"He'll be bad off, Matt." Doc shook his head. "What with the Siriasis and this blistering sun, he may not be in any shape to sit up. We'll look for him with a wagon instead of my buggy."
Hoping he just walked to a creek to cool off and come back, Matt had searched Dodge for Chester. He was nowhere to be found.
"He didn't say where he was going, Marshal," Jonas had said. "He set out on the prairie afoot, none too steady in his boots, either. Looked right poorly, too. Face red as a cherry."
Moss hitched Buck and Doc's horse to the wagon, and watched as Matt spread out a bedroll in the wagon bed. "Chester far gone as all that?" said Moss.
"He might be," said Doc. He climbed to the seat next to the marshal, and Matt took the reins.
"Why would he take a walk on the prairie in this weather with summer fever? It makes no sense," said Moss.
"We'll find out why when we find Chester, Moss. Let's hope he's not too far gone to tell us," said Matt.
Chester's body craved water. He had to wake up and get to the creek. A vise squeezed his temples and his mouth and throat were charred splinters. Drawing breath was hard, and he set his head to keep his lungs working, the dragging pull making his belly sore. Breathe. Wake up. Get to the creek.
The sun in his eyes hurt. Strange, how it blazed this late in the day. The three o'clock train was in the station when he left Dodge, and he'd walked on the prairie an hour at least. He knew he'd slept awhile, two hours maybe.
Then Chester saw his lady lit by the sun, coming to him. Like his dream yesterday, he couldn't see her clearly. He only knew she was pretty. "Hello, Miss," he said. "I'm feared you had a terrible long walk jest to meet me. You must be ready ta drop in this sun."
She smiled and sat beside Chester as he lay in the grass shaded by the elm tree. He wished he'd thought to ask Ma Smalley to fix a picnic basket.
Laughing a little, she said, "Why, it's just a short ways, Chester. I'll meet you soon, and you can ask me to the dance." She had a voice like silk and singing.
"I surely would admire to, Miss," said Chester. "Will you please fetch me some water first? Sorry to be a bother, but um havin' a l'il trouble reachin' the crik."
"Doc will give you water," the lady soothed. She rose gracefully to her feet and shook out her bright shimmering skirts. "I must go now, Chester. I will see you before long." She glided into the sun.
As Chester watched her go, a wet cloth covered his face and blocked her out. A hand stroked his head with the cloth and mopped at his face and neck, then a sting like carbolic acid shot up his nose and filled his head.
Chester opened his eyes and looked into Doc's blue ones darkened with worriment. Kneeling in the grass by Doc, Mr. Dillon held a canteen. Like paying respects at a grave. Not Chester's on account of he was alive and atop the sod. He looked at Mr. Dillon's canteen and tried to ask for water, but could only croak.
Doc held Chester's head while Matt put the canteen to his mouth. He swallowed a mouthful and coughed. "That's enough for now," said Doc.
Matt pulled the canteen back, and Chester sat up and snatched it. The water sloshed onto his shirt as he guzzled.
"Here, give me that," said Doc, taking it away. "Too much at once will hurt you."
" 'Twon't neither," said Chester. "It's jest what I need. You drove a wagon. You 'n Mr. Dillon 'spect to haul me back dead, Doc?"
Doc patted his shoulder. "You're a strong man, Chester."
"The water brung me back ta life. That and my dream lady."
"Her again, huh? I kinda thought she had something to do with this," said Doc.
" 'Twarnt her fault I come out here, Doc. It was that trickster gambler. Taggart."
"Taggart," said Matt.
"Let's get him back to town, Matt. Air's too hot even here in the shade," said Doc.
"Can you stand, Chester?" said Matt.
"Yes, sir. Legs jest a mite weak, maybe."
Matt and Doc stood up, took Chester's arms and pulled him to his feet between them. The ground seemed to rock like a canoe under his boots and his legs buckled.
"Easy," said Matt. "We got you." The marshal and Doc hoisted Chester in the wagon and helped him lie down.
"You take the reins, Doc," said Matt. "I'll ride back here with Chester. I wanna hear what Taggart said to bring him out here on foot."
"He knows about my dream lady, Mr. Dillon," Chester said, as Doc climbed to the wagon seat. Doc looked over his shoulder and gave Chester a keen look, met Matt's eyes, then turned round and chirruped to the horses.
"I dunno how, but he does," said Chester. "Taggart come to the office an' tole me a real pretty woman wants me to take her to the dance. A friend of his. He said she wanted me to walk on the prairie an' meet her. There warn't no lady a comin'. 'Ceptin' two times she come in my dreams. She ain't real.
"Taggart spends most of his time playin' cards at the Long Branch. Miss Kitty musta mentioned my dream to Sam or one of the gals, an' Taggart heard. I don't blame Miss Kitty one speck, Mr. Dillon. That Taggart's a real trickster. He goes on mannerly like a harmless feller. Wisht I knowed what put it into his head to fool me. I done nothin' to him." Chester closed his eyes and heaved a trembling sigh, wearied as much, Matt figured, from falling afoul yet again of a body out to get him for no sane reason, as from the fever.
"I'll talk to Taggart," said Matt.
