Newly and Festus walked into the jail as Matt looked up from his desk.
"What's all the fuss, Matthew?" Festus said waving his arm up and down. "Newly here wouldn't tell me nuthin!"
Matt stood up and came around the desk with the telegraph he got from Newly earlier.
"You ever heard of Quantro, Festus," Matt asked.
"Wal, yeah," Festus said with a nod. "But, isn't he in Mexico?"
"Was," Matt said looking at the telegraph. "He and his gang moved up here sometime ago and they've been following the Cimarron River. According to this telegraph, there's been a few towns raided and burned and woman being taken away in Colorado so he may be closer than we know. The army's been on their trail for days but they lost them when they crossed the border in to Kansas."
"What ya wantin ta do Matthew," Festus asked as Matt put the telegraph on the desk.
"We have to stay vigilant," Matt said looking at both men. "I don't think, I need to tell you how bad this will get if these people get near Dodge."
Robert looked at the time as his to companions played cards. "It's been nice spending time we you fella's," he said getting to his feet. "But, it's getting late and I need to be checking in at the hospital."
"Sit down," Stephen said quietly as Earnest made it a point to show Robert the gun he had on his lap.
Robert looked over as the bar but Sam had his back turned toward them.
"I said, sit!" Stephen said more firmly than the first time.
"Unless you want to see some of these people in here dead," Earnest said cocking the gun. "I'd do like he says!"
Robert sat back down and didn't say a word as Stephen glanced at the clock roughly an hour later.
"It's time," he said with a nod toward Earnest before turning to Robert. "Tell the bartender goodnight and let him know that your taking us to the hotel."
Robert nodded as the three men stood up and headed for the door together.
"Night Sam," Robert said with a wave. "I'm going to see my friends here to the Dodge House."
"Good night," Sam said as the three men walked though the double doors.
"Now," Stephen said undoing their horses. "Get on you horse and stay between us."
Robert climbed onto his horse all the while trying to come up with a way that Matt would be alerted to what was going on but, he couldn't figure out a way to do it without someone getting hurt.
"And no funny stuff," Earnest said keeping the gun pointed directly at Robert as they rode out of town.
"These men are ruthless and well financed," Matt continued. "Quantro has an almost unlimited supply of money and getting more everyday. This man makes Bonner and his dog soldiers seem tame compared to the stories I've heard about Quantro and his men."
"Will do-er, Matthew," Festus said as Newly nodded.
"Any strangers come into town we need to find out who they are and where they're from," Matt said with a sigh before grabbing his hat. "I'm going to make the rounds before I head home."
Newly nodded as Festus followed Matt out the door.
"Matthew," Festus said looking around the dark and quiet street. "You really think that their Quantro feller is in these parts?"
"I hope not, Festus," Matt said starting down the boardwalk. "But we have to be prepared just in case he is."
"Where are we going?" Robert asked after about an hour of riding.
"We got a friend that needs a doctor," Stephen said. "As long as you tend to him, you'll be alright, understand!"
"Yeah," Robert said evenly. "I got the picture."
Coming to a fork in the road, Robert was lead to go straight which he knew would lead them right to the river.
After riding up stream though the water a bit, Stephen stopped and whistled.
A moment later a second whistle came from further up and the three men started moving again.
After a mile or so up stream, they continued though the water and into a gorge which lead to a hidden encampment along a sandbar.
Robert looked around at the thirty or so men but he was sure, it wasn't all of them from the way they had been alerted coming in.
"Over here," Stephen said pulling Robert off his horse.
Never without his black doctor's bag, Robert quickly undone the knot that held it to his saddle as he followed Stephen to a hastily thrown together tent. Stepping inside, Robert watched Stephen bend down next to an older man on a cot.
"Quantro," Stephen said moving his arm to indicate Robert. "I brought the doctor!"
"Thank, God," Quantro said grabbing Stephens's hand. "I thought, I would die before you got back!"
Stephen moved out of the way as Robert stepped forward. The whisker faced, dark skinned man looked at him intensely for a moment before he spoke. "Yore just a kid!"
"Hardly," Robert said returning the intensity of the gaze. "I'll be twenty five on my next birthday."
"Like I said, yore just a kid," Quantro smirked. "How much you know about medicine!"
"Enough to know you got a stomach wound, which is quite serious," Robert replied unafraid after peeling back the bloody bandage. "If something isn't done soon, you'll most likely be dead by morning!"
"You can fix it?" Quantro asked beseechingly as Robert nodded.
"Yes, I probably could fix it if we were in Dodge at our hospital but out here in the middle of nowhere," Robert said with a shrug. "I don't know, fifty, fifty chance!"
"We can't take him to Dodge," Stephen said angrily. "There are lawmen there!"
"I told you what I think his chances are," Robert said sternly. "The choice on what to do next is up to you!"
Quantro laughed before he grimaced in pain. "Let that be a lesson to you," Robert said curtly. "Everything you do is going come back to bite you until that wound is fixed!"
"You take me to Dodge, fix my wound and then yore Marshal Dillon takes me and I hang," Quantro said with a smirk. "Good plan!"
"It don't have to be like that," Stephen said suddenly. "We have him, Quantro. We can use him to keep all of us safe in the town and out!"
"No!" Robert said realizing the mistake he'd made by mentioning Dodge. "I won't help him if anyone gets hurt! I promise you that! You want me to help him, then you have to do things my way!"
"How?" Quantro asked curiously.
"I'll send a message to the Marshal," Robert said evenly. "If no one makes a move to harm you then you have no reason to harm anyone in my town! That's the only way I'll help you! We got a deal?"
Quantro looked at Stephen and nodded. "We got a deal, write yore message and give it to Stephen," he said as Robert nodded.