"Brandy!" he called. "Any one got brandy?"
"Here," said Pete Tompkins, stepping forward; "here's a flask."
"With shaking hand, John Clayton tried to staunch the wound in Kenneth's shoulder. Then he put brandy between his lips, then between Esther's. She was like ice.
"The brute!" he exclaimed. "I fear he has killed her!"
Then he pulled off his coat and wrapped it about the girl, saying as he did so:
"If she is not dead, the warmth may do her good. Some one ride ahead and prepare Mrs. Clayton."
"I'll go, sir," said a Scotch miner, mounting one of the ponies.
"Thank you. Tell Mrs. Clayton that Miss Bright and Mr. Hastings have met with an accident, and both are unconscious. Tell her to have hot water and blankets ready."
"Come, John," he said, turning to Jack Harding. "Just help me lift Miss Bright to my saddle." Mechanically the cowboy obeyed.
"Can one of you fellows carry Hastings on his horse?"