登陆注册
15297800000024

第24章 IN THE LAZY D HOSPITAL(1)

Helen's first swift glance showed that the wounded man was Bannister.She turned in crisp command to her foreman.

"Have him taken to my room and put to bed there.We have no time to prepare another.And send one of the boys on your best horse for a doctor."They carried the limp figure in with rough tenderness and laid him in the bed.McWilliams unbuckled the belt and drew off the chaps; then, with the help of Denver, undressed the wounded man and covered him with quilts.So Helen found him when she came in to attend his wounds, bringing with her such things as she needed for her task.Mrs.Winslow, the housekeeper, assisted her, and the foreman stayed to help, but it was on the mistress of the ranch that the responsibility of saving him fell.Missou was already galloping to Bear Creek for a doctor, but the girl knew that the battle must be fought and the issue decided before he could arrive.

He had fallen again into insensibility and she rinsed and dressed his wounds, working with the quiet impersonal certainty of touch that did not betray the inner turmoil of her soul.But McWilliams, his eyes following her every motion and alert to anticipate her needs, saw that the color had washed from her face and that she was controlling herself only to meet the demands of the occasion.

As she was finishing, the sheepman opened his eyes and looked at her."You are not to speak or ask questions.You have been wounded andwe are going to take care of you," she ordered.

"That's right good of y'u.I ce'tainly feet mighty trifling." His wide eyes traveled round till they fell on the foreman."Y'u see I came back to help fill your hospital.Am I there now? Where am I?" His gaze returned to Helen with the sudden irritation of the irresponsible sick.

"You are at the Lazy D, in my room.You are not to worry about anything.Everything's all right."He took her at her word and his eyes closed; but presently he began to mutter unconnected words and phrases.When his lids lifted again therewas a wilder look in his eyes, and she knew that delirium was beginning.At intervals it lasted for long; indeed, until the doctor came next morning in the small hours.He talked of many things Helen Messiter did not understand, of incidents in his past life, some of them jerky with the excitement of a tense moment, others apparently snatches of talk with relatives.It was like the babbling of a child, irrelevant and yet often insistent.He would in one breath give orders connected with the lambing of his sheep, in the next break into football talk, calling out signals and imploring his men to hold them or to break through and get the ball.Once he broke into curses, but his very oaths seemed to come from a clean heart and missed the vulgarity they might have had.Again his talk rambled inconsequently over his youth, and he would urge himself or someone else of the same name to better life.

"Ned, Ned, remember your mother," he would beseech."She asked me to look after you.Don't go wrong." Or else it would be, "Don't disgrace the general, Ned.You'll break his heart if you blacken the old name." To this theme he recurred repeatedly, and she noticed that when he imagined himself in the East his language was correct and his intonation cultured, though still with a suggestion of a Southern softness.

But when he spoke of her his speech lapsed into the familiar drawl of Cattleland."I ain't such a sweep as y'u think, girl.Some day I'll sure tell y'u all about it, and how I have loved y'u ever since y'u scooped me up in your car.You're the gamest little lady! To see y'u come a-sailin' down after me, so steady and businesslike, not turning a hair when the bullets hummed--I sure do love y'u, Helen." And then he fell upon her first name and called her by it a hundred times softly to himself.

This happened when she was alone with him, just before the doctor came.She heard it with starry eyes and with a heart that flushed for joy a warmer color into her cheeks.Brushing back the short curls, she kissed his damp forehead.It was in the thick of the battle, before he had weathered that point where the issues of life and death pressed closely, and even in the midst of her great fears it brought her comfort.She was to think often of it later, and always the memory was to be music in her heart.Even when she denied her love for him, assured herself it was impossible shecould care for so shameful a villain, even then it was a sweet torture to allow herself the luxury of recalling his broken delirious phrases.At the very worst he could not be as bad as they said; some instinct told her this was impossible.His fearless devil-may-care smile, his jaunty, gallant bearing, these pleaded against the evidence for him.And yet was it conceivable that a man of spirit, a gentleman by training at least, would let himself lie under the odium of such a charge if he were not guilty? Her tangled thoughts fought this profitless conflict for days.Nor could she dismiss it from her mind.Even after he began to mend she was still on the rack.For in some snatch of good talk, when the fine quality of the man seemed to glow in his face, poignant remembrance would stab her with recollection of the difference between what he was and what he seemed to be.

