Ole Devil and the Mule Train — J.T. Edson

Captain Jackson Baines Hardin had been given the task of ensuring the safe delivery of a five hundred caplock rifles, on which depended the success of the Texians' struggle to liberate themselves from the tyrannical rule of the Mexican dictator, Presidente Antonio Lopes de Santa Anna. Not only was he being pursued by a large contingent of the Arizona Hopi Activos Regiment, but it was likely that an even larger enemy force would be coming after him. So he found that devising a way of transporting the rifles and ensuring protection on the journey was a most welcome diversion -- and it didn't leave him much time to worry about what might happen if he had things figured wrong. By the end of the journey, he'd learned a lot about mule trains.
But at last Captain Hardin found himself trapped on the banks of the Brazos River, with no way of getting the consignment across. Just as well for him that, as men claimed, he was a ‘lil ole devil' for a fight.