'Just like Jim. He's the best fellow in the world,' said the doctor. 'We must see him through this. Why does not Machinson clear the whole lot out?'
'That's what I would like to know,' answered Doonan. 'It's not my place to interfere.'
'Something will have to be done soon,' said Dr Tom. 'The gang is a regular pest, and gets worse and worse every week.'
'You go to Barker's Creek sometimes, I think?' questioned the constable.
'Yes. I cannot refuse to attend a sick woman or child even amongst such a crowd, but I have told Abe Dalton I would not go near him or his men if they were dying.'
'You have plenty of pluck,' said Constable Doonan, admiringly.
Dr Tom waved his arm in a gesture of disdain as he replied,—
'There's not much pluck wanted to beard a fellow like Dalton. I'm going to Barker's Creek to-morrow to see a woman and her child. One of the ruffians came in here to-day to ask me. I gave him a bit of my mind, you may bet. I'll go, and if I see Abe Dalton, I'll tell him in the midst of his gang that if he harms Jim Dennis, or anything belonging to him, I'll make him suffer for it.'
'It will only make matters worse for Jim,' said Doonan.
'Nothing of the kind. Dalton knows as well as I do that I am the only man around here that can help him when there is sickness at Barker's Creek, and such men are terribly afraid of diseases and fevers. If an epidemic broke out at the Creek it would not be an unmitigated evil, but I would do my best for the women and children all the same. As for Dalton and his curs, they ought to die in a heap, like rabbits in a drought.'