'There ain't no bushes,' she pointed out. 'I just don't want you to go, Gus.'
'I got to,' Augustus said. 'A man's dying and he asked for me. We're kind of friends, and think what would have happened when the grasshoppers hit if we hadn't had this tent to hide in. I'll be back, and I'll see that Dish looks after you in the meantime.'
'Why him?' she asked. 'I don't need him. Just tell him to leave me be.'
'Dish is the best hand,' Augustus said. 'Just because he's in love with you don't mean he couldn't be helpful if a storm blew up or something. It ain't his fault he's in love with you. He's smitten, and that's all there is to it.'
'I don't care about him,' Lorena said. 'I want you to come back.'
'I will, honey,' he said, checking the loads in his rifle.
Dish could hardly believe his luck when Augustus told him to take Lorena her meals and look after her. The thought that he would be allowed to go over to the tent made him a little dizzy.
'Do you think she'll speak to me?' he asked, looking at the tent. Lorena had gone inside and pulled the flaps, though it was hot.
'Not today,' Augustus said. 'Today she's feeling sulky. If I was you I'd sing to her.'
'Sing to Lorie?' Dish said, incredulous. 'Why, I'd be so scared I'd choke.'
'Well, if you require timid women there's not much I can do for you,' Augustus said. 'Just keep a good guard at night and see she don't get kidnapped.'
Call hated to leave the herd, and most of the cowboys hated it that he was leaving. Though it was midsummer, the skies clear, and the plains seemingly peaceful, most of the hands looked worried as the little group prepared to leave. They sat around worrying, all but Po Campo, who was singing quietly in his raspy voice as he made supper. Even Lippy was unnerved. He was modest in some matters and had just returned from walking a mile, in order to relieve his bowels in private.
'If you see any bushes, bring one back with you,' he said to the mounted men. 'If we had a bush on two I wouldn't have to walk so far just to do my business.'
'I don't know why you're so modest,' Augustus said. 'Go over and squat behind a cow. You got a hole in your stomach anyway.'
'I wish we'd brought the pia-ner,' Lippy said. 'A little pia-ner music would go good right now.'
Call put Dish in charge of the outfit, meaning that he suddenly had two heavy responsibilities-Lorena and the herd. It left him subdued, just thinking about it. If anything should happen to the girl or the herd he'd never be able to hold up his head again.
'Ease 'em along,' Call told Dish. 'Bert can scout ahead and make sure there's water.'
If Dish felt subdued, Newt felt nothing but pride to have been selected for the trip. He could tell some of the other hands were envious, particularly the Rainey boys, but it was the Captain's order, and no one dared say a word. When he saw the Captain put two boxes of rifle shells into his saddlebag he felt even prouder, for it meant he might be expected to fight. The Captain must have decided he was grown, to bring him on such a trip. After all, only the original Hat Creek outfit-the Captain and Mr. Gus, Pea and Deets-were going along, and now he was included. Every few minutes, as they rode east, he put his hand on his pistol to reassure himself that it was still there.
They got back to Wilbarger a little after sundown, before the plains had begun to lose the long twilight. He had reached the Arkansas before collapsing, and lay under the shade of the bank on a blanket Deets had left him. He was too weak to do more than raise his head when they rode up; even that exhausted him.
'Well, you just keep turning up,' he said to Augustus, with a wan smile. 'I've been lying here trying not to bleed on this good blanket your man left me.'
Augustus stooped to examine him and saw at once there was no hope.
'I've bled so much already I expect I'm white as snow,' Wilbarger said. 'I'm a dern mess. I took one in the lung and another seems to have ruint my hip. The third was just a flesh wound.'
'I don't think we can do anything about the lung,' Call said.
Wilbarger smiled. 'No, and neither could a Boston surgeon,' he said.
He raised his head again. 'Still riding that mare, I see,' he said. 'If I could have talked you out of her I probably wouldn't be lying here shot. She'd have smelled the damn horsethieves. I do think she's a beauty.'
