drivers' whips, as they hobbled wearily on toward the setting sun.
"Yes," replied Captain Ranger, as he blanched with apprehension. "Our very lives depend upon the cattle; we have no other means of getting out of the wilderness. We must do something heroic to heal their feet, or we'll all be left to die together."
Scotty, whose serious accident had been overshadowed by the, death and burial of Mrs. Ranger, and who had grown weary of receiving only such attention as could be bestowed upon an invalid not considered dangerously afflicted, began to demand the careful nursing he at first pretended to disdain. The jolting of the wagon, in which he still lay upon a sort of swinging stretcher, though it alleviated the roughness of constant rebounds from the rocky roads, aggravated the inflammation of his wound; and the pain grew more intolerable as the bones beg^n to knit. His ravings of discontent were often hard for Mrs. Benson to endure. But she adhered resolutely to her purpose as her daughter's chaperon to prevent too frequent visits between the twain, and often kept Mrs. McAlpin away from his side for many hours together.
"Scotty has managed somehow to disarrange his bandages, Little Doctor," said Captain Ranger; "and badly as our cattle need attention, you will be obliged to look after his case this evening. I know how punctilious your mother is over what she is pleased to call the proprieties, but you must attend the fellow professionally, whether she consents or not."
"I do not want any more disagreeable encounters with my mother. Captain."
"Damn it! I beg your pardon, ma'am! But I 'm sure God swore in His wrath under less provocation,—if there is any truth in Holy Writ. These are no times for conventional hair-splittings. You are in duty bound to visit Scotty as^his physician. I will accompany you if it will help you out."
