Wyoming Wildfire (20 page)

Now that she had found a man to love—and she finally admitted that she did love him—it seemed so unfair to lose him after only a taste of the rapture she had discovered in his arms. He was
not
going to the, not if she could do anything about it, she swore. She didn’t know much about nursing, but the doctor and Aunt Augusta would help her. Somehow the three of them would pull him through. But looking at the broken, pale, deathly still man lying next to her caused cold fear to clutch at her heart. She piled more blankets over him and tried to keep her mind from thinking the unthinkable.

At last the wagon stopped, and Sibyl jumped down to find herself next to a small stream with barely any water at all. “It’s the best I can find close by with all this throught,” Ned apologized. “I’m afraid it’s rather alkaline.”

“It doesn’t matter; we’re not going to drink it. Light the lantern while I try to find something to hold water. The most important thing right now is to clean his wounds.” A tin cup was the only container she could find.

“Where is Jesse?” she cried, but no horseman appeared out of the night.

She had to unbutton Burch’s shirt and cut away the pieces before she could reach the wounds on his chest. The cleaning was difficult because of the small quantity of water that could be heated at one time and the torn character of the wounds. She was positive several of his ribs were broken as well.

“I can’t wait for Jesse any longer,” she said when she had cleaned away the worst of the dirt. “Well have to start for the ranch without him.* The lantern swayed back and forth, creating ghostly shadows within the wagon, but it gave Sibyl some comfort to be able to see Burch’s face.

Dawn came and first light was even more dreary than the moonlight. The ranch was still wrapped in quiet when they reached it, but the arrival of the wagon brought everyone out quickly. Balaam shuffled from the bunkhouse, and Augusta hurried down the steps to see what could have caused her niece to travel through the night.

“Burch has been hurt in a stampede,” Sibyl said without preamble. “Get his bed ready. Balaam and Ned will help me carry him up. Jenkins has already gone to fetch the doctor.” By the time they had fashioned a litter to carry him upstairs, Augusta had the bed turned down, a pan of warm water on the bedside table, and wads of lint and bandages ready.

“You’ll have to cut his clothes off,” Augusta said when she saw the broken limbs.

“There are some razors on his dressing table. Well,” Sibyl spoke impatiently when the men seemed reluctant to proceed, “are you going to do it, or shall I?”

“But you’re a lady, miss,” Ned gulped.

“Would you want him to the because of a silly distinction such as that?” Chastised, Ned accepted the razor and began to cut the clothes away. The boots took more time. Balaam, unable to believe that any lady could bear the sight of a naked man, spread a sheet over Burch in an attempt to preserve their modesty.

“We need some splints,” said Sibyl, helping her aunt treat each of the wounds with a strong solution of alcohol. “We have to set that arm.”

“What about his leg?”

“I don’t know. I hope the doctor gets here soon. It looks bad.” The ladies had finished cleaning and bandaging the wounds by the time the men returned with the splints. “Can either of you set his arm?”

Balaam nodded, coming closer to the bed. “It don’t look too bad” he said, gently testing the limb. “Hold his shoulder” Sibyl clenched her teeth before she and Ned took a firm hold on Burch. When Balaam wrenched the arm around to slip the bone into place, Burch stirred with a groan. Somehow it made Sibyl feel better to know he could feel pain. As long as he hurt, he was alive.

I don’t know about that leg” Balaam said after the splint was firmly in place on the arm. “I’m afraid to touch one that bad.”

Then there’s really nothing we can do for him until the doctor arrives,” Augusta said. “I suggest we leave him to rest.”

Ned and Balaam had chores to do, Augusta meals to attend to, but Sibyl could not keep her mind on any task. She nearly wore herself out climbing the steps to listen quietly by Burch’s bedside to assure herself that he was still breathing. She wanted no food and didn’t even finish one cup of coffee. Only when Jesse finally showed up just before noon with the needed medicine did she get a chance to work off some of her spleen.

