“I’m just concerned about you, darlin’. Like I said, we don’t really know anythin’ about him.”
Jimmy dumped the wheelbarrow full of wet hay out back of the barn and spread it around with his pitchfork so the sun could dry it out. Laying the pitchfork in the empty wheelbarrow, he had started back toward the front of the barn when a man on a horse out by the road caught his eye. The rider had stopped where the lane to the house turned off the road, and he was sitting there as if deciding whether or not to follow it. Always with a keen interest in horses, Jimmy paused to admire the gray spotted Appaloosa. The rider, seeing him then, turned the horse toward the lane, and Jimmy stood watching as the Appaloosa traveled the two hundred yards at a gentle lope. Jimmy could not help taking notice of the easy way the rider moved in rhythm with the horse’s motion as if he were part of the horse.
Pulling up before the boy, Cody said, “Howdy.”
“Howdy,” Jimmy returned.
Cody looked around him, glancing at the barn, the house beyond, and the corral, now holding two dozen horses that Jimmy and his father had recently brought in from the pasture. Cody nudged the Appaloosa and slowly walked him by the corral, looking the horses over just in case he saw Cullen’s bay. Then turning back to the boy, he asked, “Is this the swing station for the stagecoach line?” When Jimmy confirmed that it was, Cody considered stopping for the night, since it was already close to dusk. “Can I buy some supper here? Or is that just for the stage passengers?”
“Yessir, my mama will fix you some supper for fifty cents, and I’ll take care of that Appaloosa for you.” He stepped back and watched the stranger dismount, sizing him up, just as he had with the horse. He was not unusually tall, Jimmy speculated, maybe a shade taller than his father, but he looked a good deal more powerful through the shoulders, and he stood balanced, as though he was poised to spring. Jimmy was reminded of a mountain lion. “You headed for Butte?” he asked.
Cody smiled. “Maybe—I’m lookin’ for someone. Mighta rode this way a while back. Maybe you’ve seen him—tall fellow, ridin’ a light bay horse with white stockings.”
Jimmy knew at once he was describing Cullen, but in light of recent circumstances, he was careful about answering questions from strangers. He might be looking for Cullen for the same reason the man who shot him was. “Is he a friend of yours?”
“He’s my brother,” Cody answered.
Jimmy studied the stranger’s face for a moment before deciding. There was no hint of meanness in the intense blue eyes. In fact, it was a face that hinted at lightheartedness. Jimmy decided to risk the gamble. “He’s in the barn, bad wounded.” He saw the sudden change in the pleasant features, now frozen in puzzlement. “Come on, I’ll show you,” he said. Leaving the wheelbarrow where it was, he spun around and led Cody into the barn.
“Damn!” Cody exclaimed when he saw Cullen lying in the stall. Instantly concerned, then just as quickly angered, he rushed to kneel at his brother’s side. He was about to ask if he was dead, but Cullen opened his eyes at that moment. Cody glanced back at the boy and demanded, “What the hell’s he doin’ in the barn?”
Before Jimmy could answer, Cullen formed a weak smile. “Hello, Cody. I was wonderin’ when you’d show up.”
Having just left one of his brothers who ignored the doctor’s pronounced death prediction, Cody was not prepared to find Cullen in like condition. “What—” he stammered. “How bad is it? . . . What happened?” And before Cullen could answer, he fixed his accusing eye on the boy and demanded again, “What the hell is he doin’ out here in the barn?” Jimmy was left to absorb all of Cody’s anger.
“Don’t go blamin’ Jimmy or his folks,” Cullen said. “They wanted to take me in the house, but I didn’t wanna be moved.” He paused to take a deep breath as if the talking was tedious, then continued. “I’m hurt pretty bad, shot three times, but I reckon I’ll make it if my luck holds out. What about Jug? Is he gonna make it?”
“Hell yeah. He laid around for a couple of days. Then we knew he was all right when he started yellin’ at Smoke for some grub. I’ll tell you all about it later. What I wanna know now is who shot you and what happened to Roberta.” While he talked, he lifted the edge of one of the bandages and peered at the wound. “Damn!” he snorted, wrinkling his nose in protest as the odor of infection assaulted his nostrils. “That looks bad. Has a doctor seen these wounds yet?”
