HONORABLE INTENTIONS
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
"On your horse, Sherman."
"What are ya doin'? Where're ya takin' him?" I asked, watchin' Deevy shove Slim in the back with his rifle. Slim was just standin' there, hands tied in front of him, lookin' at me.
"You killed my friends, Harper, now yer gonna watch your friend die."
"He ain't got nothin' to do with this. Leave him out of it."
I watched Deevy's face break into a sly grin. "Tip, help Mr. Sherman onto his horse. Deke, swing the rope over that tree. Make sure you pick a good strong branch."
"You touch him, Tip, and so help me, I'll blow yer head off." I swiped at my holster but my iron wasn't in it.
"Looking for this, Harper?" Deevy held his hand up, my gun swingin' from the end of his finger.
"Why you..." And I charged at him, but Tip came at me from the side, his rifle swingin' hard and catchin' me in the ribs. I hit the ground on my knees gasping for breath, and watched as Deevy aimed his gun at Slim.
"Mount up, Sherman."
"No." I gasped. "Slim."
"Slim!"
"Shhh. Jess. It's all right. Slim's in the bed right next to you. Go back to sleep."
"No, Daisy. He ain't." I pushed the covers back sliding my feet out of the bed. "I gotta help him. Deevy. He's gonna kill him. Where's my iron?" Daisy was tryin' to push me back down. "What...what are ya doin'? Let go. He...Slim..." I moved Daisy outta the way and got to my feet but they weren't holdin' me too well and I staggered sideways, crashin' into the chest of drawers, knocking things to the floor.
"Jess! Listen to me. Slim's safe. Look." Daisy pointed across the room. "See, he's asleep. He's safe."
I squinted at the other bed, holding onto the chest and swaying. "But...but...I...Deevy..."
"It was just a dream, get back into bed." Daisy helped me back to my bunk, settled me against the pillows then picked up a cup off the nightstand.
"Here, Jess." She handed the cup to me.
"What...what is it?" I asked, rubbing at my head.
"It will help your fever."
I took a small sip. Weren't as bad tastin' as that other drink she gave me, kinda had a sweet taste.
I drank slowly, 'fraid I'd start coughing again.
"Thanks."
"Try and get some sleep."
I nodded and closed my eyes. Last thing I remembered was Daisy puttin' that cool, wet cloth back on my forehead.
Only thing was, sleep weren't bein' none too kind to me. The fever dreams kept pullin' me awake, got so as I couldn't make out what was real and what wasn't. Between coughin' and my breath wheezin' through my chest it was awful hard to fall asleep and stay there.
The next mornin' wasn't much better. There were shakes and chills and sweatin' and coughin' and Daisy kept pushin' that cup with that bad tastin' drink at me. Sometime in the afternoon I started to make more sense of where I was.
"Slim?"
"I'm right here, Pard." I turned my head to where his voice was comin' from the next bed.
"Slim...Slim...are ya okay?"
"Better'n I was yesterday."
"Deevy...he...he didn't get ya?"
"No."
I heard voices out in the main room; a man's voice and Daisy's.
"Who's...who's that talkin' to Daisy?" I leaned on my left elbow, pushing myself up higher. Right away my head started spinning and I scrubbed at my eyes, waiting for things to clear some.
"Jess? You all right?"
"Who is it? Who's out there?"
"It's just Mort, Pard. He's havin' a chat with Daisy. Pretty sure she's fillin' him up with pie. He wanted to talk to you but you were too busy sleeping."
"Then he don't know." I threw the covers back. "Slim...I...I...gotta warn him."
"Whoa, Jess. What are ya talkin' about?"
"Morgan." I swung my legs over the side of the bed. "Mort don't know about him."
"You're not makin' any sense, Jess."
"There's another one of them Morgans. Ray...he's...he's out there." I took a step towards the door, but the room started spinnin' and I had to grab a hold of the frame to stop from falling.
"Jess!" I could hear Slim movin' around but was too busy tryin' to stay on my feet to turn and look at him.
"Hold up there, Jess. Whatta you doin' outta bed?" Mort came through the door and grabbed my shoulder, guiding me to my bunk.
"Mort...Mort...listen to me." He was forcing me back, makin' me lie down and not listenin'. I grabbed his arm. "Mort...Morgan..." but I started coughin' again.
"Now take it easy, Jess. You're in no shape to be wanderin' around."
"Mort...Morgan...there's another one. Ray. Ray Morgan...he's...he's out there. You..." But I could tell he wasn't payin' attention to me.
"What's he talking about, Slim?"
I looked over to my Pard, but he just kinda shrugged and said, "Beats me. He woke up and started rambling on about how he had to warn you."
"I ain't ramblin'...Mort, Ray Morgan, he's a cousin...ask Slim...he knows..."
"Now, just hold your horses, Jess. Ray Morgan's dead. He was shot when we rode in late yesterday evening. Don't you remember?" Mort pulled the sheet up. "Boy, you're burning up with fever. Just lie still while I get Mrs. Cooper." Mort got up and left me and Slim alone.
"No...Slim...have ya all gone loco...why ain't ya listenin' to me?"
"Ease off, Jess. Mort's right. Don't ya remember last night? I told ya what happened." Slim was sitting on the side of his bunk.
My head was pounding but bits and pieces were startin' to come back to me. I rubbed at my eyes, thinking hard on what had happened out in the yard.
"Deevy...he...he was wounded?"
"Yeah, Mort rode in with the posse and Morgan got hit too, he's dead, Jess."
