CHAPTER XVI
TOM DOES A MARATHON
That Jimmy Adams survived the operation of probing to which he was subjected by Li Yow was to Tom Johnson evidence of an almost miraculous skill on the part of the Chinese doctor. Tom knew very little of operations. His life had been a normal one and the grisly sight which he was called upon to witness would have altogether unmanned him had it not been for Mrs. Van’s timely nip. As it was, he came out of the room extremely depressed.
Depression was a mood which in Tom Johnson usually led to action. In this case his first move was to visit Cochise. It did not brighten his outlook upon life. Cochise was in no state to travel, that was evident. He was tired and stiff and his back showed signs of soreness. Rest was undoubtedly what his case demanded.
“If you was a society dame, your doctor would send you to Miami for a month and say cut out all mental strain,” soliloquized the engineer, bathing the back gently. “Being as you’re a horse, the best we can do is to turn you out to pasture for a while. Well, I’m no fancy rider, God knows, but nobody can say I ever give a horse a sore back. That blanket was pretty nigh off your tail when he brought you in. Any white man would have stopped and fixed it.”
He sauntered back to his cabin and sat down to think. Tom was tall, over six feet, and very thin. His skin was brown and his straight black hair which he wore rather long, not because he liked it, but because he disliked the Conejo barber, gave him rather an Indian look. His clothes hung loosely on him, lending very little to his personal charm, and when he sat he usually sat on his spine, a practice deplored by beauty doctors. When O’Grady came along a few minutes later, he was deep in thought.
“Say, what do you think of this here business over at Casa Grande?” demanded the latter persistently. “Think the Doc’s lyin’?”
“Why should he? Besides, he was scared. He most put old Cochise out of commission. He saw something all right.”
“Think it was Pachuca?”
“No. Why should Pachuca come back after he’d cleaned ’em out once?”