“That’s my job,” said Lize.
“Nonsense!” said Redfield. “You’re not fit to ride a mile. I won’t hear of your going.”
“You wait and see. I’m goin’, and you can’t stop me.”
“Who is the man with him?” asked the Forester.
“I don’t know. An old herder, he said. He said he could take care of him all right for the present, but that if he were taken down himself—”
Lee’s mounting emotion broke from her in a little cry. “Oh, Mr. Redfield, please let me go too! I want to help—I must help!”
Redfield said: “I’ll telephone to Sulphur City and ask Brooks to get a nurse, and come down as soon as possible. Meanwhile I’ll go out to see what the conditions are.”
“I’m going too, I tell you,” announced Lize. “I’ve had the cussed disease, and I’m not afraid of it. We had three sieges of it in my family. You get me up there, and I’ll do the rest.”
“But you are ill?”
“I was, but I’m not now.” Her voice was firmer than it had been for days. “All I needed was something to do. Ross Cavanagh has been like a son to me for two years; he’s the one man in this country I’d turn my hand over for—barrin’ yourself, Reddy—and it’s my job to see him through this pinch.”