Mail Order Bride: Westward Dance (3 page)

The mystery of what was in the trees
was solved. A pack of wild dogs streamed towards the herd. They
were big, all but one, a little mutt of indeterminate breed who
looked to be about fifteen pounds. The rest were everything from
collies to German shepherds and there were around twelve from what
Seth could tell.

Wolves, coyotes, and cougars were bad
enough, but wild dogs could be just as vicious and weren’t afraid
to come out in the daytime. It made them more dangerous in that
respect. Jasper left the herd and met what seemed to be the leader.
It was a large husky mix that had at least twenty pounds on the
Border collie. That didn’t bother Jasper, however. He had speed and
surprise on his side.

He blindsided the husky, knocking him
off his feet. Jasper took advantage of the situation and began
attacking the husky in earnest. His intent was not to merely
injure, but to kill. The husky regained his senses and began
fighting back. Seth raised his rifle and drew a bead on the husky.
He whistled a command to Jasper and the cattle dog obeyed despite
being in the midst of battle.

Jasper began running towards Seth,
creating daylight between the husky and him. Seth aimed and shot
quickly, knowing that if the husky caught Jasper, eventually the
bigger dog would overpower him. The husky went down with a loud cry
of pain and then lay still. Seth turned his attention
elsewhere.

The next thing he knew, the little mutt
was jumping around Hank’s legs, nipping at them. Jasper saw the
other dog and made a beeline for him. The little mutt was more
interested in playing than fighting and started leading Jasper
around and under Hank who began side stepping and
bucking.

“Hey, get out of here Jasper!” Seth
yelled.

Another one of the wild dogs joined the
free-for-all and it was too much for Hank. He crow-hopped and when
the wild dog got ahold of his right front leg, Hank reared. Hank
went higher and higher and his rear feet began sliding on the
loose, dusty ground. Seth knew he was going over and tried to jump
clear, but yet another dog arrived and latched onto a stirrup,
preventing Seth from getting his boot out in time.

Hank fell over backwards, half-pinning
Seth under him. Seth felt horrible cracking sensations in his right
leg and along the same side of his chest. Pain exploded within him
and he cried out. Fortunately, the fall had jostled Seth’s foot
free so that when Hank began getting up, the horse didn’t drag him
from where he lay.

The next thing he knew, Marty was
kneeling next to him. “Boss! Boss? You ok?”

“No! But don’t worry about me. Kill
those dogs and keep the herd together and safe. I’ll be fine until
you do that,” Seth said.

“But-“

Seth cut him off. “Do what I’m tellin’
you, Marty! Now!”

“All right, all right,” Marty said and
went to carry out Seth’s orders.

Jasper and the little mutt stayed with
Seth, sensing that he was weak and in need of protection. One dog
came near them and the mutt surprised Seth by going after it.
Jasper followed suit and together they warded it off. Hank also
stayed near Seth, sniffing and nudging his master as if to
apologize for hurting him.

Seth had trouble staying conscious, but
fought the blackness that tried to claim him. Using Jasper as
support, Seth succeeded in propping himself up on his left elbow.
He watched Ray and Marty shoot more of the dogs. As their numbers
dwindled, the rest gave up and disappeared back into the
trees.

Some of the herd were scattered and
Seth knew that they needed to gather them again. He called Jasper
to him and pointed at the herd. “Bring ‘em on! Bring ‘em on!” he
commanded. It was the order to bring the herd together
again.

Jasper whined, reluctant to leave Seth.
“Jasper, bring ‘em on!” he repeated.

The collie gave one more whimper of
reluctance and then he left to do his job. Once Jasper joined in,
it was easier gather the herd. The mutt stayed close to Seth the
whole time, licking his face off and on. Seth was glad in a way
because even though the little stinker had helped cause his
accident, he was keeping Seth conscious.

Seth had no idea with what breeds the
small dog was mixed. He was black and gray, and quite filthy. He
had long hair and looked like a mop. Marty came back and the
mongrel moved out of the way but then came back to see what was
going on.

