The Brother

Chapter 7

For the first half of the ride all went fairly well, but as time and the miles passed by, Kitty noticed that Matt was lagging further behind. She stopped the buggy.

"One of you men go check on him please."

Wilton rode back and could see that Dillon was struggling to stay in the saddle. Every step the horse took jarred his shoulder and released more blood to work its way down his back and arm, by now there were even red blotches where it had dripped onto his pants and saddle.

Lemay took the water canteen from his rig and encouraged the lawman to drink some. Matt opened his bleary eyes and looked around. Even through the haze that blurred his vision, he could tell by the landscape that it would be about another thirty more minutes before they'd be in Dodge.

The cattleman saw that the Marshal was about all in, he reached over and took the reins from Matt's left hand.

"You just hang onto that saddle horn and we'll make it," he said none too convincingly.

As they drew level with her, Kitty could see that the bandage and sling she had fashioned earlier, were covered in blood. She climbed down from the buggy to check on him. It was obviously time for a woman to take charge.

"Let's get him up in the buggy, he'll never make it like this."

Wilton Lemay looked at her,

"But what about you ma'am."

"I can ride," she said in a tone that would accept no discussion.

Surprisingly they gave her no argument. She bit her own lip as she watched them follow her instructions and help Matt down from Max's horse he had been riding then ease him up into the buggy. He looked pale as death. She could see the beads of moisture breaking out on his forehead and knew the shoulder was giving him a lot of pain and he was certainly losing a lot of blood. Eventually they had him settled and she climbed aboard briefly to place the picnic quilt around him.

Meanwhile the older Lemay was re arranging the tack on the buggy horse so he could lead him the rest of the way into Dodge and Jackson gathered up the reins from Billings' mount.

Wilton turned to Kitty and helped her to mount his brother's horse.

"You sure you'll be alright?"

She smiled, "I'm fine Wilton - you just take care of the buggy."

Once more the little group set off and managed to pick up speed a little, even so, by the time they got to Dodge they had two unconscious men on their hands which left Kitty feeling that it was up to her to take charge of the situation once more.

She directed Jackson to the jail and told him to lock Billings in one of the cells, she even told him where he would find the keys. Meantime Doc came hurrying along the boardwalk sensing that his skills were going to be needed.

"Doc I think Matt is hurt pretty bad, and this man," she indicated Max Lemay "got hit over the head with a rifle butt."

Doc set about mustering some help from a group of cowboys walking along Front Street, and it wasn't long before both injured men were moved up the stairs to his office.

He directed his conscripted help to place the Marshal face down on the examination table and had Max taken to the back room. Briefly he examined Matt's wound and asked Kitty to start boiling some water and gather up the instruments he would need to remove the bullet. Meanwhile he checked on Lemay.

It only took him a few minutes to clean and suture the wound on the young man's scalp and apply a bandage to cover it.

"We won't know much till he comes around," he told the older brother. "You just stay with him for now."

He returned to his patient in the front office.

"What happened Kitty?" he asked as he cut away most of the bloody shirt from Matt's back and removed the makeshift bandage.

"Some one fired at us from ambush."

Doc was studying the wound, his experienced fingers assessing the damaged tissues.

"He's lost a lot of blood, but the bullet is not too deep, it'll come out fairly easily. You go home and get some rest, I can deal with this."

He knew how it distressed her to watch him work on the Marshal.

"Are you sure he'll be all right, Doc?" She looked at him with blue eyes seeking an honest answer.

"He'll do just fine if he'll listen to me and take it easy for a week or so."
They both smiled knowing that was not likely to happen.

"Go on now – you look like you've had a rough day."

Kitty didn't move, she just stood watching as Doc's steady hands set about their task. She found herself holding her breath for the few minutes that passed before she heard the sound of the forceps holding the removed bullet, landing in one of the enamel bowls that the physician had set out.

"Go on now Kitty – all I have left to do is suture this together, it won't take me long."

She took one more look at the man lying on the table. He had barely moved during the whole procedure. Carefully, so as not to distract the Physician from his task, she leaned over "I'll see you later Cowboy," she whispered in his ear. Maybe there was a slight movement of his eyelids, she smiled.

"I'll come by and let you know when I've finished Kitty – go on now and take care of yourself, he'll need you later."

She closed the door quietly and headed down the stairs. Her intention had been to go directly to the Long Branch, but at the last minute she changed her mind and made her way along to the jail. Jerry Jackson had Billings locked in one of the cells, but Kitty could tell that the trail boss was anxious to leave.

He got up as she entered. He had been sitting at Marshal's desk leaning his chair back against the wall. How often had she seen Matt do the same thing?

"How are Matt and that other man we brought in doing, Miss Kitty?" His voice sounded genuinely concerned.

"Doc says they'll both be fine in a few days. I came to thank you for taking care of the prisoner. I know Matt would appreciate your help."

"No problem – just don't tell my men I've been helping a Kansas Lawman." He smiled and Kitty noticed that his eyes were the color of springtime prairie grass and they laughed in unison with the rest of his face. He became more serious.

"I really need to leave town now and head for home, there's a lot of work to be done at Mr. Lemay's ranch and if I don't stay on top of those greenhorns I left running the place, it'll never get taken care of."

Kitty understood, she could tell by the look of this man that he did not belong in a town. She prided herself in her ability to judge a man, and she could see that this one was as independent as her cowboy and like him he was more comfortable with the vastness and solitude of the prairie, than sitting here behind a desk.

"Didn't Matt say he knew you from somewhere."

"Yeh, it seems a long time ago now. It was my third or fourth cattle drive. He was just a green drover and I was the ramrod. We rode together over the last half of the Shawnee trail to Sedalia. That was before they closed it down. I never saw him again until now – I'd heard he was a lawman, just as well, I don't think he would have made much of a drover anyway!"

Again she saw the smile in those soft colored eyes.

"Let me find someone to stay with the prisoner, then come along to the Long Branch before you head out, I owe you a drink. I think you had better check with Matt before you leave town though, I am sure he'll want you to leave a statement or something about what happened out there."

He pointed to a sheet of paper lying on the Matt's desk.

"I figured that, I've already written it out, I'll stop by the Doc's office and hand it to him before I leave."

Kitty managed to find Louie in a reasonably sober state, and told him he needed to stay at the jail and watch the prisoner till Chester got back into town. The Marshal's assistant had been gone for a few days to attend a relative's wedding in Wichita, but had planned to return on the Santa Fe tomorrow.

She smiled to herself thinking that now she was running not only the Long Branch Saloon but the Marshal's jail as well. She just hoped there were no rowdy cowboys tonight, she didn't fancy having to deal with too many of those.

TBC