Even in the darkness of night they forged onward. A thick fog clung to the ground., making visibility measurable only in feet, not miles. An icy drizzle soaked their clothing, bringing a relentless chill to their wet bodies. Their horses moved slowly across the barren prairie and they made no attempt to hasten the horses' gait, as a misstep could easily cause a horse to stumble or fall, sending its rider plummeting to the ground.
Heyes had been riding lead for the better part of three hours, giving Kid the opportunity to sleep in his saddle. Heyes held the reins of his own horse in his left hand and the reins of Kid's horse in his right as they trudged on.
They would have liked to have stopped and sheltered for the night, something the posse likely had done, but had decided against it as even at their slow pace, they were putting distance between themselves and their pursuers. .
Kid woke and raised his head, sending a stream of cold water off the brim of his hat and trickling down his back, causing him to shiver..
You want me to take the lead," he called to Heyes.
Heyes tugged on the reins of Kid's horse, bringing the animal up beside him. He handed Kid his reins. "I'm too cold to sleep."
"you think we've lost them?" Kid asked.
"I think we've put a little distance between us, but the ground is wet. They'll pick up our tracks pretty easy come daylight."
"What time do you think it is?"
"Three, maybe four. I think we have a couple of hours before sunrise."
"Fog's getting thicker."
"Uh-uh," Heyes replied
"That will slow them down in the morning,"
"Till the fog lifts."
"How far you think we've gone tonight?"
"Not far enough. I doubt if we've gained more than ten miles."
"We'll make tracks when the fog clears."
"That's the plan."
Kid grew silent, tired of trying to make conversation. They slowly forged onward.
Sunrise came and went. The fog hung thick until late morning when it began to dissipate. As the sky cleared the temperature began to rise. By noon their clothes were stiff but dry again..
"Kid, I think we are about to enter Nebraska. You want to do that?"
"Not especially."
"Okay Shall we go north or south?"
"How far do you think Sheridan is from here?" Kid asked.
"Fifty miles maybe. We could be there sometime tomorrow."
"There's not much due south. Let's head to Sheridan."
"A hot bath and a soft bed does sound appealing," Heyes replied.
So they turned northward and hastened the pace for an hour of so.
"We should give the horses a rest, soon.. Let's stop in the Big Horns. It'll give us a good view to see if the posse is still on our trail."
When they had climbed a pass to within a half mile of a mountain summit, they stopped with the plan to give the horses a three hour graze and rest period. Heyes stayed with the horses while Kid ascended the mountain to the rocky summit to see if the posse was still tracking them. Nearing the edges of the jagged peak, Kid lay down prone to reach the edge. He studied every inch of the valley below and saw no sign of movement. Still on his stomach, he backed away from the edge before rising to his feet.. He loved these panoramic views from the peaks of hills and mountains where he could see a distance greater than he could possibly travel in a day.
Growing up Heyes and Curry had only known the expansive flat farmlands of Kansas and both had first marveled at and then fell in love with the majestic peaks of the Rocky Mountains. They had both spent their boyhoods at family farms in Kansas, their formative years at the Valparaiso School for Wayward Boys, yet both thought of the western mountains as home. When they saw the mountains for the first time, Heyes was sixteen, Kid just thirteen. They had run away from the Boys School after three years of misery there and neither ever looked back.
Kid walked back down the half mile from the ridge to where he had left Heyes and the horses.
"They either turned back or took a wrong trail cause they are nowhere to be seen." Kid announced.
They both laid down on their backs in the grass and watched white clouds roll slowly by. Kid chewed on a dried piece of grass. The horses grazed contentedly nearby.
"Heyes, when we get to Sheridan, let's send Lom a telegram to see if there's been any progress made toward our amnesty," Kid suggested.
"I think that posse chase last night already answered that question, Kid,"
"Yea, I guess you're right," Kid sighed. "How much money do we have?"
"Enough for a room, bath, a meal, maybe a beer or two, and a little poker. After that's gone, we're going to have to find some work."
"This is Crow country, ain't it?" Kid asked
"Yea, and some Lakota. Both fairly peaceable."
Kid closed his eyes and felt the warmth of the sun on his face. "I like these lazy, sunny days"" Kid said as he drifted off to sleep
Heyes woke Kid an hour later and the two mounted their horses and continued north toward Sheridan.
