"Come on, Nathan," pleaded Buck. "It's been a damn week. I've taken all your breathin' treatments and drank all your teas, and I am really, honestly, TRULY feelin' better."
"Hush up, Buck, and let me listen to your lungs," Nathan replied, as he placed a stethoscope on Buck's bare chest. In all honesty, Buck's lungs were sounding better, and Nathan probably could have released him from his care yesterday...but the healer was still paying Wilmington back a bit for sneaking out earlier in the week. Nate had said he was going to tie Buck to his bed when he found him with Blossom a few days ago, but he had moved Buck to the clinic, where he could keep a closer eye on him, instead.
"Alright, Buck, you can go," Nathan said and Buck's blue eyes lit up in a huge smile. "BUT, no drinkin' and no late nights for a while. Got it!?"
Buck sighed, but answered, "alright, I promise." He wasn't sure he could keep his promise, but at this point he would say ANYTHING to get away from Nathan.
"I sent a wire to Denver yesterday, to see if there was any word on Chris, Josiah, Vin, and Ezra," Nathan changed the subject. "Kind of thought we would've heard from 'em again by now."
"Yeah, me too. You think we should go lookin'?" It had been 5 or 6 days since Larabee wired from Pueblo. Buck and Nathan both knew it was going to be a tough mission, and it's possible the boys had to go even further north or further into the mountains to find the gang.
"Let's give 'em another couple of days and hopefully they'll wire us with some good news," Nathan replied, as Buck was buttoning his shirt.
Chris was the first one awake. He was still coughing at night, and that was about to kill him with his cracked rib. Once he got up and stopped coughing, the pain was tolerable….but that meant he had only rested for a few hours at best.
Josiah was up next and greeted the obviously tired man with a "good morning, Chris." The blond gunslinger handed him a cup of coffee and sat down to wait and see how the other two men were faring this morning.
Vin was shocked to see how late it was when he awoke. He was generally the first one up of the seven. Chris witnessed Vin trying to stand and ran over to help support him. The tracker's leg was stiff and shaky, but step by step, he began to bear more weight on the injured limb. Chris handed Vin some coffee and said, "You're lookin' a little better this mornin' – not quite as gray. How're you feelin'?"
"Like I been shot in the leg," smiled Vin, "but I think I can ride if you want to get out of here."
"How're you holdin' up, Cowboy?" Vin returned the concern back to Chris. "As Ms. Nettie would say, you're lookin' a mite peaked yourself." The dark circles under Larabee's eyes were even more prominent today, or his skin was paler – Vin wasn't sure which.
"I'll be fine once I get all of us out of these mountains. I've had about enough of snow, wind, and bad guys for one week," smiled Chris.
"Amen, brothers," laughed Josiah as he thumped the two smaller men on the back and walked away. Both winced and steadied themselves after Josiah's supposedly-friendly pat.
Josiah walked over to the sleeping area, as he saw Ezra starting to stir. He felt bad for the amount of pain he caused the gambler last night. Ezra slowly opened his eyes, and Josiah's voice boomed out, "How are ya, Ezra?"
"Just peachy," replied the smaller man, and he closed his green eyes for a minute longer. Josiah helped Ezra stand, and then followed closely beside him as he walked to where Chris and Vin were sitting.
Ezra didn't feel great by any stretch of the imagination, but he was steadier than the day before.
"How's the arm, Ezra?" Chris asked. He still couldn't get the image of the snow-covered, deathly-still gambler out of his head.
"My arm still throbs quite painfully, but it is bearable," Ezra explained over a cup of coffee, "certainly much improved from yesterday."
Josiah was clearly in the best shape, but Ezra couldn't decide the rank order of the rest of them. They all claimed to be well enough to ride though, so that is precisely what they did.
Josiah debated tying the other three to their horses. On these shelf roads if someone passed out and fell from their mount, it could very well prove deadly. He decided against it though and did his best to stay closest to whoever looked the most unsteady at the time.
They moved slowly and carefully down the mountain. Josiah focused most of his attention on Ezra during the descent. He had to steady the gambler on a couple of occasions but considering his injuries, Josiah thought Standish did very well. Vin and Chris stayed close to one another. When they got to the avalanche-detour path again, all but Vin dismounted and walked the horses. Josiah led his and Larabee's mounts, while Chris walked with Vin and Peso.
"Gentlemen, may I humbly request a short break?" Ezra asked about half-way across the goat path. Chris felt bad when he saw the effort it was taking the gambler to keep going. Standish was out of breath and unnaturally pale.
"Shit, Ezra, you coulda said somethin' sooner," Larabee shook his head, as he led the shorter man to a rock and sat him down.
It was about lunch time anyway, and none of the men had eaten a good meal since breakfast the day before. Josiah helped Vin dismount, and they stopped for about an hour to eat some jerky and drink some water. They had plenty of snow to melt for water, but their food supplies were running low.
"Ya feelin' better, Ez?" asked Vin, once they got some food and water in the con man.
"Thank you, Mr. Tanner, I am," replied Ezra.
"I hate to bring it up, Ezra, but you kinda owe me for a new gun," Vin smirked. His mare's leg and Chris' colt had been confiscated by the Storm gang and thus buried in the avalanche that Ezra set off.
Ezra laughed, "I'll tell you what, Mr. Tanner. I will assist you and Mr. Larabee in making up a detailed expense report to be submitted to Judge Travis for restitution of the money to replace your fine weapons."
"Or we could just come back in a couple of months, once the snow melts," Chris smiled, "although they might be a little rusty by then." He did hate to lose his pearl-handled colt, but he knew its loss paled in comparison to the loss of one of his men - one of his friends.
In the afternoon, the men continued on to their original camp, at about 7,000 ft. in altitude. They were weary, but all made it of their own accord. Josiah unsaddled his horse, Ezra's and Vin's, and in the end Chris' as well. Larabee tried to do it himself but was getting so frustrated that Josiah decided to step in.
Chris walked towards where Vin and Ezra sat. He had been fine all the way down the mountain today, but all of a sudden he started to feel himself losing touch with the world around him. Josiah was saying something, but he couldn't hear it. Vin was motioning to him, but his vision was growing darker.
"Chris is going down," yelled Vin, seeing Larabee turn as pale as a sheet. Ezra was the closest and jumped up to slow Larabee's fall as best he could with his one good arm. Larabee's injuries were probably the least serious of the three, but the seven's leader was just completely exhausted. He had not slept well since they left Four Corners, and when you couple that with the illness from earlier in the week, the broken ribs, and the gunshot wound, it simply became too much for Chris' body to handle.
Josiah brought over Larabee's bedroll, and he placed Chris on it hoping the blond would be able to sleep for a while.
Josiah remarked to the two concerned faces looking up at him, "Chris' heartbeat and breathin' are strong; he ain't bleedin' anywhere that I can see. I think he's just worn out."
Sanchez set up camp, and the three men ate some dinner. The wind was still strong, but not as bad as up in the higher elevations, and the temperature was warmer.
Chris never woke up that evening. Josiah, Vin, and Ezra turned in early as well. They were all relieved that they would be able to make it back to civilization sometime tomorrow.