When Nathan came to, he had an awareness of two specific things. One was Bear's huge head over him, snorting and spraying him with saliva. The other was a growing sense of a pain the likes of which he'd never felt before.
"Ugh, Bear, off!" he said, pushing the horse's head away. "Not to be ungrateful to you for bringing me around, but ugh..." Nathan wiped his face with the sleeve of his red tunic.
He pulled his watch out of his pocket and was thankful it was still in one piece. And ticking. But it said it was just after 2:30. Already an hour and a half late.
Elizabeth. How many times had he promised her he'd come back to her, and he'd even told her what time. The thought of worrying Elizabeth caused him actual physical pain, but that pain had a lot to compete with right now.
Nathan tried to sit up and found his head was throbbing. He reached back and touched a bump about the size of an egg on the back of his head.
He didn't realize it consciously, but his training was replaying in his mind.
Possible concussion. Symptoms? Confusion, yes. Dizziness, no. Nausea, not yet. Ringing in the ears, no.
So that wasn't definitive. He'd keep an eye on that.
Nathan laid back and did mental triage. He tested his extremities, with the exception of his right leg which was clearly in major distress.
After determining that his other leg and his arms were unhurt, he pressed on his abdomen, ribs, chest and collarbone. He turned his head left and right. No spinal involvement, no neck issues.
Not too bad. Leg and head only. The jury's still out on the head, now let's see about the leg.
Taking a deep breath, Nathan propped himself up first on his elbows. He moaned in pain.
Pain level 7 out of 10. The bone appears to be broken and will make walking and/or mounting a horse extremely painful and likely impossible.
Steeling himself, Nathan quickly rotated his hands flat on the dirt and pushed himself up. This time, he channeled the pain into a roar that was so loud that it bounced off the mountains and echoed back to him. Even Bear looked alarmed. A flock of birds that had been peacefully singing in the trees flew away in a cloud of flapping wings and warning calls.
Pain level 9 out of 10. Only because you can't really say 10. Okay, it's probably a 10.
He had been close to passing out again. Breathing hard and sweating profusely, Nathan was now at least sitting up. He managed to drag himself around so he was leaning back on the very rock that was the culprit in his current situation.
"I can't really say it was the rock's fault, now can I, boy?" he said to Bear, grimacing.
Bear snuffled into the grass, agreeing with him.
Nathan picked up his hat, completely out of form and crushed. "Let's see who's in worse shape, me or my hat. My vote's with the hat." Nathan said as he placed it on the rock.
Nathan reached into the pouch on his belt and pulled out his knife. He cut away the top of his boot, his pant leg below the knee, and his sock.
Probable tibia break, just below knee. Significant amount of blood present, which may indicate open fracture. Blood still flowing minimally, tourniquet likely required. Place between the heart and the wound. And no more pain numbers. It just hurts. A lot.
Nathan pulled off his belt and wrapped it around his thigh. He cinched it tight and the bleeding stopped. He felt for his pulse, and it was at about 130. Pretty high for him.
Probable shock. Keep warm. Elevate feet.
"Not yet, I need to see what's going on here," Nathan said. He looked up at his horse. "So, Bear, is it better for me to be talking to you or to myself? Which one makes me less crazy?"
Bear ignored him, which wasn't much help.
Nathan carefully peeled the edges of his sock aside. There was enough blood that it was hard to see exactly what was going on.
With an open wound in the field there is a high probability of infection. Disinfect as soon as possible.
He looked up at his saddlebags where his first aid kit was, and they seemed very far away.
It has been suggested that saliva may have properties that aid in wound healing and its enzymes may help to disinfect.
Nathan sighed. "I wish I could use yours, boy, because you have plenty of it. But I suppose mine will have to do."
He found a relatively clean part of the sock he had cut away and went to work.
Injury area approximately five by five inches. Probable bone protrusion. Skin warm below injury. Skin color normal. Sensation normal below injury.
"Okay, so it could be worse." Nathan breathed deeply. "Yes, it could also be better, but there seems to be no severe damage to blood vessels or nerves. It's not life-threatening. Yet." Nathan looked at the sun moving lower in the sky. "But I can't ride all the way to Hope Valley like this, and it gets cold at night."
He looked at his watch again. When would Elizabeth start to worry? Considering her history with Mountie business, Nathan figured she already was.
What would she do? Probably talk to Lee or Bill, tell them her concerns. They will pat her hand and say I'm just running a little late. Thanks a lot, guys.
Plus, even if they did start looking, they wouldn't look on this road. They would be looking on the road from Murrayville to Hope Valley, not the one from Benson Hills. And this road had significantly less traffic than the other one. Rescue was not looking good in the near future. I have to make sure I last here as long as possible so they can find me.
Nathan shivered a little. And the pain seemed to be getting better, which was not logical.
Patients in shock and with traumatic injury lose heat rapidly. Severe pain may lessen due to lack of blood flow.
He needed to get his bedroll and his saddlebags down. Nathan knew he had a bottle of antiseptic and a roll of gauze and before using the antiseptic, he would need to wash the wound. The water in the canteen would do, and it was attached to the saddlebags, which were attached to the saddle.
For a short time, he puzzled how he could get up on one leg and get what he needed, but that sounded far too painful and dangerous to even consider.
Then he laughed out loud. "Bear, I definitely hit my head. How is that saddle attached to you, huh, boy? Come, Bear," he said.
Bear walked lazily over to Nathan and he took hold of the reins. He positioned the horse so that he could look up at the cinch. His arms were long enough to reach up and cut the leather strap with his knife. It wasn't an easy or quick process, but when it was done, it was just a matter of pulling hard on the cinch from under Bear and the saddle fell on the other side along with saddlebags, first aid kit, canteens, hard-boiled eggs, some butter and jam, bedroll, matches, flint, blankets and rope. A treasure trove for an injured man stuck on the ground.