Sheridan was not a large town but it had the things Hayes and Curry considered necessities such as a hotel, bath house, livery, and saloon. Coal mining was the biggest business, cattle ranching being the other employment option. When Heyes and Curry learned that coal mining was the better paying of the two options they signed up with the intention of staying a couple of weeks at most.
They were assigned to the night shift. The work was underground, dirty, dangerous and exhausting, Blasting was used frequently to loosen rock, but coal was fuel so the risk of a fire from a blasting spark was great. They emerged each morning covered in soot and exhausted. The foreman soon discovered that Heyes was quiet adept with the use of TNT and quite knowledgeably capable with the use of nitro, and within four days, Heyes was assigned to a blasting team. Kid was generally assigned the muscle building work with a pick-ax, but was occasionally asked to assist Heyes with particularly dangerous blasting jobs that other men did not want to be involved in. In those instances, Heyes would request his friend's assistance. Such was the case on a night during their second week on the job.
This particular assignment called for two detonations, each about 100 yards apart. The goal was to break away a corner section of rock. They had set it up for the deepest blast to occur first, the second to follow seconds later. Once the two areas had been blasted, the pick-ax team would go in and remove any loose rock still attached to the walls. The risk of rock slides was always significantly higher in the hours following a blast.
Heyes and Curry worked meticulously, making sure the TNT was accurately placed, the caps secure, the fuse lines long. Kid then went through the area to ensure no minor was in the blasting site area. Finally they worked their way back to a safe distance before igniting the fuse,
The explosion occurred exactly as planned. Kid took his pick-ax and joined the team entering the area deepest into the mine. Loose rocks were loaded on railway carts and moved out of the area. This alone took a huge amount of manpower and several hours of labor. Finally they began picking away at the loosened or weakened wall rock,.
At 6:45 am, Heyes rode the cargo elevator to the cave entry and stepped out into the daylight, squinting his eyes shut until they adjusted to the harsh contrast of the sun.
Even above ground they felt the rumble of collapsing rock in the depths below. Seconds later alarms began to sound. As many as twenty men were below ground when the ceiling rock collapsed. They exact count was uncertain but Heyes knew Kid Curry was one of those men. At the sound of the alarms, men came running from all directions and waited outside the cave for search and rescue instructions.
Below ground the cave shook with tremendous force as rocks rained down down the ceiling. Men working near the second blast site were easily able to move to a safer area, but those working near the initial blast site were pummeled with rocks and suffocating dust .Kid had been almost directly beneath the collapse site and had been instantly struck in the head by rocks and rendered unconscious. He had not felt the pain of breaking bones or trapped limbs from other rocks that pummeled him and the others, he had not heard the screams of the injured or dying men, had not seen the rocks piling up at the entrance to the area where he had been working. The rock slide lasted less than a minute.
Kid was unconscious for more than two hours.
The cargo area was almost a mile away from the rock slide and had not been affected by the impact. The men above ground were divided into search and rescue parties and equipped with pick-axes, shovels, candles, water. Two teams of eight men each were lowered down the elevator, as was the on-site surveyor and architect and the process of digging a tunnel through the fallen rock began within thirty minutes of the accident.
Kid's eyes began to flutter and he moaned as consciousness returned and a searing pain exploded in his left leg. Lying on his left hip, his chest was pressed to the ground. Both arms rested above his head. His left leg was buried to the knee in fallen rock and debris. Instinctively he tried to draw his left leg up toward his body but it wouldn't budge and tensed leg muscles knotted in protest. His right knee was bent so the thigh rested atop his left thigh, but the right lower leg was twisted under the calf of the left leg that was entrapped by rock. A large boulder pressed against his back, severely limiting any kind of movement or repositioning.
Kid coughed, spewing dust and pebbles from his mouth. His chest tightened in protest of the expansion. He closed his eyes again and willed himself to breathe slowly, more shallow. He opened his eyes and again tried to reposition himself without success. He tilted his head to look around the enclosure. Two unscathed candles still burned near the newly formed wall of rock that enclosed the area. In that flickering light he could see three other men lying dead or unconscious about the room. Two were trapped by fallen rock like himself. The third was lying supine in the center of the room. Kid saw no visible injuries. He watched for a rise and fall of the man's chest, but saw no such movement. He did see a canteen lying a foot beyond his reach. His listened but heard no sounds, no moaning from any of the other three men, no clanking sound of a pick-ax from the other side of the wall, no shouts from a search party.
