“Listen closely, Teddy.” Matthew said. “We’re dealing with a manes called the Red Ghost. We believe it to be the manes of a Condefeate, because while the Red Ghost was violent enough to kill a woman and a grizzly bear, he spared a man with a CSA belt buckle.”
“Ah, another “Red Ghost.”” Teddy said. “It always seems like they’re always either red or white, don’t they, sir? Shame they’re hardly ever blue, or green. Esmee is blue and Nick is green, but they don’t call themselves the Blue Ghost and the Green Ghost. I wonder why?”
“Focus here, Teddy.” Matthew said. “The Red Ghost has been sighted in the form of a large, hairy, horse-like creature. Its legs and neck are long. Its feet are cloven. Its fur is blood red.”
“Why sir, that sounds like the ghost of Old Douglas!” Teddy said.
“Well!” Mr. Reeves smiled. “We’re actually getting somewhere!”
“Old Douglas, you say? Was this someone you met in the service? A captain or a general?” Matthew asked.
“No, sir. Old Douglas was a camel. But he was loved like he was a good captain, the gentle beast…”
The four men stood speechless for a moment.
“Did you just say that he was a camel?” Mr. Reeves asked.
“Yes. An Arabian camel. A dromedary, sir, if you want to be fancy.”
“You Confederates used camels?” Joseph asked.
“Yes sir. We had a lot of things the Federals didn’t. We had camels, we had mechanical buggies, we had Stonewall Jackson…”
“You used camels? In North America?” Joseph simply couldn’t believe it.
“Shipped from Arabia.”
“Are you sure?” Joseph asked. “Camel isn’t like, southern slang for a stallion or something?”
“No sir, I’m not talking about a stallion or any other kind of horse. When I say a camel, I mean a camel, hump and all. Why, there used to be an entire Camel Corps, or didn’t you know?”
“No, we didn’t.” Matthew said. He turned to Mr. Reeves. “Did you ever hear anything about a Camel Corps?”
“Never.” Mr. Reeves said.
“Then allow me to fill you all in and give you a bit of a history lesson. You see, back in 1855, people were looking to see if there wasn’t a better way to haul things across the West than using mules and horses. The thing about America, sirs, is that unlike England, there’s a lot of different climates. Up North, you have climates like what you have back in Blackwall, but the South sure is different from the North. Down South, you got places that aren’t too dissimilar from the desserts of Araby. Just take where we are now, sirs. Arizona’s got the Mojave and the Sonoran, both desserts, both hot, both dry. 1855 was like a different world. People thought ghosts weren’t real, the Ror Raas hadn’t formed yet, and Jefferson Davis wasn’t President of the Confederacy, he was Secretary of War for the United States. Now, Jefferson Davis, along with some others, got the idea to purchase around 70 camels from Araby and take them on reconnaissance missions around the Colorado river. That’s around the border between Arizona and California, so only a little east of where we are now. They figured that if camels were good enough for Araby, they were good enough for America.”
“I take it the camels didn’t do so well?” Matthew asked.
“No sir, they did wonderful. They outperformed the horses and the mules. The camels could carry around 600 pounds. They could last 15 days without a drop of water. They even ate greasewood, sir.”
‘Nothing eats greasewood.” Mr. Reeves said.
“What’s greasewood?” Matthew asked.
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“A weed.” Mr. Reeves explained. “It grows out here in abundance. It’s also called hediondilla, has yellow flowers, and smells a little like rain. Nothing eats it. I mean, a jackrabbit, if it's hungry enough, might, but nothing bigger than a jackrabbit will.”
“Camels would.” Teddy said. “And camels did, sir.”
“Well, if these camels were such wonderful creatures, how come we don’t see them running around America like horses these days?” Joseph asked.
“Part of the reason has to do with those who already had a vested interest in selling people horses and mules. They didn’t much appreciate the competition that came from camels, and they let their local congressmen know all about their concerns over steak dinners, if you catch my meaning. Another part was that the camels were just plain different from horses and mules. You know, they had a different sort of temperament, sirs. Camels don’t settle for the kind of treatment horses and mules do. You try to whip them or spur them, and they will spit in your face--literally, spit in your face, sirs. Spitting is a thing that they do when they’re mad. But they brought some camel drivers from Araby to show people how to handle the beasts. The best of the drivers was a chap by the name of Hi Jolly.”
“Hi Jolly?” Joseph asked.
“Yes sir, that was his name, Hi Jolly. And he did live up to his name, sirs. He was a jovial fellow, and everyone liked him very much.”
“I doubt he was actually named Hi Jolly.” Martin said. “That’s not an Arabic name, and I’ve read enough of Abdul Alhazred to know my Arabic.”
