The Night of the Victorian Plot – Part 2
Welcome to America
Chapter 5
Twenty-four hours
Jim leaned down and lifted Artie's head while saying his name. There was no response and Jim's hand came away covered in blood. He checked for a pulse and found one that was faint but steady. He knew he had to get his partner back to the Traveller. He looked around for Ariadne who had come to a halt a few yards away and still looked a little skittish so Jim slowly took her reins in his hands before leading her over to where Artie lay.
"Sorry I have to do this, Artie," he said as he lifted the unconscious man and hefted him onto Ariadne's back leaving his head dangling down on one side and his booted feet on the other.
He then got back on the gelding and rode as fast, and safely, as he could back to the train, leading Artie's horse by the reins.
Once he arrived back at the Traveller Jim led Ariadne into the stable car and left the two horses there while he half dragged, half carried his friend into their sleeping quarters and laid him on his bed. He made sure that Artie's condition had not worsened, not that he would have known what to do anyway if it had, and then got back on Nightfall and rode into town to look for a doctor.
It was a small town so it didn't take too long to find the doctor's office. As Jim entered he saw a young man sitting at a desk.
"Are you the doctor?" Jim asked.
"I'm Doctor Oakley," the young man replied. "That's an English accent you have there isn't it?"
Because of his urgent need for someone to help his friend Jim had forgotten that he was supposed to be using an American accent. He didn't think he could get by on saying just 'yep' and 'nope' anyway so he just shrugged.
"Yes it is," he said. "But that's not important. Doctor, I urgently need your help. My colleague has been thrown from his horse and hit his head on a rock. He's wounded and unconscious."
The doctor grabbed his hat and his medical bag. "Take me to him," he said.
It was only a five minute ride across town to the railroad and on arriving at the Traveller the doctor lost no time in examining Artie. He began by lifting the unconscious man's head to look at the wound.
"It's still bleeding a little," he said, "and there is a mighty big lump as well. Thankfully it is hard and not soft so it should go down in a few days without much of a problem. However, the fact that your friend has been unconscious this long is a little worrying."
"Why's that? What's wrong?"
"I'd say he has suffered a concussion. You'll need to keep an eye on him, even after he regains consciousness – if he does."
"What do you mean, 'if'?"
In some cases the patient falls into a coma. There's not much you can do about that except wait to see if they come out of it on their own. I'll clean the wound and bandage it but that's as much as I can do. I'll also leave you something for the pain. If he comes round he'll have the mother and father of all headaches. Now go and fetch me some water and a cloth."
Jim was glad for something to do, to be of some help. He'd felt totally useless up until then. When he returned the doctor began tending to Artie's wound and Jim began pacing up and down the carriage. He couldn't even think about what this might mean for their assignment and knew he should contact Washington about the inevitable delay in reaching Nuevo Atenas. On top of that he realised that he needed to see to the horses and to tell Nate that the train would not be departing that afternoon. His thoughts were brought back to Doctor Oakley when he asked, "What caused him to fall from his horse?"
"What….? Oh a snake spooked it. I shot it dead – the snake not the horse," he clarified. "It made a strange rattling noise."
"Sounds like a rattlesnake," the Doctor said. "Your friend was lucky not to get bitten. What is an Englishmen doing in these parts anyway?"
"Just travelling on business," Jim lied.
"Well that's as much as I can do," the doctor said, looking down at his patient. Artie's face was almost exactly the same colour as the bandage around his head. His lips also lacked their usual hue. His appearance caused Jim to wonder if the doctor was right and Artie wasn't going to come out of this.
Doctor Oakley placed a comforting hand on Jim's arm. "I've seen a few of these cases. There's always hope so don't give up on him too soon."
"Thank you, doctor," Jim said, taking the laudanum that Dr Oakley handed to him.
"How much do I owe you," Jim asked.
"Ten dollars will do fine."
Jim paid him with a ten dollar bill.
"Give me a call if you need me," the doctor said.
Jim nodded and escorted the medical man from the train, but didn't stay to watch him mount his horse and ride away. He had to tell Nate the situation and ask him to delay the Traveller's departure until he was satisfied that Artie wouldn't need urgent medical attention. The engineer and the fireman were both shocked to hear what had happened to Artie. Jim had played down the seriousness of his condition when talking to them. There was no point in worrying them. Then he went to unsaddle, brush down, and water the horses and while he was occupied with that he could feel the train being moved to a siding while Nate awaited further instructions.
Having checked on Artie again Jim went to the parlour car and used the telegraph machine to advise Colonel Richmond of recent developments. The reply from Washington was sympathetic up to a point but Jim was ordered not to delay the train's departure for more than twenty-four hours. It was Richmond's opinion that Artie could just as easily recover while travelling towards their rendezvous with Doctor Loveless. Jim screwed the piece of paper on which he had deciphered the message into a ball and threw it across the carriage. Then he was had to calm himself down before returning to see how Artie doing.
He sat on his own bed, next to Artie's, his elbows on his knees and his hands propping up his head as he watched his friend breathing in and out. He didn't know if Artie could hear him or not but he had something he had to say.
"I'm sorry, Artie," he began. "I should have taken this whole assignment more seriously; should have known the dangers. We're out of our element here and I don't even know why we agreed to come. This whole thing's my fault; I should have been looking out for you." He took a deep breath. "Please wake up, Artie, please don't die."
Jim didn't know how long he sat with his friend until he suddenly realised it was seven o'clock and that he hadn't eaten since breakfast but he just couldn't bring himself to prepare dinner when he knew he wouldn't be able to eat anything. He did make himself some coffee though; it was better than his first attempt but still pretty unpalatable.
Acting in line with what he had told Artie about taking their assignment more seriously he decided to go over some maps of New Mexico and the route they would be taking and also information on the position and surroundings of Nueva Atenas. He presumed that, since there had been no further communication from Washington, the situation that prevailed there had not changed. He was not looking forward to crossing swords with Loveless again. He just hoped that Artie would recover by then. That took his thoughts back to his friend. He refused to accept that they had travelled so far just for him to die falling from his horse. They'd been through much tougher things together and survived.
As midnight neared Jim decided to call it a day and went to bed, looking over at Artie before he closed his eyes and tried to get to sleep. It wasn't surprising that he woke up numerous times during the night to check on his friend. But no matter how tired he was or whatever else happened they would be leaving town in the morning.
To be continued