“It’s about time you found your way home,” she snapped, snatching the tin box from him. If I’d known you’d get lost, I’d have kept you with me and sent Jenkins.” Jesse’s eyes blazed angrily, but Sibyl was too enraged, worried, and scared to care. “You’ve got to finish the roundup and take those steers to Chicago yourself. Lose a single one or fail to get the top price and you’d better never set foot on my ranch again. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you wanted Burch dead and that you were glad those cows nearly killed him. Now get out of here before I do something I shouldn’t.”

“It’s not his fault Burch was hurt” remarked Augusta. “Don’t you think you were a little unreasonable?”

“No “ she replied emphatically and stamped back into the house. Nothing else occurred to upset her, and there was no change in Burch’s condition when Jenkins returned that afternoon.

“The doctor was away, miss, but I left a message with his wife he was to follow as soon as he could. Then I changed my mind and went after him. He oughta be along in a few minutes. I thought I’d come ahead just to let you know,” he said apologetically.

Thank you, Jenkins. I want you to go back to camp. I’m sending Jesse to Chicago with the steers. You will need to take over until he gets back.” Jenkins started to say something but changed his mind. “How long before you’re through with the roundup?”

“Not long. Mr. Randall was telling me something about haystacks and only letting a few of the men go to Casper at a time.”

“I’ll explain all that later. Will you stay here, I mean, not go to Casper?”

“Yes, miss. I’m not leaving Mr. Randall until he’s up on his feet, able to see after himself”

Sibyl thought he spoke with more man usually grim determination, but she put it down to loyalty and left him to go tell her aunt that the doctor was coming.

It was a harrowing visit. The doctor was neither learned nor skilled in comforting fearful relatives, but he was a good, practical man and complimented the women on their work. “Not that it makes a lot of difference, but it won’t do for him to develop a fever from infections on top of everything else. He’s got a broken arm, a badly busted leg, half a dozen broken ribs and, unless I miss my guess, a concussion as well. Hell need all his strength to get over this. What worries me most is this leg. It’s a nasty break, and if it doesn’t heal properly, he won’t be able use it. He might even lose the leg,” the doctor continued inexorably, even though Sibyl was looking quite unwell herself. “I’ll set it, but you’ll have to see to the rest. I’m due thirty miles the other side of my place before nightfall. I only came because we can’t afford to lose a man like Mr. Randall, not with the kind of rascals that are loose in these parts.” And with that enigmatic remark, he set to work.

It took him a good while, and Sibyl was certain a better-trained man could have set the leg more quickly with less bruising, but she was thankful he’d come.

“Keep him as quiet and warm as you can. There’ll be a lot of pain for a while and probably some fever as well. Just don’t let him try to move about on that leg for at least a month, I’ll be back before the end of the week, but it’s just as well if he can be made to realize from the first that he’s in for a long convalescence. It’ll save us a lot of trouble later. Burch is a sensible man in most ways, but I doubt he’s going to like being tied to his bed for a month.”

Tor a month! Are you sure?”

“More like two, but don’t tell him that now. The shock will set him back. There’s nothing he can do, anyway. The cattle will be gone and the men in town. The whole place is ready to close down for winter. He couldn’t have chosen a better time to get laid up.”

Sibyl doubted Burch would share the doctor’s view of the situation, but she forebore to dispute with him.

At last the doctor had gone, Ned and Balaam were back in the bunkhouse, and Sibyl was alone with Burch and her aunt for the first time that morning. All at once the tension, the fear, and the worry was too much for her and she burst into tears. Augusta gathered Sibyl in her arms and let her sob until the stiffness left her body and she felt weak and drained.

“Do you feel better now?” her aunt asked when she sat up and began to wipe her eyes. “It always helps to have a good cry.”

“But I never cry,” protested Sibyl.

“Now you see what a wonderful comfort you’ve been wasting,” smiled her aunt. “That’s one thing men don’t know about that we women do.”

“I don’t know why I broke down like that.”