Bear wasn't particularly happy about it at first, but then he just backed over the saddle and enjoyed his freedom.
And now I've made it well and truly impossible to ride anywhere. I am here until they find me.
He lay back on the rock, out of breath, completely spent.
Elizabeth had looked out of her window so many times that she finally went out and sat on the top stair of her front porch. She couldn't look at the clock again. She knew it was two minutes later than the last time she'd looked and that meant it was 4:12. Three hours late.
She and Jack and Allie had gone to church and come home for a quick lunch, and since that time they'd been waiting to see Nathan come around the corner.
At three, they had walked to the Mercantile and asked Fiona to call the Mountie Station in Murrayville. They confirmed that Nathan had left very early in the morning, and the woman who ran the boardinghouse had given him food. The livery had confirmed he'd taken Bear.
He was somewhere between there and here. But there is so much somewhere between there and here, Elizabeth thought anxiously.
"Elizabeth, what are you doing?" Rosemary said, closing her door and walking down the steps.
"Nathan told me he would be here at one," Elizabeth said, worried. "He left early this morning."
"Oh, my goodness," Rosemary said, taking all the worry on Elizabeth's face and multiplying it on her own.
"Rosemary, is Lee home?"
"Yes, he's inside," Rosemary said. She was already anticipating Elizabeth's next question and walking back up her steps. "I'll get him."
After talking to Lee and convincing him that Nathan wouldn't take any side trips because he would know how she would worry, Lee was ready to take action.
"I'm coming with you," Elizabeth said.
Lee knew better than to argue with her. "Rosie, can you stay here with Jack and Allie?" He kissed her quickly. "And don't worry."
On the way to find Bill, who was always acting Sheriff in Nathan's absence, Lee got all the information he could.
Elizabeth said, "I can't think this has anything to do with William Dean. Nathan said Dean would be on his way to the next station today. They had no problems with him." She looked at Lee, "But what if he's had an accident, or some kind of ambush, or..."
Lee took Elizabeth's hand as they walked. "My mother always used to say, 'Don't borrow trouble,' Elizabeth. We don't know anything. We'll find him."
Within twenty minutes, Bill had called the Mountie Station and they were sending out men to ride the road from Murrayville heading to Hope Valley. Bill and Lee planned to ride toward them, and they'd meet in the middle. It had been eight hours at a walk with William Dean, but at a run they could go five times that fast.
If they thought they were leaving Elizabeth behind, they were sorely mistaken. After saddling Sergeant, she stopped at the Infirmary to put some supplies in Sergeant's saddlebags. She asked Carson to be on call in case he was needed. Carson not only agreed to that, but he brought his bag and said he would ride out with them.
Truth was, Elizabeth had a very bad feeling. She couldn't explain it to anyone, but she felt connected to Nathan in such a way that she knew something wasn't right. She'd been praying all afternoon, and finally, in desperation, she'd even asked Jack for help.
When she and Carson went to join Bill and Lee on the way to the road for Murrayville, Sergeant stopped. He pulled her left. She tried to pull him right and he stood firm. She got angry with him and pulled again, but he was strong, and he refused. She thought he might even throw her if she kept insisting.
Finally, after begging him with tears running down her cheeks, she let go of the reins, and Sergeant peacefully started toward the Benson Hills road.
"Bill!" she called out, and Bill rode back to her. "Is it possible to get to Murrayville from the Benson Hills road?"
Bill thought for a moment. "I guess you could go that way, if you took the Silverton crossroads. It's probably thirty or forty minutes slower, though. Why would he come that way?"
"Because that's how we went to get Allie's horse. And you remember, that's where the cabin is, where little Jack was born. He's been there. If he's injured, he might have gone to the cabin for shelter."
Bill nodded. "Okay, you and Carson go that way, and we'll go on the Murrayville road." He looked up. Sun's going to set in a couple of hours. Take lanterns. We'll meet back here."
Now Sergeant was like the wind. He flew down the road to Benson Hills with Elizabeth holding on for dear life and Carson barely keeping up.
I hope this is you, Jack. I always thought the term guardian angel was a metaphorical thing, but you'll make a believer out of me.
Nathan didn't think he could stay conscious if he set the bone himself. Plus, it would probably open the wound again and the blood might start flowing. He was lucky that it hadn't started bleeding again when he'd taken the tourniquet off.
A tourniquet can only be left in place for two hours without risk of muscle damage and the probable necessity of amputation.
Nathan had washed and disinfected the wound and could see the bone clearly, a fair-sized shard poking out of the skin just below his knee. He'd found deadfall wood all around him in the field, and using two strong pieces, he now had a splint over the wrapped wound and his leg was well immobilized.
He had a fire going and just to add to his visibility, he'd placed his mangled hat on top of a tall stick that he'd secured with rocks at its base.
He was lying on Bear's saddle blankets and had his bedroll blankets over him. His injured leg was propped up on the rock with the only points of pressure on the wood splint.
None of this was done easily, quickly or without tremendous pain. Nathan was as exhausted as he could ever remember being, and after only three hours' rest last night, he knew the shock or the concussion would want to put him to sleep.
So, he sang songs to Bear, and told him stories. He tried to imagine where he and Elizabeth and Allie and Jack would live because he thought it shouldn't be either of their row houses. He wanted another place, maybe even a homestead, not too far away but a place with no memories for Elizabeth. A place that could be just theirs. Maybe with a cow named Lizzie.
Don't fall asleep.
