Mountain Laurel

"Chapter 1" Colonel Harrison read the letter a second time, then leaned back in his chair and smiled. The answer to a prayer, he thought. That was the only way to describe the letter: the answer to a prayer.Just to make sure it did indeed say what he thought it did, he looked at the letter again. General Yovington had issued orders from Washington, D.C., that Lieutenant L. K. Surrey was to leave the post of Company J, Second Dragoons, for a special assignment. But since Lieutenant Surrey had died just last week, Colonel Harrison would have to choose someone to take the assignment in his place.Colonel Harrison's smile grew broader. He was choosing Captain C. H. Montgomery to take Lieutenant Surrey's place. The lieutenant, now replaced by Captain Montgomery, was "requested" to escort a foreign opera singer into the gold fields of the Colorado Territory. He was to remain with her and her small band of musicians and servants as long as the lady needed him. He was to protect her from any dangers she would possibly encounter on her journey and to do what he could to make her travels more comfortable.Colonel Harrison put the letter down, handling it as though it were a precious relic, and smiled so broadly his face nearly cracked. Lady's maid, he thought. The high and mighty Captain: Montgomery was being ordered to be nothing more than a lady's maid. But, more important, Captain Montgomery was being ordered away from Fort Breck.Colonel Harrison took a few deep, cleansing breaths and thought about having his own fort to command, and about not having to deal with the perfection, the cool knowledge of Captain Montgomery. No longer would the men look to their captain for confirmation of every order, for permission to do: what their colonel asked of them.Colonel Harrison thought back to when he first came to Fort Breck a year ago. His predecessor, Colonel Collins, had been a drunken, lazy old fool. Collins's only concern had been surviving until he could retire, get out of Indian country and go back to Virginia, where people lived in a civilized manner. He was content to turn over all responsibility to his second-in-command, Captain Montgomery. And why not? Montgomery's record had to be seen to be believed. He'd been in the army since he was eighteen, and in the ensuing eight years he'd worked himself up through the ranks. He'd started as a private, and, after extraordinary heroism on the field of battle, he'd been made an officer. He'd gone from second lieutenant to captain in a mere three years, and at the rate he was going he'd outrank Colonel Harrison in another few years.Not that the man didn't deserve everything he'd ever earned in the army. No, as far as Colonel Harrison could tell, Captain Montgomery was perfect. He was cool under fire, never losing his head. He was generous, fair, and understanding with the enlisted men, and as a result they pretty much thought he ran the fort. The officers went to him with their problems; the officers' ladies fawned over him and asked his advice about social events. Captain Montgomery didn't drink, didn't patronize the whores outside the fort; he'd never lost his temper as far as anyone knew, and he could doanything.He could ride like a demon and, while at a full gallop, shoot the eye out of a turkey from a hundred yards away. He knew Indian sign language and a smattering of several Indian languages. Hell, even the Indians liked him, said he was a man they could respect and trust. No doubt Captain Montgomery would die before he broke his word.Everyone in the world seemed to like, honor, respect, even revere Captain Montgomery. Everyone, that is, except Colonel Harrison. Colonel Harrison loathed the man. Not just disliked him, not just hated him, butloathedhim. Everything the captain could do that the colonel couldn't made the colonel despise him more. The enlisted men saw within a week after the colonel's arrival that Harrison diDeveraux, Jude is the author of 'Mountain Laurel' with ISBN 9780671689766 and ISBN 0671689762.