Slowly, Kid was able to lower his left arm a few inches, then rotate the arm to a palm up position, and finally draw the arm down to his torso. This simple shifting eased the pain in his chest and upper spine..
"Anybody awake?" he croaked to the other men. Hearing no response, Kid closed his eyes and drifted back into unconsciousness.
The rescue teams determined the newly fallen rock had created a three foot deep wall between them and any men trapped inside the work site.. Train carts were wheeled on tracks to the rescue area and quickly loaded with loose debris that they hauled away and returned to be filled again and again. The architect studied the wall and determined the safest site to tunnel through, and the pickax workers began the task of chipping away at the rocks.. They worked in teams of two, establishing a rhythm of strikes against the rocks. Each two man team would work for an other while the other men loaded the carts to clear the area of the chipped off rock. Then another team of two would relieve the first two pickax workers. Every four hours two new teams of eight men each would replace the previous teams as the minors worked relentlessly.
The architect determined that it would likely take two to three days and, maybe longer to tunnel through the wall. The idea of utilizing small blasts to clear the area faster began to circulate and by mid afternoon, Heyes was summoned to the work site to discuss options with the architect.
"They would have to be very small blasts," Heyes said, "Maybe use half sticks, one at a time. Too big of a blast could cause more collapse of he ceiling or send rocks spewing in again on the men inside. My friend is in there. If he's alive, I'm not going to risk killing him."
"What about nitro?" the architect asked.
Heyes shook his head. "Too unstable, could loosen way more than expected, or wanted," Heyes replied.
"Alright, half sticks," the architect agreed. "Go get whatever you need."
When he awoke again, Kid had no idea how much time had passed. He turned his head again to look at the still burning candles. They were three quarters spent and Kid assumed they had perhaps an hour of candle light left. He called out again to the other men. He heard a moan.
"Who is it I'm hearing," Kid called out.
He heard a second moan.
"Who are you?" Kid shouted as loudly as he could.
"Winston," came a weak reply. "Are you Jones?"
"Yeah,"
"I thought that's who you sounded like."
"Are you hurt?" Kid asked.
There was a paused while Winston tried to assess himself for injuries. "I can't move my legs," came the reply.
"Can you reach the candles?"
Another moment of silence ensued. "One of them."
"Do you have matches you can get to?"
"Yeah,"
"Then grab the candle and blow it out. We might want the light later."
After a few seconds the room dimmed.
"Got it," Winston replied. "You hurt?"
Kid did a new assessment of himself The searing pain in his left leg was gone and he knew that was not a good sign. The rocks were probably cutting off his circulation in that leg.
"One leg is buried under rock. A boulder's got me pinned in place. I can't move much. I suppose it could be worse."
"How?"
"That boulder could have landed right on me instead of right next to me," Kid said.
"You've got a point," Winston replied.
Kid's head throbbed and he raised his hand to his head to feel for injuries. He discovered a huge, wet knot on the back of his head. He brought his hand down to inspect it and discovered it was covered in blood.
"I've got a head injury, too," Kid said.
"Do your best to stay conscious, then," Winston advised. "They are surely working on the other side to get to us."
"Can you hear them?" Kid asked.
Winston listened intently. "Not yet, but we will."
"Do you have water?" Kid asked, trying to keep conversation going so as to stay conscious.
"Yeah, you?"
"Can't quite reach the canteen," Kid replied.
"Nothing around to help you drag it closer?" Winston asked.
Kid fanned his free arm out across the floor and felt nothing. "No"" he said sadly.
"Be patient. They'll get here."
"Can you see the other two men?"
There was a pause while Winston tried to look behind him. "I can't see them," he said. "Are they alive?"
"I don't think one of them is. I can't tell about the other."
"Probably not. I think we've been down here at least five or six hours."
"I'm new at this kind of work. Are we going to run out of air?"
"Not this fast. They still have time to get to us."
The burning candle flickered weakly and went out, leaving Kid and Winston in total darkness. The conversation fell silent. Kid felt suddenly dizzy, a symptom he knew was from the still bleeding head injury. He tried to fight it, but slipped back into unconsciousness.
An hour later, Kid was thrust into consciousness by a shuddering of the rock beneath him.
"What was that?" Kid asked urgently
"Good, you're awake again. You had me worried. "
"What was that?" Kid asked again
"Blasting," Winston replied.
"They trying to kill us?" Kid asked.