“I’m telling you sir, he was named Hi Jolly, as in “Hi how are you?” and “Thanks, I’m Jolly, how are you?”
“He was probably called something like Hadji Ali or Ali al-Hajaya.” Martin said.
“He was only known to the Camel Corps as Hi Jolly.”
“So in 1855, the United States military experimented with using camels in the West. I get that.” Joseph said. “But how do we get from the United States having camels to the Confederacy and Old Douglas?”
“Through Jefferson Davis, sir. He never stopped believing in the usefulness of camels. He was always one for new ideas, Jefferson Davis. He believed in the Armored Cavalry Corp. He believed in the Confederacy. He believed in camels. While he never went as far as to establish a Confederate Camel Corps, if the winds of fortune had blown our way after the Ror Raas forced a cease fire, I bet you everything that he would have. Still, the great praise he heaped upon the camel caused it to be purchased by various Confederate farmers and plantation owners. That’s how Old Douglas came to be in the possession of the 43rd Mississippi Infantry. Old Douglas was purchased from Araby by a Mississippi farmer by the name of William Hargrove. Hargrove found Old Douglas a fine animal, hard-working and patient, and being a firm believer in the cause of the Confederacy, Hargrove gave Old Douglas to Colonel W.H. Moore.”
“A question, Teddy--how old was Old Douglas?” Joseph asked.
“Honestly sir, I have no idea. For all I know, Old Douglas may have been a young camel. How can one even tell an old camel from a young one? I don’t think their hair grays with age and falls out.”
“Some mysteries are for the universe.” Martin said.
“The men of the 43rd Mississippi Infantry loved Old Douglas. They had him carry all the instruments of the regimental band. They even let him roam free, though at first they tied him up.”
“It sounds like Old Douglas liked the men.” Joseph said. “Since he didn’t run from them.”
“No sir, Old Douglas never ran, though early on, when they tried to tie him up, he broke free. Eventually the men got the message and stopped tying him up. But Old Douglas never ran. He liked the boys, and the boys liked him.”
“I had no idea camels were so strong.” Joseph said. “I wonder if a camel could beat a lion in a fight--or maybe even a tiger?”
“You get the strangest ideas, Dr. Morton.” Mr. Reeves said.
“Oh he does.” Martin said. “You should hear what sort of inane statements come out of his mouth back home in Blackwall.”
“Old Douglas was so loved by the boys that they even forgave him for getting their horses killed.” Teddy said.
“Oh no.” Joseph said. “Don’t tell me he also ate them?”
“Oh no, sir. Old Douglas did nothing of the sort.” Teddy said. “Old Douglas was a gentle giant, he would never hurt another creature, sir. You see, what happened was that the horses didn’t like Old Douglas. I think they were jealous. Whenever he got near, they got spooked, and bolted. One day, when a horse ran from Old Douglas, it caused a little stampede. Two horses died.”
“I’m surprised they didn’t shoot Old Douglas for that.” Joseph said.
“It cannot be stated how much they loved that camel, sir. When a Union sharpshooter shot Douglas in the head, they were furious.”
A sigh of disappointment and disapproval came from the manesologists.
“They killed the camel?” Joseph asked.
“Yes sir. Bullet right between the eyes.”
“That’s just wrong.” Martin said. “Shooting a man, that’s war, but to shoot a unit’s mascot, that’s just…no, that isn’t right.”
“The men of the 43rd Infantry Regiment shared your sentiments, sir. Colonel Moore deployed six of his best sharpshooters to get the son of a bitch that killed Old Douglas.”
“Did they get him?” Joseph asked.
“Yes, sir, I’m happy to report. They got him.”
“Good.” Joseph said.
“So is the Red Ghost Old Douglas?” Martin asked. “That cloth covered mass on the Red Ghost’s back could be an ectoplasmic image of the regimentary band’s equipment.”
“I don’t think it is, sir. Though Old Douglas was a true Confederate at heart, they even buried him in Vicksburg, in Cedar Hill Cemetery, with the flag on his grave, I don’t see the gentle giant taking vengeance on innocent women.”
“That must have been quite a large grave.” Joseph said.
“How would he even know Mrs. Richards was Union?” Teddy asked. “Did they fly the Union flag outside their homestead?”
“We don’t know, Teddy.” Matthew said.
“And what about the bear? Why’d he kill the bear, if this was all because he was mad about a Union sniper killing him? Furthermore, sirs, how would Old Douglas have known it was a Union soldier that killed him? I doubt he saw the color uniform of the man that shot him from yards away.”
“Good points, Teddy.” Matthew said. “It’s probably not the ghost of Old Douglas, but didn’t you say that there were other Confederate camels?”