McLean heard the middle stair creak and felt Frazer come cautiously in the door. He turned, smiled at him reassuringly, and then said, “This is Mr. Frazer. Jim, meet William Pinkerton, the President of our company. William, Mister Frazer is a scholar from England with the Ethnographic Survey.” He raised his eyebrows significantly, but William did not catch the meaning behind those words. “Really?” William stood up and offered his hand. “And where do you study?” Frazer looked from one to the other, slightly confused. “Well, for the moment, here. I’m collecting tales of native cultures. But I read at Trinity. Cambridge.” William looked suitably impressed. “I’m a Notre Dame man myself.”
McLean decided to jump in. “Jim needed a connection to someone in a local tribe. We have a young lad helping us who was able to help, and settled on a price for that service. It’s a per diem.” William Pinkerton, who was stout, with a big square head crowned with black hair, accented by a small mustache, and bright blue eyes, nodded. “How much are you paying the boy?” “Yet to be determined,” McLean said. “It depends on the client’s satisfaction.” Pinkerton nodded. Was it worth asking further? He decided not. Harry McLean was already irritated enough. And could simply take his pension and retire to a comfortable life in Denver if pushed too far. Fortunately, William knew, he loved the work too much to do that. “Well, I’ll leave that to you. Are you satisfied so far, Mister Frazer?”
“Jim, please. Yes. It’s going very well. Harry has also been very helpful.” William Pinkerton smiled. “Glad to hear it.” McLean nodded. He cleared his throat. “Uh, Jim, I think we will have to pick this up later. William and I have agency business to discuss.” Frazer looked slightly surprised. “Of course,” he murmured. “Perhaps tonight?” “I will find you,” McLean promised. Frazer was quickly gone.
The two detectives stared at each other. “What the Hell are you playing at, William?” McLean finally exploded. “This is one diabolical liberty, just showing up like this!” “Why are you surprised?” Pinkerton leaned back. “I do the same with other branches now. It keeps people on their toes. And with the current political and economic situation, we need to be sharp. Got the big Centennial celebration next year, and the election.” McLean stared at him, and then sighed. “Working as hard as I can, Boss. You don’t like it, then send me back to Denver and my wife and kids. Run this yourself.”
Pinkerton held out both hands before him as if pushing back an invisible wall. “Now, Harry, I meant nothing by it. You know that we miss you in Chicago, and we need someone we can trust here. This is a great location. It gets us into Mexico.” McLean began to make a pot of coffee. “Not sure we want to go there, myself. Different system of law. Napoleonic Code. Different language, and, by the way, about a hundred thousand Indians in various tribes that don’t recognize that border or any White Man’s authority.” “We go where the business is.” Pinkerton looked at the journal again. “Explain this bit of correspondence. Why are you writing Elmer Washburn about a balloon?” McLean’s face relaxed into a smile. He chuckled. “Now that is a mystery. You’ve not been over to the Mercado? The big square near the cathedral?” Pinkerton shook his head no. McLean set the coffee pot on top of the pot bellied stove, lit the fire and sat down in the chair at the next desk.
“Yesterday, a big hot air balloon appears there and lands. Bigger than you have ever seen. Now young Frazer and me, we’d struck up an acquaintance the day before, and he’s told me about Mademoiselles Pompadour and her traveling show. I thought he was having me on until I saw this prodigious balloon appear, and this very attractive blonde lower herself over the side, wearing pink tights that did nothing to conceal her figure. Quite an entrance.”
Pinkerton stared at him, and then nodded. “Young Frazer has been hired by them as an advance man, and there is a big greeting with a band, and he introduces me to the lady. She sees my badge and wants to know, right away, if I’m from the Government. I explain that we are and always have been a private enterprise. She says you must come to dinner. So I do that.” The coffee was ready and McLean got up and poured two cups. “Be careful not to burn your hand,” he cautioned. Pinkerton took his cup and set it on the desk to cool. “And?” “They are staying at the Excelsior. Best hotel in town. And the name of the lady is actually Rose Green, and she’s from Liverpool. And the pilot is Sir Percy Wyndham, who does not have his trademark mustaches that he wore when he commanded the First New Jersey during the War. The others are a mixed lot, Italian and French scientists. The crew are dressed like French sailors, but King Victor Emmanuel is the sponsor.” Pinkerton nodded slowly. “I am going to have to read up on this, because I’m understanding only about half of what you are saying. Cut to the chase, Harry. Why write Washburn about this?” McLean shook his head.
“Come on, William. Ethnographic Survey? That’s a British Secret Service cover most of the time. Jim Frazer’s research may be on the up-and-up, but the rest of it stinks like fish that’s been left out too long. And why the big show to cover what they are really doing? Rose Green’s real name is Rose Greenhow.” Pinkerton was startled. “Like the famous Confederate spy?” “Her daughter. And reputedly the bastard child of her and Jose Limantour, the current Minister of Finance for Mexico. As crooked as they come, and Rose’s paterfamilias in England is Judah P. Benjamin. She was a little drunk and feeling sorry for herself, and just babbled on. Or so it seemed.” “You think it was an act?”
