Chapter Thirty-Two

Jess struggled valiantly. He managed to knock Mart Riley down only to have Colin pin his arms behind his back so that Jim could pound him with vicious jabs to the body. Slim and Gordon joined the fight just as Colin, the bigger of the two landed a blow that caused Jess to gasp and fall to his knees struggling to breathe.

Not a word was spoken by Sherman, or McAllister, as they rushed to defend their friend. Colin Riley found himself, once again, flying through the air as he had at the greased pig contest, as Gordon took hold of an arm and a leg and gave a mighty heave.

Carl traded blows with Slim, drawing blood from the rancher's bottom lip while Jim found himself facing Gordon after Colin was temporarily removed from the battle.

As Colin got to his feet he saw a half dozen of his, and his brothers', friends.

"Hey fellas, give us a hand!"

The roughnecks came at his summons and started trading blows with the tall rancher and his equally tall lawyer friend. Not for long though. Help was coming out the door.

"Hey McAllister," one of "Gordon's friends yelled. "Is this a private fight or can anyone join in?"

"By all means join in if you want to," Gordon called back as he ducked a left hook aimed at his head.

The barnyard was soon filled with two groups of men fighting and one injured Texan now lying on the ground. The women stayed back near the door or inside.

"I truly enjoyed that reading of Mr. Verne's story," Daisy said as she, Hannah and David walked toward the barn where the dance was being held. The gathering, at the Grenaways' had ended early enough that they hoped to enjoy the last hour or so of the dance.

"The man certainly had a vivid imagination," David agreed.

"Think of all the work he put into planning Fogg's route! London, part of France, Egypt, India, Hong Kong, across the ocean to the states and then from New York back to Liverpool to London! It's amazing! All of it by connection railways and steamships." Hannah put her two cents worth in. "That's a lot of time on trains and ships. And he didn't realize right off that he'd won his bet because he'd crossed the International Date Line."

"I think Mike, in a couple of years might enjoy that book. I'm sure Slim would," Daisy commented. "It might even hold Jess' attention. He doesn't really like to read but this might be different."

"Slim always did like to read," David said. "But as I recall it wasn't always the books he was supposed to be reading. He always managed to have one of Cooper's books, or something else that had nothing to do with his studies, hidden behind his text book."

"My Slim?" Daisy giggled. "He's so responsible it's hard to believe he would have done something like that."

"Mary and Matt lectured him about that every time he got caught," Hannah laughed, "and David, here, told him he was wasting the teacher's time, and his own brainpower, if he didn't apply himself."

"Well he certainly learned that lesson," the other woman said. "He makes sure Mike does his schoolwork right and I'm told he was the same with Andy."

They were about a quarter of a mile from the location of the dance when they saw a large crowd gathered outside and heard a lot of shouting. Telling the women to stay put, David McAllister ran to find out what was happening.

He arrived at the scene of the fight just in time to see Slim catch his foot on a tree root and go sprawling on the ground. Though his young friend got up right away, David could see that he was limping slightly. The man he was chasing, one of the Riley brothers pals, ran straight into the arms of Deputy Sheriff Dan Colbert.

"Break it up!" Sheriff Vin Markure bellowed. "Break it up!"

There was no need for him to say it again. The Rileys and company were all siting, or lying, on the ground. Faces dirty, clothes disheveled or torn and hair messed up. All the Riley brothers were sporting black eyes. Mart was holding his right arm in his left hand. It was either broken or badly sprained. Jim had a fat lip and Colin a cut on his right cheekbone.

"What's going on here?" Markure demanded to know. "What started this?"

"The Rileys started it Vin," Gordon McAllister told the lawman. They have it in for me so they decided to get at me through Slim Sherman. To get to Slim they went after Jess Harper. I don't know how they set it up but they got him out here and started working him over."

As he finished speaking his father appeared, a very concerned look on his face as he took in his son's appearance. The right sleeve of his coat was torn at the shoulder as well as dirty. He had a cut on his right cheekbone but his eyes were bright.

"Father! I'm glad you're here! Jess has been hurt!"

"How badly?"

"You'll have to tell us," Gordon said as his father looked around for their guest.

Together the McAllister men went to where their friends were. Jess, face pale and eyes closed lay on the ground. His breathing was somewhat labored and he was holding his right side.

"Slim? How is he?" the red-headed McAllister asked his pal.

"Not so good, I don't think," was the worried response.

"Let me see," David McAllister said as he knelt by their stricken friend.

He laid a gentle hand on Jess' forehead as he started a quick examination. He sent Gordon to soak a handkerchief in cold water to clean the Texan's face with. This done, he uncovered a few scrapes and cuts he would clean properly later. It was when he started to examine Jess' chest that he discovered the young man's worst injuries.

"Uh!" Jess moaned and tried to escape the probing fingers.

"I was afraid of that," the doctor said as he watched Slim lay a steadying hand on his partner's shoulder.

"Doc?" The rancher was concerned.

"I want to do a thorough examination in my office, but I'm pretty sure he's got some broken ribs - pretty well cracked and bruised anyway."

"You'll want to check that ankle, too," Gordon told his father. "He was limping pretty badly when we got here."

"Too stubborn to admit he over did it?"

That got a choked laugh out of Slim. Dr. McAllister had figured Jess out in a very short space of time.

"Gordon, Slim, I want to get Jess home and into my office so I can check him out properly. I don't, however, want him to try and walk that distance. Run back to the house and get one of the stretchers I keep for emergencies."

"No need for that, Doc," Gordon's friend Mark Lowell said. "The fair committee bought a couple of extras. We stashed them in the barn. I'll go get one."

So saying the young man ran inside, grabbed the stretcher and was back outside, with several volunteers willing to carry Jess to the doctor's office.

"Gordon, your mother and Mrs. Cooper are waiting near the bakery for me to tell them what' happened. Please go to them and tell them about Jess." He looked down at the injured younger man with a frown. "Break it to them gently and tell them I want them to go back to the house and get my examination room set up."

"Bandages, hot water and such right?"

"The ladies will know what to do."