We were nearing the western boundary when I heard a shout and glancing
to the right saw a man on horseback tearing down the road in our
direction. He began swinging his hat and shooting in the air, and as the
wheel struck the fence, almost throwing me to the ground, his horse
reared to a stop directly before us. To help Dan through, slip under
myself and drag the wheel to safety was the work of a moment and I was
free to watch the herd as they swerved away to the south.
“Gosh all hemlock, that was a close shave,” gasped the cowboy. “How in
Sam Hill did you all get into such a scrape?”
As I started to explain, he noticed that Dan was lame. He leaped from
the saddle and in a trice had loaded Dan onto the horse. Then, giving me
a hand with the wheel, started briskly in the direction of a
thrifty-looking farm.
We halted at last beneath a tree at the edge of the road. Dan let
himself down from his perch, and upon my firm assurance that we would be
all right, our rescuer resumed his interrupted journey. I kindled a
fire, brought water from a well, then sought the house, which stood well
back from the road, to secure the loan of a deep bucket. A timid little
woman accommodated me without demur; then followed curiously into camp.
At once I treated Dan’s ankle with a prolonged hot bath, followed by a
careful massage and the application of arnica-soaked bandages. The
little woman followed every motion with the keenest interest, and
discovering that I was a doctor, burst into a detailed account of an
accident that had befallen her young son. He had fallen from a tree and
sprained his wrist, which remained somewhat stiff. Would I be so kind as
to examine it and see what was wrong? This I agreed to do before
leaving, but for the present decided to make camp for the night, rest,
and calm my quivering nerves.
Next morning Dan was able to get to work on the wheel, replacing the
ruined tires with extras purchased in Kearney for some such emergency.
Again we rested during the heat of the day, and resolved to resume the
journey next morning.
The tandem was packed for the road when the farmer’s wife came hurrying
out to remind me of my promise regarding her boy. We entered the
farmyard, which swarmed with hogs of all sizes, and were led to an
enclosed shed where I shut in the wheel for safe keeping while we
entered the house.
But the lad was nowhere to be found. After an hour of searching, the
mother, assisted by an older brother, dragged the patient, struggling
and howling, from his hiding place in the attic; then held him while I
discovered a slight displacement of one of the small bones of the wrist.
This I reduced after considerable trouble, due to the boy’s unruly
temper, and bandaged the arm as the clock struck eleven. The mother then
insisted that we stay to dinner and as Dan was still rather in need of
rest, we accepted gratefully.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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