One of the things that had been a continual surprise to Helen was the short time required by these deep-cheated and clean-blooded Westerners to recover from apparently serious wounds.It was scarce more than two weeks since Bannister had filled the bunkhouse with wounded men, and already two of them were back at work and the third almost fit for service.For perhaps three days the sheepman's life hung in the balance, after which his splendid constitution and his outdoor life began to tell.The thermometer showed that the fever had slipped down a notch, and he was now sleeping wholesomely a good part of his time.Altogether, unless for some unseen contingency, the doctor prophesied that the sheepman was going to upset the probabilities and get well.

同类推荐
  • 迦叶结经

    迦叶结经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 佛说戒德香经

    佛说戒德香经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 物不迁正量论

    物不迁正量论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 六即义

    六即义

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • Sir Walter Raleigh and his Time

    Sir Walter Raleigh and his Time

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 花都御美强少

    花都御美强少

    他是地下佣兵传奇的王者,因为偷了世界超然组织玫瑰阁的至宝古玉,被玫瑰阁主打成重伤,被迫潜伏在花都中东躲西藏,化装成流氓小贩在各大公司门口卖黄瓜……
  • 逆战之雪域迷踪

    逆战之雪域迷踪

    苏战在打逆战新图雪域迷踪的时候,游戏里的角色人物突然全部死亡,屏幕上跳出来一个一个选项:您愿意拯救或代替他们继续战斗吗?选A会进入一个全新的世界,选B将回归平常。点击:A于是,苏战穿越到了游戏里……
  • 执手两端

    执手两端

    你说时光走太慢你说晚风吹意寒你说会有的彼岸独影阑珊你听那首南山南你听那熟悉的春蝉你过往在呼喊执手两端
  • 寻找斑马(陪伴学生健康成长的大自然故事)

    寻找斑马(陪伴学生健康成长的大自然故事)

    本书作者从事多年儿童文学的研究,有很深厚的功底,作者通过讲述一个一个动物的故事,告诉孩子们一个个鲜活而有趣的故事,寓教于乐。通过此书孩子可以更好的了解动物的秉性,以及特点。是值得一读的好书。
  • 陪你走完青春

    陪你走完青春

    “我爱你,只会对你没有防备!”“我爱你,只会对你哭!”“我爱你,却被你抛弃。”“我爱你,却不得不离开。为了你。”“我爱你,所以我不恨你。”“我爱你,我们在一起吧!”你的梦想,我陪你实现;你的离开,我会原谅;你的挫折,对不起我不能与你一起度过,但我从未放弃你。“你是高高在上的总裁。我是只会学习,傲娇的过分的幼稚鬼。可是,我喜欢你,你能带我回家吗?”
  • 微年代

    微年代

    很久很久以前的事了。那时候,天很蓝,水很清,青春的天空澄净透明,弥漫着一股淡淡的甜橙香味。那时候,街上没有几辆汽车,成群结队的自行车呼啦啦地来,呼啦啦地去,撒下一路的欢声笑语。那时候,武义八中还没有搬迁,它位于据说是解放前县学的旧址上。北靠壶山街,南临城脚路。北门进口耸着一栋全新的四层大楼,紧挨南门立着一栋半新的五层大楼,两幢大楼中间夹挤着一栋老式的三层小楼。整个学校拥挤得连转个圈的余地都没有……
  • 黑暗仙尊

    黑暗仙尊

    我生于光明,却拥抱黑暗。既然光明将我抛弃,我就堕入这无尽的黑暗深渊。若杀戮是我的宿命,我便于这千军万马中破路而行。
  • 绝世清莲

    绝世清莲

    与仇人同归于尽,穿越到天倾大陆体弱多病的世子身上。时间推移,发现母亲的死并非意外,自己身上还背负着一个人的生死,为了一个承诺,为了自己永不服输的信念,走上了一条强者之路。
  • 现代捉鬼师

    现代捉鬼师

    我天生阴阳眼,却从出生起就被封印了,一次偶然的机遇解开了封印,从此踏入一个完全不同的世界
  • 剑灵之阴间玄女

    剑灵之阴间玄女

    她到底叫音弦还是叫阴玄?为什么这两个名字会让她变化那么大?