Jim hovered around Robert as the physician worked on trying to extract the bullet. Finally, pulling it from the wounded man's shoulder, he dropped it into a basin before looking at Althea. "Soak some of that gauze in carbolic acid and clamp it so I can clean this out," he said as Althea did what he asked. "Thank you," he said after taking the instrument from her.

"When can we take him out of here?" Jim asked as Robert scoffed.

"No time soon unless you want to kill him," Robert said putting a bandage around the wound. "You'd be better off leaving him here with me."

"Are you kidding me!" Jim said angrily. "He'll end up in jail!"

"Better that then dead, isn't it?" Robert said turning around to look at the criminal. "If you take him out of here and put him on horse back, he'll die that much I guarantee you!"

"What do you think Teak?" Jim asked as the younger man shrugged his shoulders. "He's just gonna slow us down anyway!"

"Alright," Jim said thoughtfully. "We'll leave him with you."

"Fine," Robert said with a nod aimed at Althea. "You both better get going before the law starts looking for us."

"Yeah," Jim said looking at Teak. "Let's get, without them having a way outa here, we should get a good days head start."

"Exactly," Robert said eagerly as the two men headed out the door of the cabin. He stood and watched them ride away before returning to the cabin and Althea's shocked expression.

"Why would you do that?" she said looking down at the wounded man. "He isn't even worth it!"

"Of course, he is," Robert replied angrily. "I took an oath when I became a doctor. It doesn't matter from where they've come from or what they've done, every life counts!"

"I just don't get you," Althea said taking a seat at the table. "Well, how are we going to get out of here!"

"I'm not worried about that," Robert said confidently. "When we didn't return to Dodge, my Pa will be the first one to come looking for us and he's the best tracker their is."

"But, Jim told that Teak fella to clear our tracks," Althea said skeptically.

"That don't make a difference to a Haggen," Robert said with a smirk.

Althea yawned as she watched Robert keep vigil over the criminal. Now the middle of the night, the young doctor placed cold rags on the outlaws head to fight the fever from the infected shoulder wound to changing the bandages and cleaning the wound every few hours.

"Well," Robert said checking the time on his pocket watch. "If he's still alive by morning, I'd say he'll make it."

"That's good news for him," Althea replied angrily. "What about us!"

Festus stopped when it got to dark to see and turned to look at Newly. "Guess we'll have ta make camp here and try again in the morning."

"Yeah," Newly said climbing down off his horse and looking around deep in thought. "But, they didn't have time to get much further than this. Can you think of any place that a gang could have used as a hide out?"

"If yer thinking that bunch from Cimarron got em," Festus said as Newly nodded. "The onliest place I can think of round here's gonna be past the creek out in the valley. Old man Warner used ta have a cabin out that away, nothing more than four walls and a roof was all it was!"

"It's worth checking it out," Newly said remounting his horse. "If they ain't there, we'll stay and go out again at first light."

Robert stood up to stretch his back and smiled as Althea put her head on her arms atop the table and drifted off to sleep. Taking off his coat, he draped it over her shoulders before deciding to make a fire to take the chill out of the air. Afterward, he returned to the outlaws side so he didn't notice when Althea woke up and started to watch him again.

"Looks like someone's there," Newly said quietly observing the cabin from a distance. "I see light coming from it."

"Yeah," Festus said taking a deep breath. "And, I smell smoke!"

"But that don't make much sense," Newly said moving in closer. "An outlaw gang wouldn't run the risk of starting a fire."

"But, I don't see no horses, Newly," Festus replied before looking at the Marshal. "I think we need ta just go on down there and find out who's in that cabin!"

"I agree," Newly said with a nod before drawing his gun and moving slowly toward the door.

Althea jumped before coming up out of her seat when she heard the door of the cabin open behind her. Whirling around, she broke out into a smile when she seen the Marshal and deputy come though the door.

"Thank, God," Althea said as Robert stood up from the wounded outlaw's side.

"I was wondering how long it would take you two to find us," Robert said as Newly stopped at his side and looked down at the man on the cot.

"Who's he?"

"Don't really know," Robert said crossing his arms. "I convinced the other two to leave him here with me since putting him on a horse would have most assuredly killed him. The other two name's were Jim and Teak if those sound familiar."

"Yeah," Newly said looking at Festus. "That's the names of those three that held up that bank in Cimarron. This one's name is Ike."

"Well, Ike here isn't going to be able to make it back to town without a wagon," Robert said looking at Festus. "Why don't you take Althea back to town, Pa and bring out a wagon."

"Newly," Festus said as the Marshal nodded. "I'll be here."

"Alright then, Missy," Festus said looking at Althea. "Let's go!"

"I'll see you back in town, Doctor," Althea said as Robert looked in her direction.

"Thanks for you help today," Robert replied with a grin as Althea shook her head.