“Boss, where’re you hurt?” Marty’s dark
eyes roved over Seth. His right leg was bent at a strange angle.
“Looks like you got a busted leg.”

“No kidding. We gotta set it quick. I
think my collar bone is cracked, too. Damn! We gotta get this herd
home,” Seth said through gritted teeth.

Ray road over and dismounted. “I got
Jasper keeping the herd together. Oh, man! Look at that
leg!”

“C’mon and help me set it, Ray. You get
Seth sitting up against you. You got whiskey in your saddle
bag?”

Ray said, “You ever known me not
to?”

Marty laughed and fetched the alcohol
and gave a healthy dose of it to Seth. Seth took another big swig
and waited a couple of minutes while the booze took effect. Ray got
him sat up. The world tilted beneath Seth and he shook his head to
keep awake. The fog began to fade and Marty finished examining his
leg.

“It’s broken in two places from what I
can tell. You’re gonna have to hold really still, Seth,” Marty
said.

Seth gulped down more of the whiskey
and said, “Ok. Do it.”

Ray handed him his belt and Seth put it
between his teeth and bit down on it. Marty gently began
manipulating Seth’s leg. He concentrated on the break in Seth’s
femur first, knowing that it was going to be the most difficult to
set. Marty had experience in setting breaks and tending wounds and
Seth trusted him.

He groaned and bore down on the belt as
Marty worked on the leg. There were times when Seth almost passed
out, but Ray talked to him and the little dog bounced around and
nudged his hand. It distracted Seth a little from the pain and
petting the dog seemed to relax him. Marty let Seth rest a little
when the femur was done. It was a bad break and Marty had doubts
about how it was going to heal.

Seth drank some more and got ready for
the calf fracture to be set. Marty made quick work of it and Seth
sank heavily back against Ray when it was over. There wasn’t much
to be done about his collar bone. Marty made a sling out of an
extra shirt he had with him. He cut down saplings of an appropriate
size and fashioned them into splints for Seth’s leg. He lashed it
all together tightly to keep his leg immobilized.

Seth noticed how the light was changing
and knew that sundown wasn’t far away. They had about two hours
before nightfall. “We best make camp for the night. We’re gonna
need a lot of firewood so we can protect that herd. We don’t need
any of those dogs coming back around.”

Ray nodded. He’d already unsaddled Hank
and propped Seth against the saddle. “Are you gonna be all right if
I go get wood?”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine. I have my furry
little friend here. Best spell Jasper. He’s going to need to rest
so he can help overnight. We should have brought Belle with us,
too,” Seth said referring to one of their other more experienced
cattle dogs.

“Well, we can’t worry about that now.
I’ll keep an eye on the herd while Ray gets wood. And I’ll try to
figure out how we’re going to get you home. There’s no way you’re
going to be able to ride home.”

Seth swore as Marty rode off again. He
began working on the problem. Marty was right, they weren’t going
to be able to get him up on the horse and even if they did, he
couldn’t ride a hundred miles in his present condition. If it was
just the collarbone, he could have done it, but the leg was a
different story.

He petted the little dog as he mulled
over the problem. It was a responsive and amusing pooch. At one
point, he assumed that Seth wanted to play and grabbed up a stick
and brought it to Seth. He dropped it and backed up waiting for
Seth to throw it. His little stub tail never moved as he focused on
the stick.

Amused, Seth picked it up and threw it.
The action jerked his collarbone and Seth sucked in a breath as a
burning pain spread through his shoulder. The dog was back and
dropped the stick again.

“Sorry, buddy, but I just can’t play
right now. I guess you’re not going anywhere. How’d you get mixed
up with those other dogs?” he said.

Under the matted, curly hair, Seth
could barely see the dog’s eyes, but they were bright. In response,
the dog held up a paw for Seth to shake. Seth did, thinking that
this dog had belonged to someone at one time. It wouldn’t have
known how to fetch or shake otherwise.

“Sit!”

It sat.