Jimmy answered, “I went to fetch the doctor at Deer Lodge, but he wouldn’t come. He said we’d have to bring your brother to his office.”
Cody’s reaction was evident on his face. He looked back at Cullen and asked, “Can you make it? How far is Deer Lodge?”
“I swear, I hate to admit it,” Cullen said, “but I don’t think so. Every time I move I start bleedin’ again.”
“Well, we’ll just bring the doctor here, then,” Cody said. “I just pulled one brother through. I ain’t plannin’ on losin’ you.”
“I thought I saw a strange horse at the barn door.”
Cody turned at the remark to see Fred enter the stall with Marcy at his elbow. “You a friend of Cullen’s?”
“I’m his brother,” Cody replied.
Noticing the agitated expression on Cody’s face, Fred was quick to explain. “We were gonna bring him in the house, but he didn’t wanna be moved.”
“Yeah, he told me,” Cody said. “He needs a doctor. I’ll go fetch him. What’s his name?”
“Hicks,” Fred answered, “Dr. Hicks. He won’t come, though. We already sent Jimmy to get him.”
Cody took a long look at Fred, then let his gaze settle on Marcy for a moment before he smiled and remarked, “He’ll come. Jimmy probably wasn’t askin’ him real politelike. How far is Deer Lodge from here?”
“Ten miles,” Fred answered, “but he’ll be gone to bed by the time you get there.”
“Ten miles, huh?” Cody replied, ignoring the rest of Fred’s comment. “I need to borrow a horse—mine needs a rest. Any of those horses in the corral saddle-broke, or is haulin’ a stagecoach all they know?”
“You can take my horse,” Jimmy piped up, already impressed with Cody’s aggressive manner. “He’s fast and he’s strong.” Then remembering his place, he asked, “Is that all right, Pa?” Fred nodded his consent and told Jimmy to switch Cody’s saddle over.
“Much obliged,” Cody said, smiling at the boy. Then he turned his attention back to Cullen to hear all the details that resulted in his brother lying wounded in a barn. After hearing the complete story, he only became more and more angry, especially with the part that Roberta had played in the evil deceit. “I swear, she had us all fooled,” he commented, shaking his head in astonishment for the gullibility they had all shared, even Smoke, who was cynical about everything. “This fellow that shot you—Bob Yeager you said his name was—you never saw him before?” Cullen shook his head. “Would you recognize him if you saw him again?”
“That shouldn’t be hard to do,” Marcy spoke up. “He looks like Satan himself, and he has a long scar from his ear all the way down to the corner of his mouth.” She had been standing, silently observing the reunion between the two brothers and watching her patient’s reaction to Cody’s sudden appearance. She decided that there was a great deal of affection between the two. “You’ll be wanting something to eat before you go,” she said.
“Why, thank you, miss, but I expect I’d best not wait around for that. I think the sooner I get back here with the doctor, the better, so I’ll get goin’.”
“I won’t be but a minute,” she said, and hurried out of the stall. By the time Jimmy led his horse to the barn door, Marcy was back from the kitchen with a ham biscuit wrapped in a cloth. Handing it up to Cody, she said, “Here, this will hold you for a little while.” She stepped back then and added, “Good luck.”
“Thank you, miss,” Cody replied, and touched a finger to his hat politely. Turning to Jimmy, he said, “Take care of my horse. He could use a portion of grain. His name’s Butt
ermilk.” With that, he turned the roan toward the Butte road, disappearing from their sight in the growing dusk.
“Who was that?” Myra Sullivan asked, just joining them as Cody rode up the lane to the road.
“Cullen’s brother,” her husband answered. “He’s gone to fetch Doc Hicks.”
“I thought you said—” Myra started.
“We told him,” Fred replied before she had a chance to finish her remark, “but he thinks he’ll come with him.”
“He’ll bring him,” Cullen spoke up then. “Cody’s used to accomplishin’ whatever he sets his mind to do.”
Marcy moved over closer and placed her hand on Cullen’s brow. “You’re starting to feel a little feverish again. You’d better rest now. There’s been too much talking going on.” She gave them a stern look then and ordered, “Everybody go on out of here now and let him rest.”
