Page 112 (2/2)

Turning from the bed, Benteen crossed to the stove and poured a cup of coffee Webb had slipped silently into the cabin behind Benteen He stood on tiptoe peering at the cowboy in the bed

“Mo to sleep here?” he asked

“Yes, until he’s better,” she replied, aware of the sharp look Benteen sent her

“But where will you and Daddy sleep?” Webb frowned

“Daddy can sleep with you and Arthur I’ll put some quilts in a chair and sit up with Shorty” She took him by the shoulders and pointed hiet supper ready”

In the predawn hours, Shorty drifted into se wakened Lorna as she dozed in the chair next to his bed She moved to quiet him and moisten his dry lips with a wet cloth Benteen came soundlessly to the bed and leaned over it

“What happened, Shorty?” Hisof the cowboy’s eyelids

“Indians … run off … stock … ambushed ible, but Benteen got the gist of the story

“Indians” Lorna looked at Benteen with vague alarm They’d stolen cattle before, but there had never been any attack on the men

Shorty curled his fingers into Benteen’s shirt A bewildered frown clouded his pain-filled expression “… thought … white htly “… ”

“Sssh” Lorna becath to talk and fir hand froht, Shorty You just rest”

There was a slight nod as he seemed to relax She smoothed the covers over him, then turned to Benteen

“What do you suppose he meant about the white man?” she asked

“I don’t know,” he one after them alone, but you can’t tell Shorty that He’d take on an ar as anyone else”

For five long days and nights Lorna nursed hih fever and bouts of delirium There were times when Shorty became violent and Benteen had to hold hi ripped open Lorna fed him broth when he was conscious and force-fed it to hih the worst of it Rusty declared that the coas too damned ornery to die