"The man in there hasn"t been out o" this tent since he was carried up from the creek last night. I can swear to it."
"Can you swear the other was here all the time?"
No answer.
"Did he say what he went to Dawson for?"
"The doctor."
One or two laughed. "Who"s sick enough to send for a Dawson doctor?"
"So you think he"s gone for a----"
"I know he is."
"And do you know what it costs to have a doctor come all the way out here?"
"Yes, beasts! won"t budge till you"ve handed over five hundred dollars.
Skunks!"
"Did your friend mention how he meant to raise the dust?"
"He"s got it," she said curtly.
"Why, he was livin" off his pardner. Hadn"t a red cent."
"She"s shieldin" him," the men about the door agreed.
"Lord! he done it well--got away with five hundred and a horse!"
"He had words with Austin, himself, the night o" the clean-up. Sa.s.sed Scowl Austin! Right quiet, but, oh my! Told him to his face his gold was dirty, and washed it off his hands with a look----Gawd! you could see Austin was mad clear through, from his shirt-b.u.t.tons to his spine.
You bet Scowl said something back that got the young feller"s monkey up."
They all agreed that the only wonder was that Austin had lived as long--"On the other side o" the line--Gee!"
That evening the Boy, riding hard, came into camp with a doctor, followed discreetly in the rear by an N. W. M. P., really mounted this time. It had occurred to the Boy that people looked at him hard, and when he saw the groups gathered about the tent his heart contracted sharply. Had the Colonel died? He flung himself off the horse, winced as his foot cried out, told Joey Bludsoe to look after both beasts a minute, and led the Dawson doctor towards the tent.
The constable followed.
Maudie, at the door, looked at her old enemy queerly, and just as, without greeting, he pushed by, "S"pose you"ve heard Scowl Austin"s dead?" she said in a low voice.
"No! Dead, eh? Well, there"s one rattlesnake less in the woods."
The constable stopped him with a touch on the shoulder: "We have a warrant for you."
The Colonel lifted his head and stared about, in a dazed way, as the Boy stopped short and stammered, "Warr--what for?"
"For the murder of Scoville----"
"Look here," he whispered: "I--I don"t know what you mean, but I"ll go along with you, of course, only don"t talk before this man. He"s sick----" He beckoned the doctor. "This is the man I brought you to see." Then he turned his back on the wide, horrified eyes of his friend, saying, "Back in a minute, Kentucky." Outside: "Give me a second, boys, will you?" he said to the N. W. M. P."s, "just till I hear what that doctor fella says about my pardner."
He stood there with the Buckeyes, the police, and the various day gangs that were too excited to go to bed. And he asked them where Austin was found, and other details of the murder, wearily conscious that the friendliest there felt sure that the man who questioned could best fill in the gaps in the story. When the doctor came out, Maudie at his heels firing off quick questions, the Boy hobbled forward.
"Well?"
"Temperature a hundred and four," said the Dawson doctor.
"Oh, is--is that much or little?"
"Well, it"s more than most of us go in for."
"Can you tell what"s the matter with him?"
"Oh, typhoid, of course."
The Boy pulled his hat over his eyes.
"Guess you won"t mind my stayin" now?" said Maudie at his elbow, speaking low.
He looked up. "You goin" to take care of him? Good care?" he asked harshly.
But Maudie seemed not to mind. The tears went down her cheeks, as, with never a word, she nodded, and turned towards the tent.
"Say," he hobbled after her, "that doctor"s all right--only wanted fifty." He laid four hundred-dollar bills in her hand. She seemed about to speak, when he interrupted hoa.r.s.ely, "And look here: pull the Colonel through, Maudie--pull him through!"
"I"ll do my darnedest."
He held out his hand. He had never given it to her before, and he forgot that few people would care now to take it. But she gave him hers with no grudging. Then, on a sudden, impulse, "You ain"t takin" him to Dawson to-night?" she said to the constable.
He nodded.
"Why, he"s done the trip twice already."
"I can do it again well enough."
"Then you got to wait a minute." She spoke to the constable as if she had been Captain Constantine himself. "Better just go in and see the Colonel," she said to the Boy. "He"s been askin" for you."
"N-no, Maudie; I can go to Dawson all right, but I don"t feel up to goin" in there again."
"You"ll be sorry if you don"t." And then he knew what a temperature at a hundred and four foreboded.
He went back into the tent, dreading to face the Colonel more than he had ever dreaded anything in his life.
But the sick man lay, looking out drowsily, peacefully, through half-shut eyes, not greatly concerned, one would say, about anything.
The Boy went over and stood under the gray blanket canopy, looking down with a choking sensation that delayed his question: "How you feelin"
now, Kentucky?"