Twin Guns Read Online Free PDF Page B

bellowing in hunger irritated nerves already drawn thin by hard, cold, seemingly unrewarded work. When Kirby asked, Josh told him, "We'll have enough to last till spring provided we get a thaw so they can get at river bottom grass. Otherwise we'll have to haul it in… if we can buy it. But remember, there'll be others in the same fix. By spring there won't be a piece of hay on this entire range."
    Supplies were running low for all hands, and Kirby and Josh were already preparing for a trip to town, when the news came. Storm clouds had sailed away to gather over the distant mountain peaks when a rider pulled into the yard. They had to thaw him out in the kitchen with whiskey and coffee before he could deliver his message.
    "Doc Williams sent me," he finally told them. "Said to tell you Miss Bryant is bad sick. Pneumonia, Doc said. Took cold tryin' to carry wood for the schoolhouse, and yesterday she took a turn for the worse. Doc's been tryin' to get word to you for a week. Today's the first time anyone wanted to risk the ride. Doc says mebbe you'd better hurry!"
    Kirby was already racing for the barn, Josh at his heels. As they rode back through the kitchen yard, he stopped and told Maria: "If you're not afraid to risk it, I'll have the boys fix up the sleigh. A couple of 'em can ride with you, and you'll be pretty safe even if the weather changes."
    She gave him an angry look. Her voice held hurt as she turned away for her things. "Tell her I'll be there as soon as the sleigh can make it." She closed the door.
    "Should have known better," Kirby said. "She loves Jen like a daughter." He walloped the black gelding with the end of the reins, and they loped from the yard, muddy snow flying. But they need not have hurried. Nor did Maria, who arrived in a remarkably short time, considering that the only trail consisted of tracks broken by their horses earlier.
    Doc Williams' face was drawn and grave when they reached the white cottage. "She's in a coma," he told them. "There's nothing I can do now. Not much anyone can do but wait."
    He led them into the room where Jen lay in a stupor. Kirby felt terror strike through him as he took in her white, sunken cheeks and tired, shallow breathing. He winced when she occasionally gasped for breath, the cruel sound cutting him like a knife. Only her hair, falling like a shaft of evening sunlight on the pillow, held the brightness of the Jen he loved.
    Maria came into the room as he was standing there. "Can't you do something, Maria?" he begged, turning to her blindly as he had so often when a little boy. "You must do something." He begged for the relief her swift sure hands had always brought from pain and sickness.
    "You go now, boy," she answered gently. "Maria and Doc will try to make her well. We'll call you if there is a change."
    He joined Josh in the diminutive living room. In only a few moments the confinement of the tiny parlor began nagging at his nerves. Then Doc came into the room. "I don't look for any change for hours," he said. "Why don't you boys go on over to the Nugget? It's the only place open, I reckon. I'll send for you if there's the slightest change; at least you'll have room to stretch your legs."
    Josh spoke for the first time since entering the cottage. Typically, he was blunt and to the point, asking the question Kirby had been afraid to venture. "Is she going to pull through, Doc?" His lips were white as he awaited the answer, and Kirby held his breath.
    "I don't know," came the slow reply. "I never know about pneumonia; no doctor does. Maybe some day medical science will hold the answer." He sighed. "She has a chance, because she's in the hands of the greatest healer of all. He sometimes succeeds where I fail." There were tears in his tired eyes. "That's all I can say now."
    Oddly enough, it was Kirby who comforted the doctor. "Together you'll pull her through, Doc," he said. "He'll be working on your side." He patted the doc's shoulder. "We'll be at the Nugget.