'How many were there?' Call asked. 'Or could you get a count?'
'I expect it was Dan Suggs and his two brothers, and a bad nigger they ride with,' Wilbarger said. 'I think I hit the nigger.'
'I don't know the Suggses,' Call said.
'They're well known around Fort Worth for being murdering rascals,' Wilbarger said. 'I never expected to be fool enough to let them murder
'Any of us can oversleep,' Augustus said quietly. 'If you was to lie quiet that lung might heal.'
'No sir, not likely,' Wilbarger said. 'I saw too many lung-shot boys when we were fighting the Rebs to expect that to happen. I'd rather just enjoy a little more conversation.'
He turned his eyes toward the Hell Bitch and smiled-the sight of her seemed to cheer him more than anything.
'I do admire that mare,' he said. 'I want you to keep that mean plug of mine for your troubles. He's not brilliant, but he's sturdy.'
He lay back and was quiet for a while, as the dusk deepened.
'I was born on the Hudson, you know,' he said, a little later. 'I fully expected to die on it, but I guess the dern Arkansas will have to do.'
'I wish you'd stop talking about your own death,' Augustus said in a joking tone. 'It ain't genteel.'
Wilbarger looked at him and chuckled, a chuckle that brought up blood. 'Why, it's because I ain't genteel that I'm bleeding to death beside the Arkansas,' he said. 'I could have been a lawyer, like my brother, and be in New York right now, eating oysters.'
He didn't speak again until after it was full dark. Newt stood over with the horses, trying not to cry. He had scarcely known Mr. Wilbarger, and had found him blunt at first, but the fact that he was lying there on a bloody blanket dying so calmly affected him more than he had thought it would. The emptiness of the plains as they darkened was so immense that that affected him too, and a sadness grew in him until tears began to spill from his eyes. Captain Call and Mr. Gus sat by the dying man. Deets was on the riverbank, a hundred yards away, keeping watch. And Pea Eye stood with Newt, by the horses, thinking his own thoughts.
'How long will it take him to die?' Newt asked, feeling he couldn't bear such a strain for a whole night.
'I've seen boys linger for days,' Pea Eye said quietly-he had always thought it impolite to talk about a man's death within his hearing. Gus's joke had shocked him a little.
'But then sometimes they just go,' he added. 'Go when they're ready, or even if they ain't. This man's lost so much blood he might go over pretty soon.'
Call and Augustus knew there was nothing to do but wait, so they sat beside Wilbarger's pallet, saying little. Two hours passed with no sound but Wilbarger's faint breathing.
Then, to Call's surprise, Wilbarger's hand reached out and clutched him for a moment.
'Let's shake, for the favors you've done me,' Wilbarger said weakly. When Call had given him a handshake, Wilbarger reached for Augustus, who shook his hand in turn.
'McCrae, I'll give you credit for having written a damn amusing sign,' he said. 'I've laughed about that sign many a time, and laughing's a pleasure. I've got two good books in my saddlebags. One's Mister Milton and the other's a Virgil. I want you to have them. The Virgil might improve your Latin.'
'I admit it's rusty,' Augustus said. 'I'll apply myself, and many thanks.'
'To tell the truth, I can't read it either,' Wilbarger said. 'I could once, but I lost it. I just like to look at it on the page. It reminds me of the Hudson, and my schooling and all. Now and then I catch a word.'
He coughed up a lot of blood and both Call and Augustus thought it was over, but it wasn't. Wilbarger was still breathing, though faintly. Call went over and told Pea Eye and Newt to start digging the grave-he wanted to get started after the horsethieves as soon as it was light enough to track. Restless, he walked over and helped Deets keep watch.
To Augustus's surprise, Wilbarger raised his head. He had heard the digging. 'Your friend's efficient, ain't he?' he said.
'Efficient,' Augustus agreed. 'He likes to chase horsethieves too. Seems like we're always having to get your