“Speak!”

It woofed at him. Seth laughed and it
licked his face.

“Ok, you can stay. We have to think of
something to call you,” Seth said. He shifted slightly and his leg
objected vehemently.

Ray came back with tinder and firewood
and set about making a fire. “Boss, I think I figured out a way of
getting you close enough to home so that we can go get the wagon to
take you the rest of the way.”

Seth perked up. “Ok. What is
it?”

Dean was playing with Mikey out on the
lawn when Ray galloped up to the house three days later. His mare
was foamed up from the exertion of running for miles. Dean grabbed
his two year old son and went to see what was going on. Pushing a
horse that hard always meant some kind of emergency had taken
place.

“Ray, what’s going on?” Dean
asked.

Ray dismounted and said, “It’s your
brother. We were attacked by a pack of wild dogs about three days’
ride from here. The herd is fine. We fought them off. Just a couple
of minor injuries to a couple of the steer and Jasper, but Hank
flipped over on Seth and broke his leg and collarbone. He’s not
doing good.”

Dean remained calm even though fear for
his brother gripped him. “Where is he?”

“About twenty miles down the trail,”
Ray said as he followed Dean into the house.

“Sadie! Tessa!” Dean
shouted.

Tessa came out of their room and Sadie
came from upstairs.

“What is it, Dean?” Tessa could tell
something was very wrong from the tone of his voice.

“Seth has been hurt out on the trail. I
have to go get him with the wagon. Can you ride into town and get
Doc Turner and bring him here?” Dean said.

Tessa nodded as Dean handed Mikey to
Sadie. “You watch your brothers.”

“Ok, Pa.”

He turned back to Ray. “Give your horse
to Tessa. She can cool her down and get her put away while we hitch
up Buster and Nugget. We’ll have to stop and get Marcus on the
way.”

“Uncle Marcus is in the paddock,” Sadie
said.

“Good,” Dean headed in that direction,
leaving Tessa and Ray to follow. “Marcus!” he shouted and waved at
his younger brother.

Marcus rode the horse he was training
over to the fence. “What?”

“Seth was hurt on the way home. We’re
gonna get the wagon ready and go after him. Ray says they’re about
twenty miles or so away,” Dean told him.

“It’s a good thing it’s early in the
day. We might be able to get him home by tonight,” Marcus said as
he dismounted.

Ray said, “Not sure of that. We’ve had
to travel real slow because the ruts and bumps really hurt him.
He’s passed out on us a couple of times.”

Dean’s jaw worked as he considered a
few options. “Let’s get ready.”

“I’ll take care of the horse,” Ray
said.

“Thanks,” Marcus said and followed
Dean.

Tessa was already in the barn, saddling
a gelding named Falcon. Dean instinctively wanted to finish
saddling him for her, but knew that if he tried, his wife would
become angry. Tessa was very independent and felt that she needed
to know do these sorts things herself in case he wasn’t
around.

Besides, he knew there was no time to
waste arguing. “Good thing Buster and Nugget are fresh. We should
put some hay in here and cover it with blankets. It’ll cushion the
ride back for him,” Dean said.

“Good idea,” Marcus said. He grabbed a
pitchfork and began hefting hay into the buckboard
wagon.

Dean went out to the pasture fence and
whistled loudly. After a few moments, rumbling hoof beats sounded
and the two large draft horses came into view. Nugget nipped
playfully at Buster’s rump as they ran. Buster just ignored the
younger horse and continued to the pasture gate. Dean opened the
gate and let them through. He grabbed Nugget’s halter but didn’t
bother with Buster’s because Buster was reliable about going to the
barn by himself. Nugget, however, was more apt to take a tour
around the property.

Tessa had finished saddling up and gave
Dean a quick kiss before she mounted and urged her horse into a
fast canter. Dr. Turner’s place was about ten miles away and she
wanted to have him back before the men arrived with Seth. If he was
in the middle of seeing other patients, it might be a while before
he could leave to come with her. Speed was of the utmost
importance.