"Now," said Hugh, "I'm going to look you over and see if you're much hurted." A quick, rough examination showed Hugh that, except for marks around Jack's body where the ropes had pulled, and a long, deep scratch on his leg and foot, he was quite sound. Hugh took some sheep tallow, and melting it in the frying-pan, applied it warm to these scars; and then, telling Jack to lie still, went down to the stream again and brought back his rifle and clothes. Then he sat by him and talked to him, telling stories of the Musselshell country, and the Indian fights that had taken place there, until darkness fell, and the boy dropped asleep.
CHAPTER XII. RESTING UP.
When Jack awoke next morning and tried to move he was unable to do so. For a moment he could not think what had happened; then suddenly the events of the day before flashed back into his memory. Hugh, who had been sitting by the fire, saw the blankets stir and walked over near to him.
"Well, son," he said, "how do you feel this morning? Pretty stiff and sore I reckon, ain't you?"
"Yes, indeed, Hugh, I am sore all over. I don't feel as if I could move; but except for that I am all right."
"Well," said Hugh, "lie still awhile till I make breakfast, and then we'll kind o' prop you up, and see whether you are off your feed or not."
Hugh went back to the fire and Jack could hear him walking about it and rattling the dishes. He wanted to get up and do his part, too, but he could not bend one of his joints without its hurting. By-and-by he managed very slowly to turn his whole body, so that he lay on his side and could look at the fire, and watch Hugh cooking the meat and waiting for the coffee to boil, and then taking the pot off the coals and setting it in a warm place, and finally clearing it by dashing a cupful of water into it. Then, when all was ready, Hugh brought the pack saddles close to Jack's bed, piled them up firmly so as to make a back, and then approaching Jack, put his arm under his shoulders, lifted him partly from the ground, and drew the whole bed over until the boy's back rested against the pack saddles, made soft by the piling against them of a number of blankets. Hugh did this so very slowly and gently that the bending of Jack's body at the thighs scarcely hurt him at all.
"There," said Hugh, "did it hurt you much? I reckon you'll feel better right off, now that you can sit up and look around; and now if you'll eat a good breakfast I think I can take and rub some of the soreness out of you pretty quick, as soon as it gets a little warmer."