“Now, who can that be at this hour?” Nora Hicks complained, dressed in her nightgown and preparing to join her husband, who was already in bed. “Somebody’s probably having a baby, or some young’un’s got a bellyache.” She was well accustomed to late visitors knocking on her door, although the townsfolk knew that her husband went to bed with the chickens.
“Tell ’em to come to the office in the morning,” Dr. Hicks called from the bedroom, knowing that these late-night callers were seldom emergency cases. It was usually something that bothered them all day. Then when it didn’t improve by bedtime, they thought they had to see the doctor.
Nora opened the front door and held the oil lamp up to see who was knocking. The face she saw in the flickering lamplight was not one she recognized. “Yes?” she asked.
“I need the doctor, ma’am,” Cody said. “My brother’s bad wounded and he needs Dr. Hicks right away.”
“The doctor’s already gone to bed,” Nora said. “He’ll be in the office in the morning. Come to see him then.”
“Ah, no, ma’am,” Cody said as politely as he could manage. “It won’t wait that long. He’s lying in a barn with three bullet holes in him, and they don’t look too good.”
Listening to the conversation from the bedroom, Elbert Hicks was already pulling on his trousers. In a few minutes’ time, he came to the door to talk to the man. “Gunshot, huh?” he asked, and looked beyond Cody, expecting to see a wagon with a body. “Where is he?”
“He’s at that stagecoach station back down the road a piece,” Cody answered.
“Well, good God, man,” Hicks responded impatiently, “I can’t treat him if you don’t bring him here. I already told that boy to bring the man to my office.”
“The thing is,” Cody explained very patiently, “he’s too bad off to move. It might kill him.”
“That place is ten miles from here, maybe more,” Hicks protested, growing more and more irritated by the stone-faced expression on the stranger’s face. “From what the boy told me, the man’s been lying in that barn for a couple of days. One more day ain’t likely to make the difference, so let me know in the morning if he’s still the same, and I’ll take a ride down there to see him. That’s about the best I can do for you.” As far as he was concerned, the discussion was over, and he placed his hand on the door, preparing to close it.
“I don’t think you understand,” Cody said calmly, and blocked the door with his foot. “This is my brother we’re wastin’ time jawin’ about. He needs a doctor now. I wasn’t askin’ you if you wanted to come with me. I apologize for not makin’ that clear right from the start, but we won’t waste any more time. You’d best pull a coat on. It’s a bit chilly in the evenin’ air. I’ll just come in while you’re gettin’ ready to go, and then we’ll go out to the barn and saddle your horse.”
Hardly able to believe the audacity of the stranger, Dr. Hicks retorted, “What are you gonna do, shoot me if I don’t go?”
“I’d just as soon,” Cody replied, still calm, “but I need you to take care of my brother, so I’d probably shoot her first.” He nodded toward the doctor’s wife, who had now backed against the doorframe, her mouth as well as her eyes gaping wide.
“You’re insane to think you can kidnap me,” Hicks continued to protest. “We have laws in this town. My God, man, you’re only a stone’s throw from the territorial prison.”
“You ain’t the first to call me crazy and I was hopin’ I wasn’t gonna have to show you how crazy I can get when folks insist on wastin’ my time.” He dropped his hand to rest on the handle of his .44. “Now let’s get goin’. Get your bag or whatever you need to treat a gunshot wound. We’ve got a fair piece to ride.” He glanced at the doctor’s wife, who was still paralyzed in a state of shock. She seemed incapable of moving, but he was not willing to chance her sudden awakening and call to action, so he said, “You’d best come along with us to the barn while we saddle up.”
He was forced to draw his pistol when the doctor attempted one final effort to resist, causing Cody to dispense with all pretense of politeness. “Let’s get one thing straight,” he warned. “You’re gonna make a house call tonight, and it’s gonna be up to you how you do it. Tied up and lyin’ across the back of your horse, or sittin’ up in the saddle—it doesn’t make any difference to me. But if it was me, I’d rather ride in the saddle instead of bouncin’ on my belly for ten miles.”
“All right, damn you,” Hicks gave in. The look in the young man’s eyes conveyed a clear message that it was no idle threat. “But don’t think you’re going to get away with this outrage,” he threatened.
