"Doc?" Chris asked tentatively, "is that you?"
"Sorry son," Miner replied when he realized who the darkly-dressed stranger was, "my old mind gets a bit jumpy in these sorts of situations. Did you get your fancy friend back?"
"Ezra and Nathan are still at the orphanage," Chris answered tiredly, "but things are under control. Came to take you and Buck as well…..before the mornin' shift starts showin' up."
"Buck's sleepin', but I don't suppose he'll mind bein' woken up once he realizes you're back for him."
"Was he afraid we wouldn't come back?" Chris questioned.
"Think he was afraid somethin' would happen to ya, and you wouldn't be able to come back," the doc put the gun away and walked back towards the stream with Larabee in tow.
Chris sat on the ground next to Buck's bedroll, touched the boy's arm, and whispered, "Buck, it's time to wake up."
"Huh?" the boy sleepily replied, "Chris, is that you?"
"Open your eyes and find out," Larabee grinned. There was always something calming about being back with Buck, even with all that the leader knew he had to deal with tonight.
"Did you find Ezra?" Buck sat up.
"Yeah, we did," Chris touched the boy's face to see if the fever from last night was completely gone. It was. "He's hurt, but Nathan's takin' good care of 'im…..wanna get you and Doc Miner with them as well."
"With them?" Buck caught the statement, even in his tired state. "You're not goin' too?"
"I'm goin' back, but I need to wire the judge, Vin, and Josiah first."
"Can I come with you?" Buck questioned. He had just gotten Chris back; he didn't want to be separated again.
"Not this time, buddy," Chris replied, "but I promise not to be gone long."
The camp was packed up as well as it could be in the dark, and the two men and boy rode back towards the orphanage. Buck was clearly feeling better, Chris noted, as he was fully back to his talkative self.
Once they arrived at the gates, Chris fired a single shot in the air, and Nathan came out and escorted the doc and Buck inside.
Chris turned and rode off towards Eagle Bend.
Buck, Miner, and Nathan entered the medical clinic, and Nathan said, "there's a cot over there if you wanna go back to sleep, Buck. It's still a couple of hours 'til morning." The boy walked over and looked at the sleeping gambler. It was tough to see a man like Ezra, who was always so jovial and full of life, lying there looking so pale and exhausted.
"Ezra's gonna be ok," Nathan said when he saw the frightened look on the boy's face. "Why don't ya go lie down."
Nate got the boy tucked in and covered up, and the old doc approached his dark-skinned counterpart. "I'll keep an eye on things here; why don't you take your own advice."
"Chris was hopin' you and me could check out the orphans tomorrow….give 'em a medical check to make sure they were ok to travel to a new location," Nathan yawned.
"It's my facility," Miner said. "I can quickly gather up the needed supplies and have them ready to go by the time you or the children wake up." Miner grabbed Nathan's shoulder and steered the tired man to another cot across the room. Nathan smiled and shook his head in thanks to the old doc.
"Shit," Chris said outloud as he realized he had caught himself falling asleep in the saddle for the second time. He took some of the water from his canteen and splashed it onto his face and hoped that Eagle Bend wasn't much further.
The sun was just coming up over the eastern horizon when Larabee rode into the familiar, small town. Sheriff Stains was sitting on the boardwalk and recognized the blond-haired man as he tied his horse to the hitching post.
"What brings big, bad Chris Larabee to our little town at this hour of the mornin'?" the large sheriff stood and towered over the smaller peacekeeper. The two men had learned to accept the fact that they were indeed both on the same side of the law, but neither had forgotten their differences over the handling of Nathan Jackson's father and his trial.
"Need ya to wake the telegraph operator," Chris instructed.
"And why is that, Larabee?" Stains continued to just stand there and drink his coffee.
"Just do it," Chris looked up at Stains and said. Larabee could feel his strength waning. He was so damn tired. The last thing he felt like dealing with right now was this cantankerous man.
"Ya don't look so good," the big sheriff smirked. "Did ya ride all night to git here?"
"Somethin' like that," Chris could feel his vision starting to dim,"please...go find the telegraph operator. I'm gonna sit right over here and wait." He was not about to let himself pass out in front of this asshole.
Stains could see the man beginning to sweat and turn white. He didn't say anything – just grabbed the smaller man's arm and led him to the bench. Chris immediately put his elbows on his knees, and his head on his hands…trying to get the world to come back into focus.
