person to manage. He was still turning the question
over in his mind when he received a shock which for the moment banished
every other thought.

The wagon was backed up to the porch, and the four punchers, each taking a
corner of the mattress, lifted Bemis out and carried him across the
living-room and through a door on the further side which Miss Thorne held
open. The room was light and airy, and Buck was conscious of a vague sense
of familiarity, which he set down to his rather brief acquaintance with
the place two years ago. But when Bemis had been undressed and put to bed
and his wound thoroughly cleansed with antiseptic and freshly bandaged,
Stratton, really looking about him for the first time, made an odd
discovery.

It was his own room! He remembered perfectly choosing it and moving in his
belongings the day before he left; and as he stared curiously around he
could not see that a single one of them had been touched. There were his
trunks just as they had come from Texas. His bureau stood between the
windows, and on it lay a pair of brushes and the few odds and ends he had
left there when he enlisted. A pair of chaps and a well-worn Stetson hung
near the door, and he had just stepped over to make sure they were
actually the ones he had left behind when Miss Thorne, who had been
talking in the living-room with Lynch, appeared suddenly on the
threshold.

As their glances met she drew herself up a little, and a curious
expression came into her eyes. Her lips parted impulsively, but when,
after a momentary hesitation, she spoke, Buck had an impression that
something quite different had been on the tip of her tongue an instant
before.

"He'd better have the doctor at once, don't you think?" she said briefly.

Buck nodded. "Yes, ma'am, he ought. I've done the best I could, and the
chances are he'll get along all right; but a regular doctor ought to look
him over as soon as possible."

"I thought so. I've just told Tex to send a man to town at once and wire
Dr. Blanchard, who lives about twelve miles up the line. It'll take him
three or four hours to ride over, but there's no one nearer."

"I wish you'd let me go," said Stratton impulsively. "I've got to return
the horse I borrowed and get blankets and some things I left at the store.
There's really nothing more I can do for Bemis by hanging around."

Her brows crinkled doubtfully. "Well, if you're sure--I suppose there's no
reason why you shouldn't. Tell Te