Chapter 8

King had insisted that Queen come along, so there was a real parade as they left to find Otto. Martha and Jane were in the wagon, John and two cowboys were riding horses, and the two dogs were leading the way. They traveled as fast as they could with them all staying together, so they were at the cutoff into the brush in less than an hour. King dashed ahead, leaving Queen to lead the humans to where Otto lay at the foot of the rock steps and within reach of the cougar that they had been hunting.

John examined Otto and found the broken arm and broken leg. Otto was still unconscious, so John was able to set both the arm and leg without causing Otto any additional pain. The 4 men carefully lifted Otto into the wagon on the mattress and blankets, and they made the slow trip home. One of the cowboys stayed behind to skin the Cougar; it was a magnificent animal and would make a handsome trophy. Meanwhile, another cowboy rode ahead to fetch the doctor.

They all met at the ranch house. Otto was put to bed, and the doctor examined him for any additional injuries. The doctor reported that Otto had been lucky to break only an arm and a leg, but he couldn't find anything else that needed treatment. He said that he was a little concerned that Otto was still unconscious, but he should wake up pretty soon. Meanwhile, the doctor had another patient he needed to check on while he was out this way, so he would leave Otto in his family's capable hands. The doctor said that he would be back in two days; they should use the left over laudanum for Otto's pain.

It was two more hours before Otto regained consciousness, but he was in a lot of pain, so he was dosed with the laudanum and left to sleep as much as he could. Everybody but Martha left his room so that Otto could rest.

While this was going on, Queen was diligently working on King's gashes with her tongue. She had long since gotten them clean, but both dogs were enjoying the companionship. The puppies were also trying to help, and had managed not to make matters worse, so far. Queen finally chased them off, and King was able to rest and sleep.

It was 10 miserable weeks before Otto was fully functional; he had hated every minute of his convalescence, and, unfortunately, let everybody know about it. The one thing that made it bearable for those around him was that Otto knew that he was bothering everybody else and apologized profusely every day for his transgressions; he just couldn't help fretting over his enforced idleness. The boredom was almost literally killing him.

At last, Otto was able to climb on a horse and ride around a little bit, much to the relief of everybody at the ranch. He and Martha made a short ride, but Martha was having a bit of a problem with her pregnancy, so the midwife had advised Martha to stay off her horse and away from wagons until after the baby came.

Finally, it happened. After carrying the baby for nearly 6 months, Martha miscarried. Martha was a tough woman, as they all had to be at that time, but it still took her a month to regain most of her physical and emotional strength. She was still depressed, so Otto suggested that they get away from the ranch for a while. He suggested that they visit his Mescalero friends. This would be a radical change of scenery and lifestyle for Martha and might be what she needed to return to her old self. Martha agreed, and they made preparations.

There was no practical way to send word ahead to Striking Snake and the family that they were coming. All they could do was just show up. They took along the cougar pelt as an offering to their hosts. The traveling group consisted of Otto, Martha, King, Queen, Arthur, and Amy. By then, the two puppies were well trained adolescents, and an asset to have around. There was no way an Indian was going to sneak up with 4 Great Danes to keep watch!

The traveling party had 4 horses and a pack mule, so they were bound to be a tempting target for any Indian who spotted them. The Bar S Bar was well out of Mescalero territory, so they knew that they were in danger from Chiricahuas, Navajoes, and the occasional Comanche, but the presence of the dogs made up for the lack of humans in the party. Unless they pushed hard, they would be over a week away from the relative safety of Mescalero territory, but they did not want to put too much pressure on the animals, so they moved at a more leisurely pace than they might otherwise have.

They ran into their first trouble after 3 days on the trip. The dogs had just returned to camp with 4 large rabbits for their supper. Otto and Martha had begun skinning and preparing the rabbits when King suddenly jumped up and ran off a few hundred feet. In only a moment, he was joined by the other 3 dogs and they appeared to be just short of attacking something invisible to the humans. Otto and Martha dropped what they were doing and picked up their rifles. Martha stayed behind to guard the camp while Otto joined the dogs.

There was a small group of javelinas (Collared Peccaries) rooting around among the brush clumps. Otto called off the dogs, since javelinas were nothing to fool around with. They were considerably smaller than the dogs, but could do tremendous damage in a fight; javelinas had been reputed to have killed humans, too, so they were to be avoided. Fortunately, javelinas are a live-and-let-live type, so they would probably be no trouble unless provoked.

Otto and the dogs returned to camp and resumed fixing supper. Otto did thank King for the alert, though. After supper, the dogs ringed themselves around the humans as they lay down to sleep. However, sometime during the night, they reverted to an old habit and lay down pushed up against the humans for warmth.

The next time the dogs reacted to potential intruders, the situation was entirely different. Just after they had eaten supper, a badly wounded Indian staggered into camp and collapsed near the fire. They did not recognize his tribe, but they did see the two bullet holes in his left shoulder and arm and the deep knife wound in his right side. Fortunately, the wound was a cut and not a stab, so it was possible to treat it with trail medicine.

The dogs accepted the wounded man without objection, apparently recognizing that anybody that badly wounded was no threat, but they formed their defensive ring around the camp and went to maximum alert. Otto and Martha began to treat the man's wounds without delay. They had his shirt off and the wounds washed with soap and water before the man said his first word. He said something in a language they could not understand, then turned to Spanish. "I am a Hopi. I am being chased by Navajoes. I must leave before they get here. They will kill you if they can."

Otto said, "Don't worry. We are your friends. We can defend ourselves. Let us treat your wounds." The Hopi fainted before Otto had finished speaking. Luckily for him, he stayed unconscious while Otto probed for the bullets and cleaned out the wounds. He finished by washing the wounds with whiskey before Martha sewed them up. All three wounds were flesh wounds, no broken bones, so they would be painful, but the Hopi should recover completely. During the night, the Indian passed from unconsciousness to simple sleep, and they were able to relax and get some sleep, themselves.

The next morning, Martha fed the Indian some broth made from the leftovers from supper. He tried to leave, at first, but couldn't even get up, he was so weak. Martha told him to go back to sleep; they would keep the lookout. The Hopi collapsed, and they heard no more from him until mid-afternoon when he needed to relieve himself. Otto helped him to walk a few feet out of the immediate camp while the dogs kept watch. The Indian was able to finish and get back to his blankets before he relapsed into a deep sleep, near unconsciousness. He woke up when he smelled supper cooking and was able to eat some more broth. He felt like talking and told his story.

"My name is Brown Horse. I was on a religious quest when I was jumped by 4 Navajoes. I managed to kill one as he cut me with his knife, but I knew that I would lose a stand up fight with the other 3, since I was already wounded. I turned and ran, and they shot at me. I was hit twice, but I was still able to run. I was ready to collapse when I saw your fire, so I ran toward it. I did not know if I would find friends or foes, but it did not make any difference to me by then, I was so tired. Thank you for taking me in and treating my wounds. As you can see, I have nothing, so I cannot repay you."