“They were trying to recruit me, William. Pull me back in. I came here for them before the War. Your Dad knows all about it. He worked for them, too.” “What?” McLean sighed. “You ever talk politics with Allan? Back then, we were Chartists, rebels against the Queen. We got caught. Given a choice between a rather grisly traitor’s death and working here for Percy Anderson at the British Legation helping the Abolitionists. Well, that suited us just fine, and we joined the Chicago Police and became detectives, and then Allan set up the agency, and then found another lost cause, the Presidential campaign of a railroad lawyer by the name of Lincoln.
Railroads made us what we are today, but Lincoln, and Judah Benjamin, who was, back then, one of his law partners, got us started.” William Pinkerton shook his head. “Dad is writing his memoirs, but he’s left that part out.” He took a sip of his coffee. “So, how did you get out of it?” “Helping run the Underground Railroad helped, and then we spied against the South. Had to take the Oath of Allegiance, and become American citizens. With Judah Benjamin running the other spy service, the, as we called it, ‘adversary party’, we had to make a choice. In 1862 you were either a patriot or a traitor. Traitors got hung. It helped that we suddenly had money, lots of money. Our fortune was here and we cannot go back, on pain of death. I’m sure that warrant is still valid. And we saw how England was trying to break up the country and wanted no part of that. So we’re Americans now. And you and your brother and sister were born here. Natives. So I never considered it for a moment.” Pinkerton nodded. “You are right, of course. What else bothers you about the balloon?” McLean looked upwards, trying to remember something. “Ah! Something Frazer said. They are armed. Gatling guns. In case they set down and have to defend themselves from unfriendly natives. They don’t display them, but they are there. And the crew has the new Winchester rifles.”
“That is troublesome. You might call it ‘overkill’.” McLean laughed and nodded. “Think about it, William. It’s a massive craft for what it is, and, aside from having a 21-year-old woman in charge, seems to be very military. Or maybe naval. Sir Percy Wyndham is a star soldier, a mercenary, which means while his title comes from King Victor Emmanuel, he’s also British Secret Service. He said he was on ‘detached service’.” “And if it traveled on the water instead of through the air as some kind of amusement, it would cause alarms to be sent up. Have we been invaded?” McLean shook his head. “I think it’s more in the nature of a reconnaissance. They say they are searching for minerals and land to buy. But the Confederate government angle troubles me. The Confederate Treasury had four million in gold that’s never been found. Judah Benjamin burned all the Secret Service records in Richmond as they evacuated the government. There’s a whole network of traitors in the North that’s never been found out.” “And an amnesty in ‘72. They can’t be prosecuted.”
“That don’t matter. Exposure would bring social and financial ruin. They can be blackmailed. James Buchanan was.” “The President?” William looked shocked. “How?” “He liked men, not women. This was well known before the war, and tolerated because he was a very able politician. Yet he sat on his hands and did nothing as the nation came apart, and we had the worst war in history. Rose Greenhow was his beard. He visited her at night so everyone drew an obvious and wrong conclusion. She worked for the French and the British and anyone else who’d help finance those elaborate balls she put on. Senator Judah Benjamin was one of them. Seems the Confederate Secret Service was operating before there was a Confederate government. The Brits again. Ol’ La Fayette Baker was right, the treason was years in the making. ‘The South will rise again?’ Reconstruction has not really pacified the South.
Imagine those balloons coming against what’s left of the Union Army now, invading Texas and rallying all those poor bastards who saved their Confederate money to the cause. Throwing down grenades and Greek fire in bottles? Percy Wyndham was a Brigade Commander during the Italian War. Just the man to make it happen. He could be making military maps with that crew of his. Planning a march in from Mexico of a mercenary army.” William looked very grave. “So this is why you are writing to Washburn?” “Yes. If we are Americans, then I think we have a duty. It’s not a pitch for business. He has his own detectives. Leave it to them.” William smiled. “Write the letter and I will sign it. It will have more weight coming from me.” “How do you make that out?” “I’m the President of this agency.”
McLean smiled kindly. “And he remembers you in short pants, getting caught stealing apples from a neighbor’s tree when he was a beat cop in Dundee. You’re new, and haven’t proven yourself in his eyes.” Pinkerton blushed and looked offended. He looked away and murmured, “Have it your way. We both can sign.” “Whatever you like, Boss,” McLean said, twisting the knife a little.
~~~
The only way to describe this book is to quickly say, that it must be experienced! This multi-genre novel is awesome in breadth and scope of the storyline. It blends historical reality with bits of whimsy and sorcery/witchcraft and pulls it off wonderfully. It moves back in history much further than the 1800s and makes a clear statement about how history can be destroyed intentionally, as well as routinely. It throws in the sexual trade historically as well as a romance or two. More importantly, I don't know whether on purpose or not; but, it shares much about the actual background of what happened in America which has led, in my opinion, to the situation we now face.
