The Easterner did not attempt to answer, but braced up with a wan smile. The girl wished that she had warned him in time. But now what could she do? She was well aware that the boys would make life intolerable for him did he dare back down at the last moment. Jim again called.
“Come on pardner, be a sport! Put your spurs to this here cayuse. He’s tired waitin’ for you.”
Densmore walked across the corral and stopped near the outlaw, hesitating. Jim continued to sneer.
“Are you ’fraid of this here old plug?”
“Aw! don’t be a quitter!” Rodeo bantered. “Come on an’ ride an’ show us some of yo’ Canadian stunts. I thought yo’ said yo’ was a bronco twister of the North country.”
“I did say that I could ride,” retorted Densmore with flushed temples, “but I did not say that I could ride a horse that requires four men to handle.”
“He’s gettin’ col’ feet,” drawled Bob. “Aw come on. Don’t pike on us, or we’ll hafter get Cogewea to break yo’ cayuse fer yo’. I hater see the little gal a showin’ yo’ how to ride; I hater see yo’ a missin’ so good a thin’.”
At this sally the boys all laughed. Densmore glanced at Cogewea, who was also smiling. She had climbed back on the fence out of possible danger. He now determined to ride if it took the last breath. He stepped to the horse whose flanks were quivering with excitement and whose open mouth was foaming. Croppy was backed against the corral, while the rest of the horses from the opposite side of the enclosure looked on in wonder.
Densmore placed his foot in the stirrup, but he was shaking like a leaf in a summer breeze. However he was not going to back out amid the jeers and sneers of those Westerners. He found the other stirrup. Jim pulled the handkerchief-blind from Croppy’s eyes and the boys all leaped aside. The “circus” was of short duration. The maddened horse bawled and bucked as only an outlaw can. Densmore grabbed the saddle horn and held on with all his strength. The riders yelled in a chorus.
“Let’er go there feller! Don’t choke ’er!”
The rider went catapulting through the air and landed in a crumpled heap in the corral dust. Cogewea jumped from her perch and was at his side before any of the boys had made a move. She tenderly lifted his bleeding head to her knee. A long gash showed above the temple, from which the blood flowed freely. His right arm was limp. His face was colorless and the girl believed him dead. The riders rushed forward. She looked up to meet the eyes of Jim. Her own gleamed with scorn; as she faced him a moment before finding speech.
“James LaGrinder! this is all your work and you will pay dearly for it too. You knew that Croppy was a brute—an outlaw—and you knew that this man could not ride. You had no business getting him on the devil.”
“Why—I—I—I thought he could ride! the d—”
“You hurry and get some water as quick as God will let you. I think this man is dead. Hurry!” she called after him in an anxious tone.
Jim hardly heard the last words. He was running down the sloping river bank with a tin can in his hand. He dipped it in the stream, but the water gushed out from the torn side. He threw it aside with an oath. Taking his new sombrero, he scooped the water and started up the hill on a run. Evidently perturbed, his tanned face was immobile. He felt that he was the cause of the tenderfoot’s death and many things flashed through his mind as he ran. He had meant no serious harm to the man; but his jealousy had prompted him to saddle Croppy instead of an ordinary bronc. His joy was great when reaching the little group, to find that the Easterner had opened his eyes. His face was drawn with agony, but he uttered no complaint. Jim held the brimming hat to his lips. He drank deeply. Cogewea bathed his head and face and bound his temples with the silk handkerchief which the foreman tore from his own neck. She ordered him to ride for the old doctor, who was homesteading some miles away. He mounted and rode as if the injured man were his own brother.
It was Cogewea who commanded.
When the doctor arrived, he found the right arm broken, which he set and put in splints. He stitched the wide gash over the temple without a moan from the patient. The tenderfoot, though he could not ride, showed no weakness in the presence of his tormentors. Then the kind hearted doctor left him, telling Cogewea how to dress the head-wound and that he was going to depend on her to nurse the gentleman. Cogewea, feeling remorse and in a measure responsible for his condition and determining to make amends so far as in her power, accepted the charge gladly. She later came in with the riders for her share of scolding from John Carter; but she took it good naturedly.
Notwithstanding it was jealousy that prompted Jim to go to the extreme in “breaking” the tenderfoot and it pained him that Cogewea would be so constantly in the injured man’s company as nurse, he did everything possible to render the invalid’s lot more tolerable. Governed as much by the unwritten Indian law of justice as by that of the White man, he promptly met the doctor’s fees. But the other riders insisted on sharing this expense. Rodeo observed:
“It’s a durn sight more comfor’able than helpin’ Bob dig that there grave th’ guy don’t need.”
Rodeo agreed to remain on the ranch until the broncos were all broken and tamed.
VI
The Fourth of July
And history a tale has gained
To please the younger ears—
A race of kings that rose
