“Got him, did you, Adrian?” he called out, in more or less exultation; for he had been sorely badgered of late by these fellows who had the backing of Mrs. Fred, and really snapped their fingers at his authority.
“Help! Mr. Comstock, get a tourniquet on, and stop this bleeding or I’m a goner! Oh! quick, sir! Don’t let me go under in this way like a dog! I was a fool to turn against you just because she blarneyed me. Save me first, and punish me afterwards!” was what the fellow called out, the pain
of his wound causing him to show actual terror, and bringing out the yellow streak in his makeup.
The stockman, seeing that the second stack had not as yet been fired, did take hold, and with a few dextrous twists of a stout handkerchief put a temporary stop to the loss of blood.
“You deserve all you’ve got, and more too, Burke,” he said sternly; “but I’m going to give you one more chance after all this row is done with. Perhaps this may be a lesson that’ll be the turning point of your life, because you used to have some good points about you. Adrian, will you stay here, keeping out of sight all that’s possible, and aiming to hit every time you see any one creeping around this field?”
“What will you be doing, Uncle Fred?”
“First of all,” called back Mr. Comstock, “I’ll take this young fool to the bunk house, fix his arm, and then leave him under charge of Charley Moo. It reduces the snakes to three; and my next job will be to take hold of the rest of the bunch, unless they skip out on seeing what’s happened to Burke here.”
Adrian was satisfied with the way things seemed to be progressing. What if one stack of the precious hay had gone up in smoke, there was more than enough left for their purposes; and present necessities ruled the hour just then.
He patrolled his post, keeping out of sight as much as possible. All the while he was listening to catch any strange sounds coming from the vicinity of the corrals or the bunk house. He wondered how Mr. Comstock would come out when he started to make prisoners of the other three treacherous ones; and whether in so doing he might not come in contact with his wife, who would be apt to side with the men, and try to overthrow the authority of the ex-manager.
But Adrian believed Uncle Fred had determined to make one great fight for his manliness, and would refuse to do what his strong-minded wife said, even though she threatened him with the anger of her whole tribe of relations, those lawless Walkers of whom the entire country was ringing.