Weary got down and went over to him. "All right, I'll unwind yuh.
When we started, yuh know, yuh couldn't uh rode a rocking chair. I was
plumb obliged to tie yuh on. Think we'll be in time to help Patsy? He
was taken sick about four o'clock."
Old Dock waited till he was untied and the remnant of bridle-rein was
placed in his hand, before he answered ironically: "I not do de mageec,
_mon cher_ Weary. I mos' have de medicine or I can do nottings, I not
wave de fingaire an' say de vord."
"That's all right--I've got the whole works. I broke into your shack
and made a clean haul uh dope. And I want to tell yuh that for a
doctor you've got blame poor ventilation to your house. But I found
the medicine."
"Mon Dieu!" was the astonished comment, and after that they rode in
silence and such haste as Glory's lameness would permit.
The first beams of the sun were touching redly the hilltops and the
birds were singing from swaying weeds when they rode down the last
slope into the valley where camped the Flying-U.
The night-hawk had driven the horses into the rope-corral and men were
inside watching, with spread loop, for a chance to throw. Happy Jack,
with the cook's apron tied tightly around his lank middle, stood
despondently in the doorway of the mess-tent and said no word as they
approached. In his silence--in his very presence there--Weary read
disaster.
"I guess we're too late," he told Dock, in hushed tones; for the minute
he hated the white-bearded old man whose drunkenness had cost the
Flying-U so dear. He slipped wearily from the saddle and let the reins
drop to the ground. Happy Jack still eyed them silently.
"Well?" asked Weary, when his nerves would bear no more.
"When I git sick," said Happy Jack, his voice heavy with reproach,
"I'll send you for help--if I want to die."
"Is he dead?" questioned Weary, in hopeless fashion.
"Well," said Happy Jack deliberately, "no, he ain't dead yet--but it's
no thanks to you. Was it poker, or billiards? and who won?"
Weary looked at him dully a moment before he comprehended. He had not
had any supper or any deep, and he had ridden many miles in the long
hours he had been away. He walked, with a pronounced limp on the leg
which had been next the medicine-case, to where Dock stood leaning
shakily against the pinto.
"Maybe we're in time, after all," he said slowly. "Here's some kind uh
dried stuff I got off the ceiling; I thought maybe yuh might need
it--you're great on Indian weeds." He pulled a crumpled, faintly
aromatic bundle of herbs from his pocket.
Dock took it and sniffed disgustedly, and dropped the herbs
contemptuously to the ground. "Dat not wort' notting--she what you
call--de--cat_neep_." He smiled sourly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account