Part 30 (2/2)

saved your life.” That's how nervous Horace was.

”Don't stand an' talk to a shot man,” I sez. ”Allus get his gun first.”

Horace gave a jump at the sound o' my voice, an' covered me with his pop-gun. ”Oh, it's you, is it?” he sez. ”Well, then, you get his gun; but I don't much think he can use it.”

By the time I had lifted Badger's gun, the other boys were arrivin', an' when they found that Horace had gone out alone an' shot a hole through Badger-face, they certainly was some surprised. Purty soon Kit Murray came out with Olaf, an' then Horace told about not feelin'

sleepy an' bein' so disgusted at the way we were snorin' that he had got up to take a little stroll. He said he just went toward the corral 'cause that was the least uninterestin' place he could think of, and that Badger had sneaked down an' started to cut the stirrups off the saddles right before his eyes.

”I gave him all the time he wanted,” sez Horace, ”so 'at there wouldn't be any doubt as to his intentions. I reckon 'at cuttin' up saddles in another man's corral is goin' about far enough, ain't it?”

Just then the Friar finished his examination of Badger, an' went after his saddle bags for a bandage. ”Went clear through his lung,” was all he said as he pa.s.sed us on the run.

It was purty chilly at that time o' night; and as the cold began to eat in, it suddenly came over Horace that no matter how much justified he was, he had shot an' most likely killed a feller human, an' he began to shake. He went over to Badger-face an' put his coat over him, an' sez: ”Great heavens! are ya goin' to let this man lie out here in the cold till he dies? Ain't the' some place we can put him? This is horrible.”

”Bring him in the house,” sez Kit. ”He don't deserve it; but we can't let him lie out here-can we, Olaf?”

”No,” sez Olaf. ”If you say bring him in, in he comes.”

”That's right, that's fine. I don't bear him any malice,” sez Horace.

”I hope he gets over it an' lives to repent.”

We packed him into the house an' Kit made a fire an' heated some water. As soon as the water was hot, the Friar cleaned out the wound with it an' some foamy stuff out of a bottle. Then he dissolved a drab tablet in some water an' tied up both openings. Horace sat in a corner durin' this operation, with his head in his hands, s.h.i.+verin'. The reaction had set in; an' all of us knew what it was, though I don't suppose any of us had had the chance to give way to it as free as Horace did.

Badger-face was all cut an' scarred when we stripped him; but he looked as tough an' gnarly as an oak tree, an' the Friar said he had one chance in a hundred to pull through. He didn't speak to us until after the Friar had finished with him. Then he said in a low, snarly voice: ”I don't much expect to get over this; but before I slip off, I wish you'd tell me who the little cuss who got me really is, an'

what's his game.”

We didn't hardly know what to say; but finally Tank sez: ”We don't feel free to tell you who he is, Badger-face; but I'll say this much, he ain't no officer of the law.”

I thought it would be the quickest way to straighten Horace up, so I told him 'at Badger-face wanted to talk to him. Sure enough, Horace took a deep breath an' stiffened his upper lip. Then he walked over to the bed. ”How do ya feel, Badger-face?” sez he.

”Oh, I been shot before,” sez Badger; ”but it burns worse 'n usual this time, an' I reckon you've got me. It grinds me all up to think 'at a little runt like you did it, an' it would soothe me to know 'at you had some sort of a record.”

Horace looked thoughtful: he wanted to comfort the man he was responsible for havin' put out o' the game; but he could see that the whole truth wouldn't in no wise do, so he put on a foxy look an' sez: ”I never worked around these parts none; but if you've ever heard o'

d.i.n.ky Bradford, why, that's me. I know just how you feel. You feel as much put out at bein' bested by a small-like man, as I would at havin'

a big feller get ahead o' me; but you needn't fret yourself. There's fellers right in this room who have seen me go four days without food an' then do a stunt which beat anything they'd ever seen. Don't you worry none. Now that you're down an' out, we all wish ya the best o'

luck.”

Me an' Spider an' Tank had to grin at this; but it was just what Badger needed to quiet him, an' his face lit up when he asked Horace how he had managed to shoot him.

”I used my auxilary armyment,” sez Horace, but that's all the explanation he'd make. I found out afterward that he had a thing called a derringer, a two-barreled pistol, forty-one caliber, which he carried in his vest pocket. I told him 'at this sneaky sort of a weapon would give him a bad name if it was found out on him; but he said 'at he shot from necessity, not choice, and that when it came to gettin' shot, he couldn't see why the victim should be so blame particular what was used-which is sensible enough when you come to think it over, though I wouldn't pack one o' those guns, myself.

Badger-face was out of his head next day, and for two weeks followin'.

The Friar an' Kit an' Horace took turns nursin' him, an' they did an able job of it. Water, plain water an' wind, was about all the Friar used in treatin' him. Kit wanted to give him soup an' other sorts o'

funnel food; but the Friar said 'at a man could live for weeks on what was stored up in him; an' Horace backed him up. Kit used to shake her head at this, an' I know mighty well that down deep in her heart, she thought they would starve him to death before her very eyes.

We tore up the old shack on the hill, snaked the poles down with Olaf's work team, an' set it up in the Spread; so 'at we'd be handy in case we was needed. A couple o' the Cross-branders drifted by, an' we gave 'em the news about Badger-face an' d.i.n.ky Bradford havin' come together an' Badger havin' got some the worst of it; but they wouldn't go in to see him, an' they quit wanderin' by; so 'at we didn't hardly know what to expect.

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