The lad stepped forward, his hand outstretched.
“We do indeed need you,” he replied, his voice tense with emotion. Then turning to the older man he added, “Doctor Warren, this is Nurse Winona.”
The physician was deeply impressed with the quiet dignity of the really beautiful Indian girl. Like all others, who knew her, the good man at first could not have told why he thought her beautiful.
Before entering the house, the maid turned and said a few words in the Papago tongue, then little Red Feather, without a word of farewell, mounted his small horse and rode away.
Doctor Warren asked to be permitted to speak alone with the young nurse, and the boys withdrew to prepare a lunch for both the newcomer and the physician who had a long and hard ride ahead of him.
After asking about the training which Winona had received at the Red Cross Hospital, Doctor Warren said:
“Your remuneration will be the same that would be given a nurse from Red Riverton.”
Then it was that the older man knew why the Indian girl was beautiful. “It is a service of friendship that I came to offer,” she quietly replied. “Will you tell me what I am to do?”
An hour later the physician left feeling sure that his directions would be carried out to the letter. He had learned that an Indian maiden could not only be a sincere friend but also an intelligent nurse.
Before Doctor Warren departed he asked Harry to accompany him to the corral. As they walked together, the physician said: “From the conversation I have had with your nurse, I believe her to be very capable, and luckily, just before she left the East, she had the care of a little woman whose condition was the same as your mother’s and so we will trust her to use her own judgment whenever she wishes to do so.”