"Trying to blast their way in here."
Kid felt relief knowing someone trying to rescue them.
"Won't that cause more rock to fall?"
"Not if they do it right. Probably your friend, Smith is leading the blasting. I've watched him this past week. He's got a lot of experience working with TNT, don't he?"
Kid thought of all the safes Heyes has blown with TNT, and a couple with nitro.
"Yeah he's good with dynamite. Especially in small amounts "
"I can't hear the pickaxes yet. They still have a ways to go... How's your leg and your head?"
"I can't feel my leg," Kid replied
"That's not good."
"I know."
"And your head?"
Kid lifted his hand to his head again. "Still bleeding."
"That's not good either."
"You think?"
"They'll have the doctor down her as soon as they break through. He'll be able to treat your head before they free your leg from the rocks."
"That's a comfort," Kid mumbled.
"We should be better than half way through," the architect said after inspecting the area that Heyes had blasted and the other men had cleared. Three men were working to construct a wooden support beam for the ceiling.
"When the support is in place, we'll have you do another blast," the architect said to Heyes.
Once the beam frame was secured in place, Heyes did a visual inspection. When he was satisfied with the safety of the ceiling, he agreed to a second blast.
The ground shudder was stronger than the first one. Kid instinctively slammed his left palm against the ground to brace himself. He suddenly moaned loudly from a newly formed pain in his left leg.
"What's wrong?" Winston asked
"I thinks the rocks on my leg shifted." He moaned again and sucked in air
"Hurting is a good thing. Means there's still blood circulating in your leg and the nerves are still working."
"I wish they weren't working so hard," Kid replied through gritted teeth.
"No you don't," Winston replied.
Kid squeezed his eyes shut and breathed through gritted teeth. He knew Winston was right but knowing that didn't ease the pain in the least. He waited for his leg to adjust to new pressure points. Slowly the pain began to ebb and he relaxed a bit..
Suddenly there was a flickering light. Winston had lit the candle. Kid raised his head and looked in Winston's direction. Winston was looking at the entrapment wall. "One or two more blasts, I suspect," he said and blew the candle out again.
"How long have you been a miner?" Kid asked
"Since I was sixteen, so fourteen years. What about you?"
"Almost two weeks,"
Winston laughed. "After this I don't suppose you'll make mining you life occupation."
Kid smiled, thinking how much easier outlawing was than mining. Even outrunning posses seemed like a better choice.
"I think you're right," Kid replied.
"Your friend, Smith's done mining before."
"No, he's new at it like me," Kid said and immediately wished he could take back those words.
"How does he know so much about dynamite, then?"
"He's worked in... transportation. Blasting rocks for the railroads," Kid said
"And what do you do?"
"I help him mostly," Kid replied.
"The two of you been friends for a while then?"
"We grew up together. We're cousins."
"Where you from?"
"Kansas."
"Families must have been farmers."
"That's right."
"So what brought the two of you out west?"
"Long story."
"Well I think we've got time for a long story,"
Kid laughed. "Yea, I guess we do... Like I said, we grew up in Kansas, Both of us lost our parents in the war. Being orphans, we got sent off to the Valparaiso School for Wayward Boys."
"How old were you?"
"He was thirteen. I was ten."
"Bad ages for boys to be orphaned."
"Any age is a bad age for that," Kid replied.
"I guess so, but young teenagers, trying to figure out what kind of men they'll become. Just seems like a bad age for not having guidance. But, on the other hand, you both turned out alright."
"You don't know the half of it," Kid replied.
"So, tell me the other half then."
"Well, we lived at that school for almost three years. Then we up and decided to run away."
"Why?"
"Let's just say it wasn't a healthy place for young boys."
"Go on,"
"We headed west and here we are."
"Sounds like you're leaving out the last fifteen years."
Kid smiled but was glad Winston couldn't see him smiling.
"Well, not much to tell," Kid lied. "Just been drifting since then. "We work when we need money, play poker when we have money."
"Sounds pretty care free."
"Yeah," Kid said. "Care free."
Winston detected something almost sad in Kid's voice.
"Neither of you ever married?"
Kid sighed. "No. Maybe someday. I think I might like to be married. Settled."
It's a good life."
"So, I take it you're married?"
"Yep. Four kids. All boys. I hope none of them grow up to be minors."
The ground suddenly shook again. Kid braced himself to shifting rock. A fairly small rock loosened from the ceiling and hit him in the ribs. In the darkness he didn't see it coming and he gasped at the impact.
