"I don't know," replied the other. "Fever. No one can tell. We found a doctor in one of the Iowa wagons. He don't know."
Woodhull sat silent for a time, exclaimed at last, "But she will--she must! This shames me! We'll be married yet."
"Better wait to see if she lives or dies," said Jesse Wingate succinctly.
"I know what I wish," said Caleb Price at last as he stared moodily at the coals, "and I know it mighty well--I wish the other wagons were up. Yes, and--"
He did not finish. A nod or so was all the answer he got. A general apprehension held them all.
"If Bridger hadn't gone on ahead, damn him!" exclaimed Kelsey at last.
"Or if Carson hadn't refused to come along, instead of going on east," assented Hall. "What made him so keen?"
[pg 236]
Kelsey spoke morosely.