Chapter 3

Well, that's 3 down and 6 to go, counting the big boss. I was almost ready to take the marshal up on his offer to make me a deputy, but that could cramp my style, especially as a bounty hunter. Oh, well, everything gets complicated after a while. Besides, I like the idea of being a doctor, and, over the long haul, that's what I'd like to do with my life. I don't want to do anything to mess that up!

This was a Monday and wash day, so I was dressed in my usual clothes for housework and hard at work in the back yard washing clothes. I especially wanted to get any traces of blood out of my white things, so I was concentrating on that when I heard a buckboard arrive at my front door. I went through the house and out the front door to find a man struggling to help another man get from the buckboard bed to my surgery. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"I don't know, Ma'am. Jed, here, has an awful pain in his gut. Is the doctor around?"

"I'm the only doctor for 30 miles. Do you want me to look at him?"

"I guess he ain't got no choice. I was barely able ta git him this far."

"Let me help you to get him to the examining room. Jed, put your arm over my shoulder and put some weight on me. I won't break." We managed to get the poor man up on the examining/operating table before he fainted. I did a quick examination and concluded that he had a badly inflamed appendix. I said, "Jed has a badly inflamed appendix, and he will die if I don't take it out. Do you want me to do that?"

"Ma'am, I'm jus' the foreman at his ranch. I don't know what ta tell ya."

"Well, we have to act right now to save his life. We can't wait fer him to wake up so I can ask him what he wants done. I'll assume that he wouldn't have come here if he didn't want me to do whatever was necessary. This job takes more than two hands. I'll need for you to help me."

"Ma'am, I don't know nothin' 'bout doctorin'. How kin I be any he'p?"

"All you have to do is do exactly what I tell you when I tell you. You can do that, can't you?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"OK, the first thing we have to do is wash our hands. We don't want to get any dirt and other stuff into his body. Come with me to the kitchen. Say, what's your name, anyway. I can't keep saying 'Hey, there' when I want your attention. My name is Dr. Horton."

"How do, Ma'am? I'm John Aikens."

"Well, Mr. Aikens, the first thing I need you to do is get me some more fire wood for the stove. We need to boil some more water. Here's the stuff you will need to get the water to heating. Boil as much water as you can in that pot and those two kettles. While you are doing that, I'll start preparing Jed for the operation. Come back to the surgery to help me as soon as you can."

I left Aikens in the kitchen and went back to work on my patient. I began removing his clothes as carefully as I could, since clothing was too valuable to be wasted by cutting or tearing it. I hurried to get Jed's boots and pants off before Aikens came back, since he would surely be embarrassed if he saw Jed naked in front of a woman, even if she was a doctor. Once I had him naked, I covered him from his waist to his feet with one sheet and from his shoulders to the bottom of his ribs with another. I could easily push either sheet out of the way as I needed to during the course of the operation.

Aikens had not come in from the kitchen, yet, so I went in to see what was delaying him. The first of the kettles was just beginning to boil, so I got out two pans for us to use to wash our hands. Aikens was nervous and excited, but I got him to wash up properly and we went back into the surgery with some hot water to wash off Jed's belly where I had to cut. Once that was done, I showed Aikens how to administer the chloroform; that was to be his job during the operation.

I laid everything out where it would be easy to reach and made my first cut. I couldn't help smiling behind my mask as Aikens looked like he was about to pass out when the blood began to flow.

Forty-five minutes later, I sewed up my first cut and got ready to let Jed wake up. I had some willow-bark tea ready for him to drink, hoping that he would not need more morphine beyond what I had already administered. I was hoping to spare Jed the addiction to morphine that was so common after an operation.

I had saved the inflamed appendix to show to Jed in case he wanted to see what had caused him so much pain, but I wasn't going to recommend that he keep it for a souvenir. We got Jed transferred to a bed and Aikens stayed with him while I cleaned up after the operation. I planned to have Jed's wife move in to nurse Jed until he could be sent home. The operation had gone so well with no complications that I thought that the $30 I planned to charge for it was a bargain for both sides.

Jed's wife, Sue, showed up a few hours later and immediately took over nursing duties. Aikens had fetched her and had returned to supervise the ranch in Jed's absence. I was inconvenienced by the fact that I was prevented from becoming Jake Esposito until my guests were shipped from my home. Jed was sent home on Wednesday, traveling very slowly and very carefully on a well padded buckboard bed. I had only one patient that afternoon, a little girl with a bellyache, which turned out to come from too many green apples-a dose of castor oil fixed that! At last, I was free to become Jake Esposito, again, and resume my hunt for those damyankees that I hated so much.

I changed clothes and arrived at the first saloon. I surveyed the situation before entering. I was invited to join a poker game among my friends from a few days before, so, beer in hand, I sat in for a little while. After about an hour of poker, I excused myself and moved to the bar. I was standing at the bar talking to the bartender about the new doctor in town when one of Archy's friends walked into the saloon. He recognized me immediately and wheeled around to leave. I suspected trouble, nay, I hoped for trouble.

I got a terrible itch to see what was going to happen, so I excused myself and went out the door. As soon as I exited the saloon, I had a feeling that I was being watched. I ducked into a shadow and waited a moment as I saw the marshal walking toward me. He stopped and said, "Watch out, Jake. It looks ta me like a few of Archy's friends are setting up an ambush. I can't do nothin' 'bout it 'til the trouble actually starts, but I'll back ya ifen it does."

"Thanks, Marshal. I don't 'spect trouble 'til I git ta the alley. I think I see some galoot across the street standin' in the shadows an' there may be one or more in the alley, too. I'll bet they make their play, then."

The marshal nodded and went into the saloon. My eyes had now adjusted to the dark, so I was ready to face whatever fate had in store. I could now see clearly the galoot across the street, and I kept an eye on him as I walked toward the alley.

I stepped into a deep shadow where it was as black as the depths of a cave at midnight. I knew that I couldn't be seen, so I took the opportunity to draw my LeMat and move it to full cock, set for regular bullets. I could flip it over to the shotgun setting if I needed to, but I wanted to save that for an emergency. I had eight .40 caliber bullets ready to shoot, so I was full of confidence.

I approached the alley entrance at a normal walking pace. Just when my last step would have put me into the alley opening, I dove forward to the ground. When I did, 3 pistols went off: 2 from the alley and 1 from the man across the street. All three bullets crossed above my head; had I not dived to the ground, all three bullets would have hit me in the chest.