Shootout at the Spring
Episode Five
“He’s probably headed for the same area your two guys are. He robbed the bank in the town where I live, and I owe it to the citizens to bring him in. Tell you what. I’ll help you get your two, and then maybe you can help me get Lance. I’ve got an extra badge in my possibles bag, and I’ll make you an official Deputy U.S. Marshal. Everything will be legal.”
“Let me think about it, Marshal. Tell me about this Lance fellow. How did you get mixed up with him?”
“I had a poster on him because he was wanted in Kansas and Nebraska for previous bank robberies. I was surprised he showed up in the Dakotas; not nearly as much money in the territories as in the states. I guess he thought he would lay low for a while. As soon as he left the bank with the gold and the banknotes, they sent someone to tell me. The clerk described Lance to a T. I showed him the poster, and he confirmed it was Lance. I saddled up and took off after him as fast as Buck could run.
“He was cagey enough to wait behind some rocks about two miles out of town to see if he was being followed. He shot me with his revolver, which caught me off balance and knocked me off my horse. I should have gone back and got help, but I thought I could catch up to him. Bank robbers are smart enough, it seems, to own fast horses. I wish I had ridden Shadow; she’s not as big as Buck but much faster.”
Luke sat about cleaning up the camp, and between the two of them, they got Chad over to his own bedroll. Luke watered the horses and then brought fresh water up to Chad, both to drink and to clean up the wound the best he could.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes, Marshal. On my way to and from the spring, I think I saw the glimmer of cobwebs around the trees and where the ground was clear. The webs will help heal the wound by stopping the bleeding and preventing infection, or at least that’s what my mother says. If I can find some dry enough, we’ll give it a try.”
Luke moved out into the trees, searching the sunlit areas for drying spider webs. He bypassed several small ones, all the time looking for a large one in the edge of the small trees growing near the area of the spring. He found exactly what he was looking for on the outer edge of a large cottonwood tree. It was still damp, and so he waited, and watched it bounce in the slight wind, all the time absorbing the morning sunlight.
Luke had no knowledge of the effect of spider webs on wounds, but he respected his mother’s seemingly unending store of practical medicine.
“Lay back and clench your teeth, Marshal. I need to clean the wound and change your bandage. I’ll also put this spider web over the wound. I’ve never done it before, but it can’t be too hard. I found a large web, and the stuff stays together pretty good. Do you have a clean shirt in your possibles bag?”
“Yes, I always keep a dry shirt in the bag, socks too.”
“I’ll get your bag, and we’ll get started.”
Nearly an hour later, Chad lay on his back, the clean shirt covering the newly wrapped bandage. Luke tossed the old bandage onto the embers of the morning’s fire. He used the last of the water he had brought up to wash his own hands.
“I want you to sleep, Marshal. Get all the rest you can because we need to move on in the morning if possible.”
“I’ll be ready. I’m a lot better than when I rode in, that’s for sure. Thanks for your nursing, Luke.”
“Nothing to it. I’m going to scout around and try to find some game for two more meals. I wish I had some fishing gear; I saw lots of action at the spring this morning. Before I go, I’m going to bring your buckskin and my packhorse up closer and tie them right in front of you. There’s always the possibility of a hunting party of Lakota Sioux out here, and while they might not attack you, they will certainly go for the horses.”
“Is my Spencer here?”
“It’s there by your right hand, and your revolver is on your saddle horn just by your head. Don’t worry about that. Get some rest. My mom says you heal faster asleep than awake.”
“Your mom sure talks a lot, Luke. I’m glad you were listening.”
Nancy
Nancy had awoken at sunrise, nausea overcoming her. She felt exhausted from lack of sleep, and once up, the frequent trips to the sink further tired her, but somehow, she dressed and walked to her job at the hotel. The nausea eased as she moved around, and then it passed, and with it, the feeling of doom.
She no longer could sense any feelings of dread for Chad, nor could she sense any happiness. Should I be afraid because I feel nothing bad or good? The hotel became busy, and for the rest of the day, she put the ill feelings, both mental and physical, behind her.
She ate a good lunch at the café across from the hotel and made a light supper when she got home. Another cup of tea before she got ready for bed seemed to calm her. She picked up a worn leather Bible from the small table next to her bed. The name printed on the frontispiece was her mother’s. The old leather Bible and a small gold necklace she never removed from around her neck were the only things of her mother’s that she possessed. She opened the Book, her fingers quickly finding the place of the Psalms. They had been her mother’s favorites, and now they were her favorites as well.
That particular reading led her to the one hundred and thirty-six psalm. She found herself repeating the main phrase of the psalm over and over. “His steadfast love endures forever.” Each time she repeated it, she grew calmer, and her fears lessened. Nancy went to the calendar to write her feelings for Chad. “Steadfast Love Always.” Day two, she added. She soon fell asleep, the Bible open across her breasts, the newly purchased coal oil lamp sputtering as it exhausted its supply of oil and then went out.
She awoke during the night, feeling a slight chill. A cover lay at the foot of the bed, and she pulled it up and snuggled back in its warmth. She wondered for a moment if Chad was also cold, but sleep reclaimed her before she could reason it out.
First light hit the window on the third day and spread across the bedroom floor to the edge of Nancy’s bed. Her eyes opened, and she groaned, not from the faint light but from the feeling rising from the pit of her stomach. She threw back the covers and moved into the kitchen in a near run. Why am I throwing up? It’s the second day in a row and I slept well last night, so that isn’t it. Nancy washed her face, but her stomach would not be still. She stood next to the sink and wished there were an indoor toilet.
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