"What happened?"
"A rock fell and hit me in the ribs."
""If you can't find anything to protect your head, press your chin against your chest and cover your head with your free arm."
Kid did as instructed and could feel dried blood on the back of his head.
"I think my head has stopped bleeding," he said.
"Good. I was a little worried about that."
How long you think it's been?" Kid asked.
"Maybe a full day. They should reach us by morning."
"I'm getting thirsty."
"I could try tossing you my canteen," Winston offered.
"No. I don't think I could get it tossed back to you in the position I'm in."
"Muscles starting to protest a bit?"
"They've been doing that for hours."
"Yeah. You'll be laid up for a few days. Stiff and sore for a while longer."
"Something else to look forward to."
"You know, for someone who has only been a minor for two weeks, you've stayed pretty calm through all this."
"There's a lot of ways to learn that staying calm usually produces the best outcome."
"You know, I notice a lot about people,"
"And?" Kid asked hesitantly.
"I noticed you wear your gun low."
"That's where it feels comfortable."
"Low like a professional. You been a lawman any time in those last fifteen years?"
Kid laughed. "No. I taught myself to shoot when I was six, maybe seven years old. It felt right to wear a holster low then, feels right now. Whatever you get used to, I suppose."
"I suppose."
"I'm getting kind of tired," Kid said. "You mind if I try to sleep a while?"
"We probably both should so we have the strength to crawl out of here tomorrow."
Kid smiled. "Good night, Winston."
"Good night, Jones."
When he woke, Kid had no idea of the time or of how long he had slept. But the room was dark so he knew the miners had not broken through the wall yet. He tried to move, thinking even a couple of inches would help his level of comfort. But he couldn't and he sighed heavily. His tongue and lips felt dry and he yearned for some water. He ran his tongue across his lips but it offered him no relief. He coughed and sighed again.
The ground shuddered again. Instinctively Kid pressed his chin against his chest. But just as he moved his left arm to cover his head, a heavy rock fell, landing on his open palm. Kid cried out from this new pain that shot through his hand and up his arm. The noise woke Winston.
"What happened?"
"Kid was slow to reply as he struggled in vain to free his hand.
"Another damn rock"" Kid panted,
"Where did it get you?"
"My free hand. It ain't fee no more. Oh, Lord, that hurts."
"Shut up and listen," Winston called to him.
Kid winced but managed to stay silent. He tried to listen through the pain.
"You hear that?" Winston asked.
"I don't hear nothing," Kid gasped.
"They're close," Winston assured him. "They won't need to blast anymore."
"Good, I don't think my body can take any more blasting. I ain't got nothing left that ain't injured."
"Just a couple more hours."
Half an hour later Kid could hear the rhythmic clank of pickaxes against rock. He tried to smile but his lips were so dry it hurt. He felt weak and exhausted but the constant pain in his hand kept him from dozing.
Winston lit the candle so there was a dim light flickering. With his arm pinned, Kid could not turn to see Winston or the enclosure wall.
"When they see the light flickering, they'll know they are through the wall," Winston explained. "That was a good idea of yours to want to save some candle light."
"Uh-uh," was all Kid could muster as he closed his eyes.
An hour later the room brightened as several minors, including Heyes and a doctor crawled though the three foot tunnel into the area where Winston, Kid, and the two dead men lay. Again the men broke into teams and began moving rocks to free the two injured men.
Heyes found Kid and touched his shoulder. Kid opened his eyes and smiled weakly."Heyes,' Kid whispered.
Heyes slid his hand under Kid's head and raised Kid up as he pressed a canteen to his lips. Kid gulped at the water. Heyes felt the lump and blood matted hair on the back of Kid's head. "Doc, his head's hurt," Heyes shouted and the doctor came immediately to Kid's aide.
"Easy, Kid. Go slow on the water," Heyes instructed, pulling the canteen away from Kid's mouth.
It took four men to roll the rock off Kid's injured hand. Three fingers were obviously broken.
