"Get inside them jail cells," Festus Haggen ordered while Sam Noonan and a few other men watched on as Eric Fowler and Royce McClellan slowly took their places and sat on their respective cots. Neither man looked up from the floor as Sam closed the iron bar doors and locked them.
"Thank you, Sam," Haggen sighed.
"Festus, you should have your arm looked at by Newly," the barkeep said. "You look terrible."
Festus pushed off from the door jam he was leaning against and closed the wooden door between the main area of the jail house and the holding cells once Sam and the other men were through, "I suppose yer right, Sam. I don't feel that good either," he said as he sluggishly walked to the door. "Ifin you don't mind watching over them yahoos," Festus said.
"Go and see Newly," Sam urged as he watched Festus leave the jail house. Sam shook his head and wondered how the hill man could do it. Time and time again he put the need of his friends or Dodge before his own, even at the cost of his own health. Sam moved to the window and watched Festus slowly cross the street on his way to Doc's office.
The hill man trudged up the street and finally reached the stairs to the doctor's office. Slowly he pulled himself up using the rail and reached the top landing when his legs gave out from underneath him. Festus flopped to the landing floor with a groan.
Kitty and Matt had just managed to get Doc into the back room and into his own bed when they heard the noise, "What was that?" Kitty asked with a slight start as she hoped it wasn't Eric Fowler.
Matt shrugged and walked to the door looking out through the window, "Doesn't appear to be anything," Matt stated and began to turn away when his eyes caught something out side the door. If it wasn't for the moon light glinting off Festus spur, he wouldn't have seen him, "Festus?" Matt said pulling the door open.
Festus flopped backward onto the floor at Matt's feet. Matt quickly looked up to Kitty, "I forgot about his arm," he said as he gently pulled Festus into the warm room and kicking the door closed. Kitty gasped, "Oh, Festus!" she said crouching down next to Matt.
"Festus?" Matt asked as he tried to get a response from his deputy. There was nothing. Matt looked up at Kitty, "Let's get him up to the table. I'll find Newly," he said as he gently hoisted Festus to his feet and moved him to the examination table.
"See what you can do for him, until I get back," Matt huffed as he struggled to get Festus up to the table.
Kitty nodded and looked around. Wilbur Jonas left Doc's equipment clean and dried. He even covered the instruments with a clean cloth as if he knew they would be needed again soon before this ordeal was over for Dodge. Kitty moved the table back next to the examination table and the looked down at Festus. He looked terrible and ashen. All Kitty could do was to wipe the hill man's face with a damp cloth and wait for Newly.
Matt quickly walked to the gun shop, where Newly had a small room at the back. He could see a lit oil lamp in the back room, but whether Newly was awake or not was yet to be seen. Matt tried the door knob, but it was locked. Gently he rapped on the window hoping to get Newly's attention. There was still no signs of movement, so Matt knocked a little heavier. Finally he saw Newly.
The young deputy yawned and stretched his arms as he walked to the door and then noticed that it was Matt. Newly's heart jumped as he instantly thought something had happened to Doc.
Newly quickly unlocked the door and pulled it open, "Marshal?" a panicked look washed over his face. "What's wrong? Is Doc all right?" he asked the questions in rapid fire.
Matt tried to slow Newly down, "It's Festus. Remember he was shot in the arm," the marshal said.
Newly sighed, "I guess with him busy with the prisoners, and I was so busy with Doc, I completely forgot," his dark eyebrows knitted together as he looked at the floor with shame. "Where is he now?" he looked up to Matt.
"He made it to the top landing of Doc stairs before he collapsed," Matt stated. "I managed to get him up onto the examination table. Kitty is with him right now," he said as he watched Newly turn down the oil lamp and grab his coat. Without a word, Newly stepped passed Matt and headed directly to Doc's office, again.
Matt pulled the door of the gun shop closed and decided that Newly and Kitty could take care of Festus. He needed to get started on the paperwork for the two men who were in his jail cells. William Hatton was stretched out on a table at Percy Crump's undertaker's business by now.
Newly took the stairs two at a time and almost popped through the door, "How is he?" he asked Kitty.
"He looks terrible," Kitty answered as she looked up from dabbing the damp cloth over the deputy's forehead. "I think he might have a fever," she spoke quietly.
Newly pulled his coat off and tossed it aside, "I wouldn't doubt it. I told him not to go back out there," O'Brien said as he rolled up his sleeves and stepped next to Festus. "The first thing I have to do is get him out of his coat with his arm broken and all" he stated as he looked at Festus' arm and studied the situation.
"Cut it off. I'll get him a new one," Kitty said and looked up at Newly. He nodded, "It's likely the easiest and best way to go about it," he said untying the bandana that Jonas had wrapped around Festus' upper arm earlier in the day. Newly picked up the scissors and cut up along Festus' coat sleeve to expose his sleeved arm. The hill man groaned slightly as Newly moved his arm.
Once Newly exposed Festus' shirt, he quickly cut away at the sleeve in the same manner. Newly wiped the wound and studied it, "It's not as bad as I feared," he said looking to Kitty," and then began to repair the deputy's limb.
Kitty sighed, "That's a slight relief," she said somewhat sarcastically as she assisted Newly with his procedure. Newly glanced up quickly and looked at the red-headed saloon owner and again realized how tough and tender she could be all at the same time. Newly tucked into his work.