What d0 I mean by that? Well Hamit has done much research for this and his other historical book. When you read a novel that uses dialogue that might be a problem, you suddenly realize that this is what was happening then...and what has led to our present life in America... We have been too quick to try to "whitewash" that history...
The primary character--Harry Elliott McLean--called McLean--moves from beginning to the end and is one of the Pinkerton Detectives. He has been sent by the home office to work in the creation of a new office near the Mexican border in a city called El Paso. He was not thrilled to be sent there, but with his experience, he had been the logical choice, especially since the son of the original man who had started the company, has now taken over and is still quite inexperienced. We meet him and you'll see the difference in the two men.
You will also meet another primary character by the name of Jesus--pronounced Hey-seuss... He is an Apache and young as the book started; however, at one point he asked "How old do you want me to be?" when he was asked to take on a new role in the office. Watch this character closely or you might miss some of his activities!
With those two characters highlighted, let's start at the beginning... when a hot air balloon arrived in town--with passengers! One of those individuals was a passenger who was an Ethnographer, which is the study of native cultures. He had traveled from England and had also agreed to assist the remaining members on the balloon in getting to know the area... Now, these individuals were looking for riches that could be found... And, indeed, they do find something that was extraordinary... only to become lost.. Yes, the entire balloon and its occupants had dropped of Frazier and was (almost) never seen again...
Frazier had arranged to meet with the Apache tribe, and would be led and introduced by Jesus. This part of the book was fascinating. It was Frazier's hope that he would be permitted to live with the local tribe and learn their stories. Not only did he succeed, but after some period of time, he was asked to leave the tribe, as if he had graduated. He came back to El Paso a completely different man in looks... Can you guess why? I loved this, what you might call, a subplot, as Frazier soon leaves and goes back to England...
In any event, we do catch up with the balloon's occupants as they cry, "Where the devil are we?" And one of the occupants looked around for Jesus...and another timidly said, "he flew away..." do...do... do...do... no scary movie music...this is in the 1800s when real Apache magic was alive and well...
But it gets even spookier... By the way, a reminder, the author said he decided to have fun with his book! Well... I had lots of fun reading it...even if with just a hint of what's really happening???
A new case has been assigned to McLean. The family has asked them to find their son who had last been seen in the El Paso area... Another agent, Blake Talman, has been assigned to the office and they plan to start out, not knowing where they will wind up. These two have completely different personalities, so the trip should prove interesting... But not as interesting as it really turned out to be... Oh, yeah, it was discovered that the local postmaster was a thief, so they'd be looking for him along the way... And, by the way, McLean's wife and daughters have shown up and the two daughters have already been trained and accepted as Pinkerton Agents... Now, it is really going to get complicated... Especially when William Pinkerton shows up and plans on staying awhile... And, wait for it, they have been notified that one of the gunmen McLean had formerly captured and had been convicted, was now free and heading...for... him...
So, folks, we got a posse being put together to go out into the wilds of the area... With a group of the Apaches as guides and a few Mexican police and a few caballeros who wanted to make sure if the posse may need to cross the border (which, of course, was not clearly marked those days!) And maybe a few that they picked up along the way... Because they were soon hearing about a new town and as they got closer, they began to hear loud noises that they couldn't place...
Until they came to the first body... The smell told them what the noise had been. The man was recognized as a criminal on their wanted list... As they moved on, now carrying the dead body, the horses were getting restless as another loud bang came... Soon, they saw another body. The man was still alive, but managed to say "they're not actually human!" Jesus later pointed out at one point that if they were not human, then it may not be a sin or a crime... if...
Finally they reached the town and located the sheriff's office. Jesus was in charge of the jail (yes, the same man--he get's around a lot) and they had found Derek Seaton, the missing son... In Jail... for murdering a guest of Jake Martin, the mayor, and owner of just about everything in the town. By the way, one of those guests was "Sheriff for the Day." Think the Ok Corral...
Thing is, all of the "new residents" had been invited by the Mayor... most of them were criminals now out of jail, or high-priced call girls from big cities who were now branded... Only, the girls wound up being mostly matched up with those criminal-type that wasn't like the gentlemen criminals of the real early west like, say, Doc Holliday...LOL, at least in our movies... Frankly the stranger guests really weren't interested in that type of participation.
They were interested in the gun fights, and they normally occurred about once a day... probably about the time when their spaceship came and hovered to see how the guests were doing... or to pick up the first group of guests and drop off the new guests...
So, who exactly were the STARMEN? Well, you're going to have to read the book to find out... Because even I am not sure just which were the ones for which the book was named... So, let me know your opinion after you read this fabulous, extraordinary and, yes, fun book! Don't miss it!
By the way, finally, one word was used in this book that was prominently used during the time period. The authenticity of Hamit's history is very clear and confirming of what those of us who have accepted what really happened already knew... And, it is no wonder that many came to disdain white men in general. At that time, it was white men who were murdering our indigenous americans... and our non-white americans as well... See Hamit's earlier post on this issue.
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