Chapter 4

CAST:

Alice Hightower—Annie's mother

Annie Hightower—Heroine

Arthur Harrison—neighboring rancher

Bill Akers—cowboy friend of Jack

Bill Smith—Jake Blade alias

Jack Highsmith—Annie's alias when posing as a man

Jake Blade—murderer of Annie's father

James Hightower—Annie's father

John Horner—Jake Blade alias

Ma Jenkins—local healer and self-taught doctor

It was something of a struggle and very painful to set Bill's broken leg, but they finally managed. The break in Bill's right leg was not going to support him as he tried to climb into Jack's saddle. Jack had to do a lot of the work, but Bill finally got into place. Jack mounted behind him, and they were both so slim that they could fit into the saddle. Jack had to be careful not to lean forward so that Bill would not feel those two breasts poking into his back; it was a special concern because the nipples were hard as rocks.

Bill had been heading to his uncle's ranch to spend a few days, and he had taken a shortcut that he had used for years. But, this time, his horse had shied at a snake and had fallen, breaking his leg in the process. The horse had dumped Bill, resulting in his broken leg. Bill had shot the horse and the rattlesnake, but he had nearly used up his ammunition in calling for help. He'd had only three bullets left by the time Jack showed up.

It took three hours to get to the ranch, and Bill's uncle, Sam Akers, refused to hear of Jack not staying the night. Helen Akers, Sam's wife, put Bill to bed and had him dosed with laudanum to get the pain under control so that he could sleep.

The next morning, Jack and Sam took another horse and went to the scene of Bill's accident to salvage his stuff that had to be left the day before. This took most of the day, so Jack stayed at the ranch for another night. What with one thing and another, Jack spent two weeks at the ranch, all for what seemed like very good reasons at the time. Anyway, by the time Jack was ready to leave, there was no point in rushing off because Jake Blade had such a lead that he was probably in Eagle Pass by now.

Bill, Sam, and Helen all were after Jack to stay and relax. They didn't know why, but they could tell that Jack was pulled as tight as a violin string. They believed that if Jack didn't relax his inner tensions, he was a good candidate for apoplexy, which, at the time, was used to describe almost any nervous disorder. Jack had not felt this much at ease in years, so he was glad to accept the hospitality. Finally, he even told them about his quest to find Jake Blade and why he was doing it. The only thing he didn't tell them was that he was actually a woman in disguise.

Bill was "between jobs" at the time, so he insisted that he was going to join Jack on the quest. Bill would have died that day if Jack had not found him, so Bill felt a strong obligation to do whatever he could to repay Jack. Jack conceded that he really did need backup, there had been too many times when he had nearly died because he had not had anyone to watch his back. It was agreed that Jack would wait for Bill's leg to mend, then the two of them would take up the chase after Jake Blade.

Once he could get out of bed, Bill spent a lot of time sitting on the front veranda and Jack joined him for long conversations. They got to know each other quite well, and the Annie portion of Jack found that she was developing quite an affection for Bill. Jack still did not tell Bill about Annie for fear that he would be driven off, because Annie/Jack had no intention of giving up the hunt for Jake Blade.

It was 12 weeks since Bill's accident, and he was finally able to ride without discomfort. Bill was using a .45 Colt and a companion Henry rifle, but he resolved to switch to a Schofield as soon as he could find one. He was impressed at how fast Jack could reload and immediately saw the advantage in that.

They set out for Eagle Pass on Jake Blade's trail, and they stopped for the night in small town hotels on the way. That way, Jack did not have so much chance for Bill to discover his secret identity. Since Jack still had plenty of money, there was no problem in having separate rooms for the two traveling companions.

They eventually reached Eagle Pass and started asking around for Jake Blade. Nobody had seen anyone by that name, but there had been a man in town who fit the description. It had been a while, so nobody could remember the man's name, but he had worked fer a land speculator for a while before moving on.

They found the land speculator, and believed him to be one of those very rare individuals—an honest speculator. He said that he had fired Blade for being too rough on people; the speculator had wanted a bodyguard, not somebody who habitually mistreated contacts. When last seen, Blade had crossed over the river into Mexico, so they followed.

They were about three weeks behind Blade, so they didn't know how much chance they had of catching up to him anytime soon. No matter, they were committed to the chase, so into Mexico they went. They followed Jack's usual practice of visiting every cantina they came to, so they put Bill's ready command of Spanish to a practical use. They had visited five towns before they got a concrete lead. Blade was in town!

Word was that he was a habitual customer at a certain cantina on the other side of town, so they made for it, determined to catch Blade if he was there. The cantina was poorly lit, as was the usual practice, so a look through the door was not very productive. Thus, Bill went in first to check out the current patrons while Jack waited just outside the front door. Bill looked around and didn't see Blade, so he waved Jack to come on in.

Jack had taken only four steps through the door when there was the CRACK! of a pistol shot and Jack fell to the floor. Bill looked around for the source of the shot and saw a puff of powder smoke at the door of a room toward the back of the cantina. He got just a glimpse of Jake Blade's face as he ducked back into the room.

Bill's choice was to chase after Blade or to try to help Jack, and he chose to help his friend. Bill ran the few steps to where Jack was lying and found that he was not seriously wounded, but he did have a wound on his inner thigh that was bleeding freely. There was no doctor in town, but there was a woman who served as midwife and wound patcher, so she was summoned. The bartender directed Bill, after receiving a silver peso, to a room near where Jack Blade had been visiting one of the cantina whores.

The whore had run out of the room, shouting that Blade had gone out the window, and had taken with him the money he had paid her and she had put on the bedside table. The bartender was angry with the whore for losing the money, but it was too late to do anything about it, now.

Bill carried Jack into the indicated room and laid him on the bed. He kicked the door closed to keep out the curious and did what he could to help Jack while he was waiting for the healer to get there. He removed Jack's boots and unfastened Jack's belt and fly in preparation for removing his pants so that the wound could be treated without having to cut off the pants leg. That's when Bill got the surprise of his life! Jack Highsmith was a WOMAN!?!

Well, whatever the situation, that wound had to be treated. Bill slipped Jack's pants off and turned to examine the wound just as the healer showed up. Bill explained what he knew of the wound, and the healer took over. She sent Bill for a pan of warm water and some cloths to clean the wound and some whiskey to do the final cleaning. She had her wound kit with her, so that she could sew up the wound once she was finished cleaning it.

She, too, was surprised to see a woman dressed as a man, since the priest of the local Catholic church would have gone ballistic if he had know about it (after all, that was the excuse for burning Joan of Arc at the stake). She did not let her surprise and disapproval get in the way of treating the wound, though. The healer did a very professional job, and Jack was soon repaired to the state of the art at the time. The job was actually better than most male doctors would have or could have done at the time.