“Don’t you?” Augusta asked quietly. Sibyl glanced up quickly, her eyes questioning.

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t have to pretend with me. I know you’re in love with him.”

“But how did you know?” she asked, amazed. “I only realized it myself yesterday.”

“I think I’ve known since you first saw him. That’s why I decided not to go back to Virginia,” she said, glancing at the figure lying so motionless before them. “I’ll never have any children of my own, and I wouldn’t forgive myself if I were to miss knowing yours.”

Sibyl could only stare.

Chapter 14

Next day, before breakfast had been finished, Lasso was at the Elkhorn, considerably upset by the news of Burch’s accident.

“This is a terrible thing,” he said over and over again. “I don’t know how it could happen to someone like Burch. Never knew him to take a fall before. And Old Blue! It makes me sick to think of losing a horse like that.” He insisted upon visiting the sickroom, but was so overset by seeing Burch lying as one dead that Sibyl thought Augusta was going to have to make up a bed for him too. But a good slug of whiskey brought the color back to his cheeks and the robust ring to his voice.

“I was a mite put out to hear you were left here by yourself when Sibyl went gallivanting off to the roundup,” he informed Augusta as she sat alone with him in the ranch room. “A gentle lady like you ought not be left with nobody to protect her.”

“Balaam stayed here the whole time.”

“What’s
he
worth? A broken-down old gabster. What could he do if Indians came swooping down or rustlers surrounded the ranch?”

Augusta’s pupils expanded until the blue almost disappeared from her eyes.

“I don’t suppose anybody could do very much,” she said in a breathless whisper.

“Nonsense! One good man could hold off a small army from this house. Why, if I had a good set of rifles, I could see that no one crossed the lane around the house all by myself.”

“I was led to believe that there were no more Indians about,” Augusta murmured timorously.

“That’s true,” admitted Lasso, regretfully relinquishing the gratifying vision of dazzling Augusta with his bravery, “but the area has become plumb filthy with rustlers. If Burch and I didn’t have a natural fence in the canyon walls and plenty of men on the range year round, we would be robbed blind.”

“Do people really steal cows?” Augusta asked, unable to account for such an odd habit.

“Whole herds sometimes,” disclosed Lasso, warming to his subject. “Why, over near Clear Water Creek—that’s near to Sheridan—one rancher had his whole herd taken in less than a month. But the worst is to the west of the Big Horns. Things are so bad there some of the ranchers are talking about selling up.” Augusta listened, fascinated.

“But this is nothing for a proper lady to be troubling her mind with. A good man will give you all the protection you need in these parts. Of course a pretty gal like you probably has them coming to the door every day. Or waiting back in Virginia,” he added as an afterthought. “What does Burch say to such goings-on?”

“Well, he’s not really home very much,” mumbled Augusta, completely incapable of imagining such an eventuality but reluctant to dispel the delightful notion Lasso had of her bountiful suitors.

They’re probably already on line trying to snap you up at the Christmas party. A thoughtful man would get in a word now if he wanted a dance.” He looked inquiringly at Augusta, but she sat as though carved in stone. “How many foolhardy cowboys have you had asking to stand up with you already?” he asked with fierce energy.

“I can’t say that I’ve been keeping track of that kind of thing,” Augusta told him, barely able to think at all.

“Well, I’m speaking up right now,” he proclaimed, forging ahead. “I want you to keep the best dances for me, and you can tell any cowboy with enough sass to come asking you to dance that he’d better keep his tongue soft in his head, or I’ll cut it out for him.”

“Oh, they wouldn’t say anything unbecoming,” faltered Augusta, unable to believe that her poor person could inspire any man to such spirited action.

“They’d better not. Now that Burch is feeling under the weather, I feel responsible for you. Where’s Jesse? I gotta talk to him about keeping an eye on you when I’m not about.”

“Jesse has taken the steers to Chicago.”

“He’s gone and left you alone? Burch can’t be such a fool as that.”