"Um no end a trouble to you, Mr. Dillon. Cain't seem to help it."
"You did nothing wrong, Chester. Just rest easy," said Matt.
The tenseness faded from Chester's face as sleep overtook him again. Unlike the fevered stupor under the elm tree, his nap on the short ride back to Dodge revived him enough to climb out of the wagon and make it to his bed without Matt's help. "B'lieve I could eat a whole hog fer supper, Doc," he said, after Doc checked his temperature and listened to his heart. "Walkin' the prairie made me powerful hungry."
"Might've killed you, were you any less hardy than you are," said Doc, mixing a spoon of nitre in water. "You're in no condition to eat a hog, Chester, but you're no worse off than you were before you set out on that walk."
"Get him some dinner, will you, Doc? I'm goin' to see Kitty. And Russ Taggart," said Matt.
Kitty sat on a bench out front of the Long Branch, her lovely face strained and a distant look in her expressive blue eyes. With sundown an hour or so away, the day's heat gathered thick and moist in the barroom, the air in the shadows outside not as still and slightly cooler.
Sensing Matt's steady presence, Kitty knew he stood by the bench before she looked up at him. "Kitty." He touched his hat brim.
Searching his face, she found none of the worry that troubled her mirrored there, yet she wouldn't let herself relax until he told her for sure. "Matt?"
Matt sat beside her and took her hand. "We found him, Kitty. Passed out under a tree a mile from town. He came round when we gave him water. Doc says he's no worse than when he set out, and he was hungry for dinner. That's a good sign."
"Matt, why would he walk on the prairie in the hot sun when he's fevered? That's addled even for Chester," said Kitty.
"He said Russ Taggart came to the office and told him a woman friend of Taggart's wanted Chester to walk out there and meet her and ask her to the dance. He thinks Taggart knows about his dream, Kitty."
Kitty pulled her hand out of Matt's. "Taggart's been following Lillian Temple all over the Long Branch since I hired her yesterday morning, when he met her. He's besotted with her. I figured if he knew ahead of time that Lillian's asking Chester to take her to the dance, Taggart wouldn't expect to take her and stir up trouble, so when I asked to talk to Lillian and he trailed after her, I let him listen in on my plan.
"He said some hard words about Chester on account of he's jealous, but he's a gentleman with the ladies, and civil enough with the men otherwise. He just has a wily air, like gamblers do. I never thought he would hurt Chester. Oh Matt, I should've known better," said Kitty.
"Don't blame yourself, Kitty."
"But Chester must have guessed Taggart heard me talking about his dream. I betrayed his trust, Matt."
"Kitty." Matt put his arm around her. "Chester doesn't hold this against you at all. He said so. He said Taggart's a trickster."
"Well, if Chester doesn't hold it against me and he'll be alright, things aren't so bad as could be. And I still want Lillian to ask him to take her to the dance. I don't want Taggart spoiling it for him," said Kitty.
"Way to make sure Taggart doesn't spoil it is run him out of town," said Matt.
"You think he'll leave Dodge? He really is crazy over Lillian, Matt."
"I don't know," Matt said. "I'd like to meet the lady at the center of all this. Miss Lillian Temple."
"She's gone to her rooming house for the night. Lillian keeps a lady's hours. She only works days," said Kitty. "Let's go inside, Matt. Get your talk with Taggart over with so you can enjoy a beer. You must be thirsty for one."
Taggart sat with three men at cards. Matt moved to the table and stood next to his chair. Taggart looked up at him. "Marshal."
"Taggart. I wanna talk to you. Outside."
"I'm at work here. I'm winning," said Taggart.
"Get up and get outside. Now," said Matt.
Taggart put down his cards, pushed back his chair and stood, and headed for the batwings, Matt following. Taggart moved a few steps on the boardwalk and turned to the marshal.
"Chester told me what you said to him," said Matt.
Taggart looked at once scared and relieved. "Yeah, he's alive, Taggart. Lucky for you. His fever's no worse. Not what you hoped, is it," said Matt.
"I didn't want him to die. I just wanted to make him sick long enough so he couldn't take Miss Lillian to the dance," said Taggart.
"Chester's canteen was empty when Doc and I got to him. If we hadn't found him when we did he likely would've died. And you'd be his killer," said Matt.
"He went out on the prairie on his own. I didn't put a gun to his head," said Taggart.
"Get out of Dodge," said Matt.
Taggart flinched and his eyes narrowed. He braced himself and paled, looking up at Matt. "No," he said. "You got no right to run me out, or jail me either. Sure I fooled Chester, but he chose to take that walk. It's not like I tricked him to drink poison or something."
"Alright," said Matt. "Then get this through your head, Taggart. Miss Temple is going to ask Chester to take her to the dance. You better not try anything else to stop him, or make trouble for him there. Pull another trick like you did today, and I'll give you a beating you won't soon forget. Now go crawl in your hole and don't show your face on the streets before sunup."
"I am in love with Lillian Temple, Marshal. Love drives a man to do things he wouldn't ordinarily do. He cannot help himself, even with a beating by a big strong lawman looming over his head." Taggart backed away from Matt, then turned and headed down Front Street.