"Dead...and...and...that other sidewinder… Tip?"
"He gave himself up...remember?"
"Yeah...yeah...I heard gunshots...and...and horses and it was Mort. Sure, Slim...I remember." I was feeling real tired, could hardly keep my eyes open.
"Pard? Jess? You okay?"
I think I nodded, but fell asleep before I could really be sure.
That night and the next day was one long blur of coughing, spitting, Daisy by my bedside getting me to drink things, cooling me down when I felt like I was gonna catch on fire or warming me up when the shivering got real bad and couldn't find no way to get warm. Don't recall if I had anymore fever dreams and when I woke early on the morning of the third day, I was feelin' almost human again. And I had a real need to get out of bed and stretch my legs.
My chest was still tight but I was breathing easier and my belly was demandin' I put something in it. Coffee was sounding like a mighty fine idea too.
Slim was still sleeping in the next bed, so I eased the covers back and... discovered I weren't goin' nowhere.
I looked around the room but there wasn't no sign of my clothes or long johns that I could see. Breakfast noises were coming from the main room, I could hear Daisy stacking the stove with wood, the faint cracklin' of a fire in the hearth.
"Slim." I whispered to my Pard. "Slim. Wake up."
He stirred some and muttered under his breath. I grabbed one of the pillows behind my head and threw it at him.
"Hmph! What the...?"
"Slim!" I tried a little louder but my voice wasn't working real good.
Finally, he pulled the pillow from his face and turned to look at me.
"Slim...I ain't got no clothes on."
"So?" And he started to burrow under the blankets.
"And I gotta...you know...go."
"You ain't goin' nowhere, Jess, you heard what the doc said. Now go back to sleep."
"Dadgum it, Slim! Wake up and get me somethin' to put on. I'm buck naked under these covers and I gotta...just get me something to wear!"
Slowly, he started to wake up. Pushing his hair back off his forehead and scrubbing at his eyes, he rolled his head towards me and looked like he was finally payin' attention.
"Jess! You're awake. Welcome back, Pard."
"Yeah I'm awake. Where in the blazes are my clothes? And how'd I get like this?" Too much talking set me off coughin', seems it wasn't completely over.
"Easy, Jess. You know it 's not good for you to be getting yourself worked up."
When the coughin' stopped I tried again, "If you don't get me somethin' to put on you're really gonna see me worked up. I gotta...go... Now!"
"Oh"
"Yeah, oh. Now will ya hurry up."
"There's somethin' under the bed you can use," Slim said, not really lookin' me in the eye.
"Under the...I ain't using nothin' that fits under a bed."
"What do you think you've been using these last three days?"
"I ain't going there, Slim. Just get me some clothes, will ya?"
"All right, all right, but Daisy's not gonna like it."
"She ain't gonna like it a whole lot more if ya don't hurry up."
Slim finally hauled himself out of bed, seemed to me he wasn't so stiff like he was when we first got back from the river.
"How's the shoulder?" I asked, as he started poking around in the drawers, pulling out a set of long johns and undershirt.
"Better than it was, that's for sure."
"Yeah, I..." Another coughin' fit started up, but I could feel it wasn't as bad as the last few days.
"You sure you should be gettin' outta that bed, Jess?"
I glared at him.
"Okay, okay." He tossed me my underwear then found some denims and handed them over, too.
I swung my legs outta bed and stood. The room tilted on its side. I reached out blindly for something to hold onto. Just as everything started to gray out, Slim got a hold of my arm and lowered me back down to my bunk. I sat holding my head, waiting for the dizziness to quit.
"You don't want to be letting Daisy see you do that." Slim said, standing over me and frowning.
"Just got up too quick."
When my head cleared, I pulled on my long johns, and eased the undershirt over my head and the splint still wrapped around my right hand.
"Everything all right in there?" Daisy called through the closed door.
Slim paused, glancing at the door. "Yeah, Daisy, I'm just pulling some clothes on. Nothing for you to worry about."
"Okay. How's Jess? Is he still sleeping?"
"He seems a little better this morning. I'll be out in a minute." Slim glared at me and reached for his own pants from the end of his bed.
"All right, Slim, let me know if you need anything."
"Sure, Daisy."
A few minutes later we were both dressed, me in my denims, undershirt and boots and Slim the same, only he was wearing his sling. My knees were trembling and my head still wasn't feeling right, and I could feel my breath whistling in my chest. Slim wasn't kiddin', Daisy weren't gonna be happy.
When we walked out of the bedroom, Slim with a steadying hand under my arm, Daisy turned to us from where she was setting the table.
"Good morning Sli...Jess!" She was beaming from ear to ear. But it only took a second before that turned to a frown. "Jess. What are you doing out of bed?"
"Got...a little...business to take...care of...Daisy."
It was getting real hard to breathe normal.
Daisy came over to me and laid a hand across my forehead, then against my cheek.
"Fever's gone," I said, grinning at her.
She frowned at me then scowled at Slim. "Slim Sherman, you know perfectly well he's in no condition to be up walking around."
"Gotta see a man about a horse, Daisy. And...well...I wasn't willing to argue with him over that one."
"Darn tootin'." I said.
Daisy seemed to understand and while she wasn't real happy 'bout lettin' me wander across the yard, she knew she'd be fighting a losing battle to try and stop me.
"Well, if you're going to go outside, at least wear your jacket. The fever may be gone, but it won't take much to bring it back." She pulled my sheepskin coat off the hook and helped me put it on.
Continued in chapter seventeen