“And I’d better get back inside and make sure that Dad’s all right,” she said. “He’s not as young as he once was, you know.” She smiled up at him. “We’ll take this up again some other time, right?”
“I reckon you can count on that,” Sam told her.
After cleaning and examining Red Mike Loomis’s wound and checking the young man’s condition, Dr. Berger emerged from his examining room and told Matt, “I think young Loomis will recover. It appears that the bullet missed any vital organs and did only a limited amount of damage. The blood loss is the main problem. With rest and proper care, he should be all right.”
Matt nodded in relief. “Thanks, Doc. He seems like a fine hombre, so I’m glad to hear it.”
One of the townsmen who had carried Mike to the doctor’s house looked out the front window and announced, “Looks like you got more work comin’, Doc. The undertaker’s wagon just pulled up outside, and they’re unloadin’ somebody.”
Berger wiped his bloody hands on a cloth and muttered, “Why is the undertaker bringing someone to me?”
The answer quickly became obvious as the men with the wagon carried in the wounded deputy. Berger told them to take the man into the other examining room, then glanced at Matt and added, “I hope that’s the last of it tonight. You’re not planning to shoot anyone else, are you, Mr. Bodine?”
“Hey, I didn’t shoot Red Mike,” Matt pointed out.
“What about this newest patient?”
“Well…it was hard to tell, the way so much lead was flyin’ around. I reckon I might have.”
A moment later, the front door of the house burst open again and the liveryman, Ike Loomis, rushed in. “Somebody told me my boy got shot! Is he here?”
“Yes, he’s here, Ike,” Berger said, “and I think he’s going to be all right. So you can tone down that bellowing, if you please.”
“Thank the Lord!” Loomis exclaimed fervently. “When I heard he was in the middle of that ruckus, I was afraid he was a goner! Can I see him?”
Berger pointed at the door of the examining room. “Right in there. But you’ll have to be quiet. I don’t want him upset.”
Loomis snatched his hat off his thatch of rusty gray hair and held it in front of him as he nodded humbly. “Sure thing, Doc,” he promised.
Since everything seemed to be under control here, as soon as Loomis had gone in to see his son, Matt told Berger, “Take good care of Red Mike, and if you need any money, let me know.”
The doctor frowned skeptically as he looked at Matt’s rough range garb.
“I know, I look like a saddle tramp,” Matt said with a grin, “but I’m good for the
“Very well. I doubt if it will be necessary, though. Ike Loomis is a pretty successful businessman.”
Maybe more successful than the medico knew, Matt mused as he thought about the hidden saloon in the old livery stable.
He left the doctor’s house and started along the street. Sometime during all the excitement, his hat had flown off, and he didn’t know where it was. He was looking for it when he spotted Sam walking away from the marshal’s office. Matt angled across the street to intercept him.
“Keep an eye out for my Stetson,” he told his blood brother. “Reckon I lost it somewhere durin’ that ruckus.”
“We can look for it later,” Sam said. “Right now I’m on my way down to the creek to check on Bickford. If he’s still there, he needs to be locked up along with Porter.”
“How come you didn’t just tie him up so he couldn’t run off?”
Sam grimaced. “I was a mite busy at the time, because all hell broke loose here in town. I didn’t know what was going on, but I figured with that much shooting, I ought to take a hand.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you did, I guess. But Bickford’s liable to be long gone.”
“I know.”
“I’ll come with you,” Matt said. “Just in case he’s still there and itchin’ to start some more trouble.”
That wasn’t the case, though. Just as Sam had feared, Calvin Bickford was gone, although the two deputies Sam had knocked out and tied up were still there and definitely unhappy about their predicament. Bickford came in for a large share of their ire because he hadn’t take the time to free them before grabbing one of the horses and fleeing. Matt and Sam ignored their complaints.
“Might be able to trail Bickford when the sun comes up,” Matt suggested.
“Maybe.” Sam went over to the first prison wagon and called through the window, “Hey, Barnabas, you still in there?”
The reply came back instantly. “Where the hell would I go?” Barnabas demanded. “I’m locked up in here, remember?”
“And that’s where you’re going to stay for one more night,” Sam said. “Tomorrow we’ll get everything straightened out.”
“You’re gonna leave us in here?” Barnabas protested. “It ain’t right. We ain’t lawbreakers.”
“We’ll see about that,” Sam promised. “And we’ll make sure all the wounded men get the medical care they need, too.” He paused. “Did you happen to see which way Bickford went?”