"I'll drag Larry out of bed," Stains finally agreed, "should I wake the doc as well?"
Larabee laughed and looked up at the sheriff, "nah, I'm fine…..I appreciate your help."
The sheriff returned about 10 minutes later with a small, balding man, who was carrying a pad and a pencil. "Mr. Stains says you have an urgent telegram?"
Chris was feeling a bit stronger after sitting and drinking some water from his canteen. Larabee dictated two messages: one to Judge Travis and one to Vin and Josiah. From the judge, Chris wanted permission to close down the boy's home and suggestions for a good orphanage to move the kids to. In his telegram to his fellow peacekeepers in Four Corners, he told them to grab a couple of extra folks and bring 3 or 4 wagons, preferably covered. He needed them to come back through Eagle Bend to pick up the return wire from the judge, and then meet the rest of them at the home for boys. Larabee assumed it would take Vin and Josiah a day to assemble the wagons and supplies, so they would likely be back through Eagle Bend sometime tomorrow.
Once the telegraph operator headed to the office to send the wires, Larabee explained the situation to Stains and asked for him and his deputies to keep an eye out for any trouble near Four Corners, since all five peacekeepers were going to be out of town for the next couple of weeks. Stains said he would do that. One of his deputies lived between the two towns, and he would ask him to ride to Four Corners on his way into work each morning and check on things. Chris also let him know that a deputy would be needed to arrest the guard still in custody at the orphanage, and someone would need to deal with the bodies of Oates and the other guards.
Stains didn't particularly like Larabee. He thought the blond was a bit too cocky for his own good, but he had to admit that he admired the man's grit and determination. The sheriff wasn't sure even Larabee had enough grit to make it the two and a half hour's ride back to the boy's home this morning. The man had to be ill or injured, although he kept insisting he was fine. His pallor remained gray, and the dark circles under his eyes strongly suggested his physical state was due to more than just the usual Larabee hangover. But he was a grown man, so Stains simply sat back down on his seat on the boardwalk and watched the dark figure disappear into the dust cloud, as he rode out of town.
Chris didn't understand why, but he continued to feel worse and worse as he rode south on the trail. His head pounded, he constantly felt like he was on the verge of passing out, and he just now dismounted to throw up what little food and water was in his stomach. The sick, exhausted gunslinger sat on the ground staring up at Pony…..not having any idea how he was going to get himself back onto his horse.
Nathan awoke the next day to find all of his companions asleep: Ezra on the exam bed, Buck on a cot, and Doc Miner is his chair. He walked over to feel Ezra's face and was annoyed to discover that Standish had a fever. It often seemed that gunshot wounds got infected no matter how well he cleaned them. He would let the man sleep for another hour or two, and hopefully the fever would get better instead of worse. Doc Miner stirred and looked ashamed when he realized Nathan had caught him napping in the chair.
"Good morning, Nathan," the doc said. "How are your patients faring this morning?"
"Buck seems to be sleeping well," Nathan answered, "but Ezra's come down with a fever."
"I'm surprised to hear that," the doc stood and felt the gambler's head himself. "His wound looked good after you stitched it last night." Nathan was right though; the man did feel too warm.
"I'm gonna head over to the boys' quarters, so I can tell them what's goin' on," Miner said. "I'll take the children to the cafeteria and try to round up something for breakfast."
"That sounds perfect, doc." Nathan was so thankful to have this man's help.
After a couple of hours, both Buck and Ezra had awaken, and the doc had one of the older boys deliver some eggs and toast to the medical ward.
Standish was shocked to find how terrible he felt when he woke up. He hadn't felt nearly this bad the night before. He ached all over, and he felt sick to his stomach.
"You're probably just hungry, Ezra," Nathan argued when Standish said his stomach was not up to eating. "I really think you should give breakfast a try."
The gambler reluctantly sat up and did as he was told, but damn he felt dreadful. It wasn't five minutes after he finished a small plate of eggs that Ezra immediately regretted listening to Nathan's advice.
"Nathan," there was no time for the "Mr. Jackson" formalities right now, "I fear I'm going to be sick."
The healer quickly ran to Ezra's aid, with a bucket in tow. He made it just in time to watch every drop of Standish's breakfast come back up.
"Ewwwwww!" Buck said and quickly looked away.
"I guess I should have listened to ya, huh?" Nathan sheepishly looked at the obviously ill man.