The doctor examined the lump on Kid's head and shined a light into Kid's eyes. Having been in darkness for such a long time, the light hurt his eyes and he squinted and turned his head away. Once his leg was freed from the rocks, Kid tried to move his right leg out from under his left leg but he couldn't. His left foot was broken and they cut his boot off his foot. Deep purple bruising cover his left shin. He cried out in pain when they gently lifted his left leg and the doctor very carefully moved his right leg out from under his left. He couldn't straighten his right knee which the doctor said was due to severe twisting rather tan to any broken bones. Heyes unbuttoned Kid's shirt to reveal deep purple bruising along the side of Kid's right ribs, Judging by Kid's cries of pain when the doctor touched the rib cage, the doctor suspected several cracked or broken ribs.
"He can't crawl out of here on his own. We'll need a stretcher," the doctor said and one of the minors disappeared through the tunnel to retrieve a stretcher..
"How's Winston?" Kid whispered.
"He'll be fine," the doctor replied.
Satisfied, Kid gave in to his exhaustion and passed out.
When Kid woke, he found himself lying in a soft, warm bed. His left ankle and right knee were splinted. His head was bandaged, The three broken fingers of his left hand were splinted. His ribs had been carefully wrapped. His body ached but it was nothing like the pain he had experienced in the mine.
Heyes sat in a chair by the window, facing him
"How long have I been out?" Kid asked
"Two days. How you feel?"
"Tired, very tired. And sore."
"You need some pain medicine?"
Kid nodded. "Maybe," he replied.
Heyes spooned the medicine into Kid's mouth. "It's going to make you sleep more," Heyes warned.
"Not a bad thing," Kid replied.
"Hungry?"
Kid smiled. "Always."
"I'll go get you some soup. Doc says mostly soup and water for a few days to restore your fluid levels."
Kid nodded. "How's Winston?"
"He'll be fine. He's been asking about you, too. He says you two talked just to keep each other going."
Kid nodded.
"He says you talked a lot in your sleep, too."
"I don't know. He didn't mention it to me. Are the other two dead?"
"Probably from the very beginning, Doc says,"
"We thought so," Kid replied.
Heyes got up and went to the door. "I'll be back with the soup in a minute. Try to stay awake, will ya?"
"Okay."
Heyes returned twenty minutes later. Kid was fast asleep. Heyes rolled his eyes and sat down in the chair. He ate the soup.`
Late afternoon Heyes went down and bought another bowl of soup. When he returned to the room, he woke Kid
"You said you'd stay awake," Heyes grumbled
"Sorry. I couldn't help it." Kid replied.
Using pillows to prop him, Heyes helped Kid sit up in the bed. Then he sat down beside him and fed him the soup.
"I think we may have a problem," Heyes said
"What's that?".
"Winston."
"Winston, why?"
"He says you talked a lot when you were unconscious.?"
"Did he tell you what I said?"
"No, but he has that look in his eye like he knows."
Kid thought about their conversations. "He was interested in how I wear my gun, how you come to be so handy with dynamite."
"What did you tell him?"
"I wear my gun where it's comfortable and you use to do blasting for the railroad.
"Anything else?"
Kid shrugged. "Where we grew up, time at the Boys School."
"My, you did do a lot of talking. You tell him your whole life's story?"
"No, but he kept prodding me about the last fifteen years. I didn't tell him nothing about that."
"Except maybe in your sleep."
"Heyes, you better get out of town. No sense both of use getting caught."
"I cant leave you like this, Kid. You can't even get up to relieve yourself on your own. You'd be a sitting duck."
"That's better than two sitting ducks," Kid replied.
"I'm going to think on it a while, Kid. He ain't done nothing yet. Maybe he won't."
"Heyes, you can't take that chance, not for me. You can hire someone to come in and look in on me."
Heyes smiled. "There ain't a descent mother in town that would let her daughter come up to a hotel room to take care of an ailing drifter cowboy,"
"How about one of the saloon girls?"
"That might work. They wouldn't be seeing anything they ain't already seen. I may check on that in the morning."
"Good. If they can do it, you leave town as soon as it's set up."
Heyes didn't have time to answer as there was a knock on the door. Kid reached up to the headboard for his gun but it was not there. He looked at Heyes questioningly and Heyes nodded toward the chair across the room. Kid rolled his eyes. Heyes set the soup bowl on the table and went to the door.
"Who is it?" Heyes asked.
"Dr. Thompson."
"And Winston," another voiced called through the door.
Just a minute. Heyes went to the chair and brought Kid's gun to him.
"I don't know what good this will do," Kid said. "We ain't going to shoot them, and I can't get down the stairs to a horse, let alone ride." But he tucked the gun under his pillow.
