IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH
CHAPTER 2
Drafts of air blowing in through the shattered window and the wide open front door roused Daisy to consciousness. Terrified, she peeked through her eyelashes before cautiously opening her eyes to look around the room. The two men were gone.
She managed to sit upright and saw Slim lying beside her, struggling to wake up. Groaning, he raised up on one elbow and ran his hand along the lump on the side of his head. He looked up at Daisy, then at the open door.
"What happened? Are you OK?" he asked, fighting against dizziness.
"I'm fine. But Jess…."
"Jess…." Memory returned. "Jess!" He jerked around and saw the trail of blood leading to Jess lifeless body on the other side of the room. Injury forgotten, Slim staggered over to him, dropped to his knees and lifted him into his lap. "Jess…"
He felt for a pulse in Jess' wrist but couldn't find it. Fearing the worst, he put two fingers over the artery in Jess' neck and felt a weak flutter, but his relief was short lived. When he opened his partner's bloody shirt, he saw how badly he was hurt. He ran his hand beneath Jess' back, hoping to find the exit wound but it wasn't there.
"Is he dead?" Daisy asked, standing next to him, fighting down nausea. She usually was not easily dismayed, but she loved Jess like her own son and was close to collapse.
"No, but he's barely alive."
As Slim bent over him, Jess arched his back and took a gasping breath, half opening his eyes. He saw Slim through a dense haze. He had no idea what had happened. All he knew was his body was on fire with hellish pain.
"Slim…." he gasped before his mouth filled with blood. He started coughing, gagging on the blood and coughing again. If he could have, he would have screamed with pain, but all he could do was vomit bloody sputum that flooded down over his chest. Slim lifted him in his arms and held him until the spasm eased. Jess sank exhausted against his partner's chest and passed out.
"Slim?' Daisy whispered.
'He's still alive, but we got to get him into bed."
It took all of Slim's strength to lift Jess in his arms and carry him toward the bedroom next to the stairs. Daisy darted around him, opened the door to the room, pulled back the sheets and blankets on the bed, then cried, "I'll get water and towels!" and ran toward the kitchen.
With his muscles strained to their limit, Slim struggled into the room and carefully lowered Jess onto the bed's white sheets, seeing them instantly stain red with blood. He turned Jess' head to the side to keep him from choking, straightened out his partner's body and took off his boots. Then he threw a blanket over him and sat down beside him.
His horror grew as he examined the wound. The bullet had penetrated the left side of the chest just above the heart. Instead of passing straight through the body and coming out the other side, it hit a rib and had gotten stuck on it. From the outside, the wound didn't look that bad, but Slim felt sick when he tried to imagine how seriously Jess was injured on the inside.
Daisy hurried back in with an armful of clean sheets and towels and a basin of hot water. Slim grabbed a cloth and started trying to staunch the bleeding.
"The bullet's still in there," he told Daisy, his voice neutral and flat. "Can you get it?"
"No. It's too close to the heart. A doctor would have to do it, and I'm not sure if even a doctor can…." She was ripping the sheets up into strips, her eyes fixed on Jess' ashen face and sunken cheeks. It seemed like the shadow of death had already fallen on his tightly closed eyes. "Ride to Laramie, Slim, and get Doc Higgins! I'll stay here and take care of him! Hurry! He doesn't have much time!"
"He might die before I get to town."
"Don't even think of such a thing! Go on now before it's too late!"
Reluctant to leave Jess, Slim hesitated for a second or two, but he knew he had to go get the doctor if there was to be any chance at all of saving his partner's life. He tore himself away and ran to the barn where he saddled Alamo and thundered out of the yard. Driving the horse hard, he covered the twelve miles to Laramie in record time. His fear grew all the way. What if the doctor wasn't in his office? If he was out on a house call? He galloped full speed down the town's main street, turned onto a side street and skidded to a halt in front of Doc Higgin's office.
Laramie's sheriff, Mort Corey, saw Slim race past him. Knowing the rancher's headlong gallop through town probably meant trouble, he followed him to find out what was going on. He discovered Slim's horse, trembling, hand hanging, reins trailing loose, standing in the middle of the street in front of Doc Higgin's office. There was no sign of Slim, but then, the office door opened and the doctor raced out with Slim right behind him. Higgins ran to the horse and buggy he kept ready and waiting during the daytime, jumped in, snapped the whip and took off. Slim ran toward Alamo.
"Slim!" Mort cried, grabbing the horse's bridle. "What's gotten into you? You could've hurt somebody riding through town like that."
Slim turned to look at him. "No time to explain, Mort. I got to get home." He jumped on Alamo and jerked the horse's head loose. "Jess is hurt," he said. "Maybe dying." He spurred the horse and it reared wildly, causing Mort to fall back. Horse and rider dashed off toward the livery stable.
"Slim!" Mort ran after the rancher and caught up with him at the livery as he was unsaddling Alamo. "What happened, boy?" he asked, panting hard.
"Jess has been shot. It's bad, Mort. Really bad. He was ambushed. Two men broke into the house. I had to watch it happen…" He broke off, threw the saddle on the fresh horse that had been brought in for him and cinched it tight. "I got to get back to him..."
"You go on," Mort said. "Get back as fast as you can. I'll be right behind you with a couple of men."
Slim nodded, swung into the saddle, burst out of the stable and spurred the horse to a breakneck gallop through town and back to the ranch. He and the doctor arrived at the house at the same time.
END OF CHAPTER 2