Larabee finally, albeit not at all gracefully, got himself back onto his horse. He and Pony moved slowly towards the orphanage. Chris was sick twice more before his stomach was completely convinced that there wasn't anything left to come up.
He thanked the heavens that there wasn't any of the daytime guards waiting outside the gate. They must have simply went home once they learned what had happened. Chris shakily pulled his gun and fired one shot to let Nathan and Ezra know he had returned. He then proceeded to let his eyes drift close and his body fall from the saddle.
When Nathan stepped outside, he was surprised to see Larabee's horse without its rider. Pony certainly hadn't fired the shot. As he stepped over the rise in the road, he saw the black-clad body lying on the ground at the horse's feet.
"Chris!" Nathan yelled. He felt for a pulse and found a strong one and saw no obvious new wounds. Nathan took Pony just inside the gate, and then returned to his unconscious leader. He scooped up Larabee's limp body in his arms and headed back towards the building. Even though Nathan was a strong man, and quite a bit larger than Chris, it was still exceedingly difficult to carry a full-grown man a distance that far. Nathan kicked open the clinic room doors and plopped Chris down on the nearest cot.
Buck came running immediately, "Chris! What's wrong Nathan? Is he gonna be ok?"
"Buck!" Nathan interrupted. He hated to be short with the boy, but he was worn out from carrying Larabee, and he needed some room to figure out what the hell was going on with the man. "I need you to go play or sit with Ezra for a little while. I need some room and time to figure out what's wrong with 'im."
Standish had been sick a few more times that morning but was now slowly starting to feel human again. He sat up and removed the wet cloth from his forehead when he heard Nathan come plowing through the doors with Chris. Larabee was completely out and looked like a 6-foot rag doll in Nathan's arms.
Nathan placed a cool cloth on Chris' head and started shaking and yelling at the man. "Chris, wake up. Come on, open yer eyes for me." Larabee eventually began to stir.
"Nate?" Chris' throat was so dry that his voice was barely audible. "I made it?"
Nathan smiled and gave Larabee a few sips of water, "yeah, you made it...just barely. What the hell happened? Did you make it to Eagle Bend?"
"Yeah, wires were sent," Chris took another drink. "I don't know what happened; just got to feelin' bad as the mornin' went on."
"I noticed ya still have a fever," Nathan interjected. "Did you feel sick to yer stomach?"
"Yeah, somethin' terrible," Chris answered but then said, "it ain't too bad now."
"I think you and Ezra may have had the same thing," Nathan said and Chris gave a questioning stare. "He woke up this mornin' sick as a dog. I don't even know how many times he threw up."
"Four," Ezra quickly spoke up, "that would be four exhaustingly painful times, Mr. Jackson."
Chris looked at Ezra and winced. Yep, he could sympathize with that experience this morning.
"I don't know if it was something ya ate or drank…or this is what Buck had the other night," Nathan talked as began to prepare for checking out the orphan boys. "Maybe he just wasn't as nauseous with it or somethin'…I'm gonna take you two over to Oates' place to rest today, and me and doc Miner will start doing physicals on the boys. Buck can stay here and help us too; you can write down their names and any notes about their health."
"Yes sir, Nathan," Buck saluted. He felt good today, and he was happy to know that himself and his other friends from the orphanage were safe from Oates and the awful things that occurred here.
Doctor Miner stopped by after breakfast. "The other boys are out in the yard. When would you like to start the examinations?" he asked Nathan. Chris and Ezra were both sitting up, on a cot, getting ready to head over to the ex-headmaster's quarters. The doc just now noticed their awful-looking pallor.
"What's the matter with those two?" he questioned.
"Don't rightly know," said Nathan,"both of them came down with some sort of stomach ailment, but they seem to be gettin' over it. You wanna help me escort them over to Oates' cabin?"
"Sure can," the doc smiled and looked at the two recovering peacekeepers, "you boys have had a rough few days."
Miner grabbed Ezra's arm, and Nathan did the same for Chris. They were unsteady for a couple of steps,and then both men were able to walk to the cabin mostly unassisted. The cabin fortunately had two beds in the one bedroom, so they settled each man into one of the beds and said, "we don't want to see either of you again until you've slept at least 4 or 5 hours."
"Ya ain't gonna get any arguments from me," Chris yawned, but as soon as the men left Ezra got up and grabbed his tack bag.
"What're you doin' Ezra?"
"I cannot stand myself any longer," Ezra remarked,"I am going to shave and clean up a bit…..and then lie down."
