Chapter 5

Well, for a whole week, I was the town hero. I even had people askin' ifen I could make 'em some of them there throwin' knives an' teach 'em how to use the thin's. That scared me a mite, since I could see folks gittin' hurt cuz some idiot decided ta throw his knife an' missed his target. I got out of it by claimin' ta be too busy right now ta hold classes—maybe later? I figured that ifen I stalled long enough, they would fergit about the thin's.

Meanwhile, it sounded like thin's wuz heatin' up in the war with the Redsticks. Like everybody else, we wuz shocked ta hear 'bout the Fort Mims massacre over near Mobile. Andy Jackson better git his ass ta movin', or them Creeks are gonna win the war. Word wuz sent out that a militia was formin' ta fight the Creeks, but I didn't have no faith in a militia doin' no good, so I put off joinin'; especially since Cindy announced she were in a family way. Now, that got me a whole heap more excited than joinin' a militia.

Some of the older men in town wuz wonderin' ifen we should form our own local militia, just in Henryville. Word got out that Ezra had been in the Georgia militia, so he was asked ta lead the Henryville militia. He said that no way wuz he gonna git charged with that kind of responsibility, but he put my name up as a natural-born leader who could do it. I didn't know anythin' 'bout it at the time, but the situation finally caught up with me.

The day after we heard that Jackson had lost another battle, a delegation of town elders called on me at the smithy. Ole man Thompson was ringleader of the bunch, so he wuz the one what spoke first, "Johnny, ya've shown yerself ta be a good fighter an' a strong leader, so we want ya ta lead the Henryville militia."

"Asa, I can't do that. I ain't never had no military training. Shore, I kin fight on my lonesome, but I ain't no leader of men. Ya need some man with military experience, like Ezra Horn, fer instance."

"We done asked Ezra, an' he begged off, sayin' that ya wuz a hell of a lot better leader, an' he would foller ya anywhere. We don't need a man what will drill the men an' lead a bayonet charge; we need a man what kin plan the defense of Henryville with the skill ya showed at yer own house when the Redsticks came by the last time."

Well, I argued fer nigh on ta an hour that they needed somebody else, but they wouldn't give up. As it happened, Cindy came inta the smithy 'bout that time an' heard what was bein' said. She piped up with, "A' course Johnny will take the job. There ain't no better Injun fighter fer miles, ifen at all! Y'all jus' git outta the way an' let my Johnny run the show. He'll do the best job that could be done. I know, I've seen him in action."

Dammit, that sank all of my arguments right there. Cindy knew that I couldn't win an argument with her, so the question wuz settled. The men thanked me fer takin' the job an' asked me ta come by the tavern that evenin' after supper to discuss how I'd go 'bout the job of defendin' Henryville.

After they left, I said ta Cindy, "Ya know I didn't want that there job. Why'd ya stick me with it?"

"Cuz I know ya would do a good job, that's why! I don't want some half-wit messin' with defendin' me an' my baby. I know that ya'll do a good job an' not screw it up. I know that ifen ya can't protect Henryville, nobody kin."

Well, how kin ya argue with yer wife when she talks like that? I was stuck with the job, an' I knew it. Ezra picked that time ta walk in, so I said ta him, "OK, Lt. Horn, ya bastard, ya knew that this was gonna happen, didn't ya?"

He grinned, but said, "What do ya mean by 'Lt. Horn'?"

"Ya know damned well what I mean: ya're gonna be my second in command. Now, start practicin' that there salute!"

That broke him up. I thought he was gonna fall on the floor the way he was laughin' so hard. He came ta himself after a minute or two an' promised ta he'p me all he could.

That evenin', me an' Ezra met with Asa Thompson an' four other men in a little room off the main tavern. They wanted ta know what I had in mind fer defendin' the town.

I said, "That depends on how many attack. Ifen it's less than 20, we can easily handle it like we did the last time, with everybody defendin' his own home. Our houses are close enough ta each other what we kin he'p out each other from one house ta another.

"Ifen there's more than 50 attackin', then we should all meet at a strong point an' concentrate our defense there. Between 20 an' 50, we'll jus' have ta see.

"The inn an' tavern is the strongest building in Henryville, so it should be our strong point fer defense. I know some people won't like havin' ta leave their homes ta the Injuns ta loot an' burn, but there ain't no choice.

"There's 13 folks what has their own crossbow, now, an' are pretty good shots. We kin put a few at the windows an' keep the rest as mobile reserve ta rush where they're needed. The rest of the men with muskets kin be spaced around the buildin' at the loopholes with their wives or other he'pers ta reload fer 'em. The tavern celler kin be stocked with extra powder an' shot so we don't run out of ammunition in the heat of battle.

"I got a couple of other idees that need some work afore I bring them up. But, that's what I think needs ta be done. Y'all got any comments?"

There wuz a lot of complaint from around the table about abandoning most of the town ta the Injuns ifen a lot of them show up. I asked whether they had rather lose houses or people ta the Injuns, an' that shut most of them up. I could tall that every man still wanted his house protected, no matter what, but they couldn't figure out a way ta do it, so my plan was left as it wuz. We all had another beer an' went home.

Three nights later, there was another meeting, this time attended by virtually all of the men of the town. Asa Johnson explained ta everybody that I was the captain of the Henryville militia, an' I had a plan ta protect the folks of the town from the Redsticks ifen they decided ta come back. The owner of the hotel/tavern had agreed to the plan; hell, why not—his could be the only building ta survive ifen the Injuns got real fractious.

When Asa was through talkin', I got up an' gave the same outline of the plan that I had used the other night. I said that the militia wouldn't have no drills or nothin' like that, but everybody should be ready ta fight ifen the call went out. They all agreed ta go along with my plan, though I knew some would back out an' try ta run away ifen the Redsticks did come back. Actually, I didn't blame them much, since them Injuns wuz powerful good fighters an' mean as a riled yellow jacket wasp when they got goin'.

On the way home, I told Ezra that we better make up a heap more of the crossbow bolts, just in case we had ta use 'em. I told him that I had a idee ta make the bolts even more fearsome. I planned to mount a whistle on the bolt so that it would scream when it was shot; I figured that would put a scare inta most anybody, even if he wuzn't superstitious. Ezra thought that was a great idee, an' laughed pretty hard when he figured what the Injuns would think 'bout it.

The next day, I took a practice bolt an' stuck a simple whistle on the shaft. It took two or three tries ta git it jus' right, but the final result was a bolt that made a fearsome whistle as it flew through the air. I tested it over the full range an' couldn't see that the whistle made any difference in the bolt's performance. A body couldn't use it fer huntin', since the whistle would scare the game away, but I figured that it wuz a great weapon fer war.