Heyes opened the door. Dr. Thompson entered first. Winston followed on crutches. Heyes moved a second chair over to the bed. Winston sat down but the doctor remained standing to examine Kid's head injury. He unwrapped the bandage, examined the knot, and then rebandaged Kid's head and examined the three broken fingers that were splinted..
"The swelling is going down," the doctor announced. "Now, let's take a look at the other injuries."
The doctor pulled the linens down to Kid's waist. The bruising across Kid's chest and ribs remained dark purple and was obviously still spreading. Winston winced when he saw Kid's injuries.
"Boy, you did well in there with all those injuries," Winston said.
"Didn't have much choice," Kid replied.
The doctor pulled the linens back up over Kid's chest and then lifted the lines at the foot of the bed. He examined the knee and ankle splints for any signs of unusual swelling. Winston caught sight of the deep purple bruise that covered Kid's left shin.
"I had no idea you were hurt that bad."
"Well, it's over now. I just need time to mend. How about you?"
"Just a leg sprain. I'll be free of these crutches in a couple of weeks."
"Just about the time I'll be needing some crutches," Kid joked.
"Winston, I have to be going. Will you be able to get home alright?" the doctor asked.
"I'll help him," Heyes said.
"Then I'll leave you fellows alone," the doctor said and left the room.
"Well, as long as were all here for a visit, why don't I go get us all some supper. Kid, yours will just be another bowl of soup."
Kid frowned. "Throw in something solid in for me, would you?"
"Alright, I'll see what I can do."
Heyes left to get then some dinner.
"Mr. Smith seems to be taking good care of you," Winston said.
"He does," Kid replied. "He tells me you said I did a lot of talking when I was unconscious."
Winston smiled. "You did. So, in case you are wondering, yes, I know who you are, who the both of you are."
Kid shifted his head on the pillow to determine the location and position of his gun.
"And, no, I don't plan to share that information with anyone other than you."
"I appreciate that, Winston, but why? There's bounty money to be had."
"I figured there was likely a reward. Heyes and Curry are pretty infamous in Wyoming."
"Then why are you doing this for me, for us?"
"When we were trapped, I could tell that you were far more injured and I was, and I knew you had no water source. But you looked out for me as much as you possibly could under the circumstances. You weren't just worried about yourself. You even worried about the other two until you were convinced they were dead... A bad person, even a bad person with a little good in them, wouldn't have done what you did. They wouldn't have worried about anyone else. A good person, or even a good person with..maybe just a little bad in them, would do what you did.. When you told me how you and Heyes grew up, I was quite impressed how you both turned out. I mean, there was Heyes, risking everything to get to you, to get to us. "
"You did the same thing for me. You offered to give me your water even when you knew I wouldn't be able to get it back to you. You kept me awake and talking because of my head injury. . You're a good person to, Winston. And I don't think there's even a little bad in you."
Heyes returned with the food. Steak and potatoes him Winston and himself. Soup and a baked potato for Kid, and coffee for all. They spent another hour eating and visiting and then Heyes walked Winston home. When he returned to the hotel room, Kid was groggy, but still awake.
"We had a good talk while you were gone," Kid said
"Who?" Heyes asked, not following Kid's meaning since he knew no one was in the room when he walked Winston home.
"Me and Winston,"
"Oh, when I was getting us supper."
"Yeah, when else could we have had a talk?."
"So, what did your learn?" Heyes asked, ignoring Kid's question.
"He does know who we are and he's not going to turn us in."
"You certain of that?"
"Very."
"Why not?"
"Cause of what happened. Cause of how we all helped each other."
Heyes started to ask Kid another question but saw that Kid had again fallen asleep.
They stayed another month while Kid recovered enough to travel. Heyes continued to work in the mine so they had accumulated a fair amount of money by the time they were ready to leave. Kid's ribs , knee, and head had healed well. The ankle and fingers would require a little more time and exercise to fully mend and Kid still needed one crutch to get around, but with help into and out of the saddle, he was able to ride again and he and Heyes were eager to be on their way.
Winston was at the hotel the morning they were leaving.
So, you've a little money in your pockets so you're..."
"Heading to a poker game," Winston and Kid said simultaneously and laughed.
"I just want you both to know it has been a pleasure knowing you," Winston said.
"We feel the same way, Heyes replied.
"Thank you, Winston, for everything,"Kid said and tipped his hat to Winston and the two men pulled their hoses around and headed out of town.