"Suit yerself," Chris said and fell asleep within minutes.
Ezra was feeling a lot better than he had this morning. He was still weak, from the blood loss and lack of keeping food down today, but he was hoping all of their bad luck was behind them now.
After he got cleaned up a bit, Standish returned to the sleeping quarters and joined Larabee in a nice, long nap.
Buck, Nathan, and the old doc went to work performing medical checkups on the orphan boys. When they were done, Buck had written down 24 names and all seemed well enough to travel to a new home. It had been in Oates' best interest to keep the boys relatively well-fed and cared for in order to sell them for work in the fields, so they were surprisingly healthy. There were three boys who were 16 or 17, close to being of age, so Nathan had offered to pay them to help drive the wagons with the younger boys, and then assist them in finding a job to support themselves either in Four Corners or a town along the way.
Once they were done, they turned all of the boys, including Buck, lose to run and play in the halls and in the yard. The boys were appreciative of what Buck had done for them; they thought it was brave that he had run away and found these men to help. Of course that made Buck feel good. Even with all of the kids to play with here, he still missed JD and hoped he would see him again soon. There was just something about that annoying little boy that made Buck feel really protective and attached to him.
Nathan went over to check on Chris and Ezra later that afternoon and found the men up and doing well, all things considered. He laughed when he overheard Ezra trying to push his shaving kit onto Larabee.
"Mr. Larabee," Ezra held the razor out, "I highly recommend that you freshen your appearance before we leave."
"I'm fine Ezra," Chris insisted,"I'll deal with it tomorrow mornin'."
"Have you, perchance, seen yourself?" Ezra continued to badger the man and pointed to a mirror in another room. "I am not kidding when I say that you will frighten the children."
"For Pete's sake," Larabee finally relented," give me the damn razor." He walked to the mirror and immediately started laughing.
"What?" Ezra asked, "what is so funny?"
"Damn," Chris continued to smile,"you weren't kiddin'." Larabee hardly recognized the man in the mirror. He had almost a full beard, his face and clothing were covered in dirt, and his eyes appeared sunken due to the dark circles surrounding them. He still appeared tired, but much more like himself, after cleaning up, shaving, and procuring a change of clothes.
"I'd say this is about as good as it gets," Chris presented himself to the gambler. "Do ya still think I'll scare the kids?"
"Yes," Standish grinned, showing his gold tooth, "but your appearance is certainly much improved. Shall we head over to see how we may be of assistance to doctors Jackson and Miner?"
"Lead the way," Larabee said as he shoved the shorter man out the cabin door, and Ezra struggled to quickly gain his footing on the step below. He had not been expecing the hard push from Chris.
"That's gratitude for you," Ezra stammered under his breath.
The four men prepared a simple supper for the 25 children in their care. Chris was impressed at how his men always seemed to take unusual assignments, such as this, in stride. Ezra was going from kid to kid introducing himself and asking where they were from, and you could already tell that the children liked him and Nathan. Chris had to admit that he was a bit intimidated by the gaggle of children they were now responsible for, and as Ezra predicted – the kids seemed to be a bit more leery of him than they were of Standish or Jackson.
Nathan and Doc Miner were going to sleep in the medical ward tonight, closer to the children. Buck, Chris, and Ezra had retired to Oates' cabin, and the boy was as talkative as usual. "So, Josiah and Vin should be here tomorrow?" the boy asked excitedly. He missed his friends, young and old, from Four Corners.
"Yeah, I think they should make it here sometime tomorrow," Chris answered. "We should probably all get some sleep, so we'll be ready when they do."
Ezra was lying on the second bed, half-dozing and half-reading one of Oates' books. Buck all of sudden jumped from the bed he was sharing with Chris onto Ezra's, and the gambler's heart just about jumped out of his throat. "But I'm not sleepy!" Buck exclaimed.
When Ezra got his hearbeat back under control, he calmly asked,"could you please refrain from doing that again?"
Chris chuckled and told Buck to, "get back over here and lay down before Ezra shoots ya. He ain't one to take kindly to losin' out on beauty sleep." Larabee wouldn't admit it, but his body was still yearning for more sleep as well. He yawned and forceably tucked the wiggly boy next to him under the blankets. "Buck, be still…or I'm gonna make ya sleep outside with the horses."
Finally, after enduring another hour of the young boy's tossing, turning, and "one last question," Buck settled down and went to sleep. Larabee happily followed him into dreamland.