamish!

Manty, you did forgive everything.

Rau-Ru, I guess he felt he couldn't

be free unless I was.

You. All of us.

He still is the k'la.

He's even more than that.

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