(Chapter Thirty-Seven)
A Mysterious Man
It was a warm day for November and Faith was daydreaming when a man staggered into the infirmary.
"Are you alright, sir?" she asked, shocked to see blood dripping down his arm and his shirt filled with it. Faith had never been very good with the sight of blood. In fact, she often wondered why she had become a nurse in the first place. Now, she must help this poor man. He must be in terrible pain.
"Does it look like I'm alright?" he asked in a rage.
After realizing she would never be able to handle this man alone, she called for Carson.
"What seems to be the trouble, swee – Sir, sir, are you alright? Faith, what happened?"
"I don't know. I just thought you should be here to help me with him."
"Sir, what happened?" Carson asked but was given a cold stare.
After a thorough brief examination of the wound he spoke softly to Faith. "It looks like we'll need to put him under." After seeing the look of horror in Faith's eyes, he hurried to explain. "The bullet is still in there, Faith. Would you like to step out for the operation?" he asked with kindness in his voice.
She thought about that for a minute. Yes, she would like to escape the gruesome surgery. But Carson needed her help.
"No," she was quick to respond. "You need me – he needs me."
He smiled lovingly at her. What a great girl he had fallen in love with.
"Thank you, Faith," he said seriously.
They prepared for surgery immediately.
When they had successfully removed the bullet and everything was over, the man slowly started to stir.
"Where am I? What happened?" he grumbled.
"You're going to be just fine, sir," Faith tried to comfort him.
"You didn't answer my question!" he roared.
Faith looked over at Carson with pleading eyes.
"Sir," Carson stepped in. "To answer your question, you're in the Hope Valley Infirmary, and we just saved your life. That's what happened."
He looked at them in a strange way, then seemed to remember what had happened.
"Oh, yes. I'm sorry to have bothered you," he said hastily, and with that he hurried out the door. Both Faith and Carson were extremely concerned. How did the poor man get shot? Couldn't they have done anything more to help him?
Jack had been away quite a bit. He had claimed he was out on patrol or "duty calls". On a few occasions he would even say "Can't a man have a few secrets?" Elizabeth worried about him sometimes. What was Jack up to?
Carson found Jack one day and explained about the man who had been shot.
Jack thought that perhaps he had something to do with the Morgan Gang. At the same time, he hoped not. We was praying that they would skip Hope Valley on their way to wherever they were headed. Maybe not all of his prayers had been answered as he had hoped.