“You just saved yourself a lot of bother,” Cody said. He gave no thought to the consequences that might occur from abducting the doctor. His only concern was that his brother needed medical attention. He herded the doctor and his wife out to the small stable where Hicks kept his horse and waited while the doctor saddled the horse and climbed aboard. Then, taking the reins, he led him outside to Jimmy’s horse. Worried to the point of collapse, his terrified wife dutifully handed her husband his coat and medicine case when instructed to, then stepped quickly back. Cody nodded toward the path to the road and Hicks headed out. Cody held back a few seconds, then leaned down close to Nora’s ear and whispered, “I ain’t really gonna hurt him. Don’t worry about him. He’ll be back in the mornin’ safe and sound.” Then he loped off after the doctor.
Not a word passed between them as they rode through the night, their way lit by a three-quarter moon riding in a clear starry sky, but thoughts ran rampant through the doctor’s mind. When the last of the farmhouses was behind them, and there was nothing but the night surrounding them, his anger began to give way to concern for his safety. The relentless man behind him was undoubtedly insane, and what would stop him from murdering the doctor when he had served his needs—especially if he was not successful in the treatment? Speculation upon the question was fuel enough to make for a long, worrisome ride to the Garrison station.
It was well past midnight when they reached the lane leading to the Sullivan house, but Cody could see a lantern glow coming from the back stall in the barn. He directed Dr. Hicks toward it. “In the barn?” Hicks questioned, his first words since leaving Deer Lodge. “Did you kidnap me to treat a horse?”
Cody didn’t bother to remind him that it was his brother he had come to see. “Just ride right on into the barn,” he directed. As they were dismounting, Jimmy came from the back stall to meet them. “How’s he doin’?” Cody asked.
“About like he was when you left,” Jimmy answered. “Marcy’s with him. She stayed with him the whole time. Mama and Papa finally went to bed about an hour ago.” He took the reins of both horses. “I see you got the doctor.”
Dr. Hicks offered no more than a low grunt in response as he pushed by the boy, his recent fears giving way once again to anger. He was met at the door of the stall by Marcy.
“You came!” Marcy greeted him. “Bless you, Doctor. It was so good of you to come. I didn’t know what else to do for him.”
Finding it difficult to be gruff in the face of such an
honest show of appreciation, Hicks muttered his reply. “Your friend here is very persuasive.” He glanced at Cody, who answered with the hint of a smile. “All right,” Hicks said then. “Let’s take a look at the patient.” He figured that as long as he was there he might as well do what he could. Glancing at Marcy, he said, “Maybe you can help me here. Are you his wife?” He made the assumption based on her apparent concern for the patient.
“We ain’t got around to that yet,” Cullen answered weakly while Marcy flushed red with embarrassment.
Mildly surprised when Cullen spoke, Hicks said, “Oh, so you’re alive.” He turned back to the blushing young lady then and instructed, “Go ahead and remove those bandages and we’ll see how bad those wounds are.” He looked at Cody and said, “I’m gonna need some hot water.”
“I can get that,” Jimmy volunteered, and was immediately off to the kitchen.
After Marcy removed Cullen’s bandages, Dr. Hicks knelt beside him. “Good Lord,” he exclaimed in a whisper. “No wonder you’re sick as hell. It’s a miracle you aren’t dead.” He motioned to Marcy. “Bring that lantern over closer, so I can see. What was your name?” When Marcy told him, he continued. “Well, Marcy, I’m gonna have to do some cutting here and I’m gonna need you to help me.” He opened his bag and took out several instruments. “I need to have these in a pan of boiling water, so we don’t introduce any more infection than he’s already gotten in those wounds.” He paused and looked around him at his improvised surgery, then shook his head in disbelief. “I’m gonna need some coffee, too,” he called after Marcy as she left with the instruments to be sterilized.
In the absence of whiskey, which Cody considered the anesthetic of choice, Dr. Hicks spoon-fed the patient laudanum. The bitter mixture of alcohol and opium was intended to help with the pain as well as make Cullen sleepy. “He’ll most likely need it more after I work on him than he does now. This will help a little, but he’ll probably pass out from the pain when I get into those wounds.”
Thunder Over Lolo Pass Page 15
