At ten o'clock Doc Taylor returned to the Hat Ranch and found the condition of his patient unchanged. He was still unconscious and his loud, stertorous breathing, coupled with the ghastly exhaust of air through the hole on his breast, testified to the seriousness of his condition. Throughout the night Donna sat by the bedside watching him, while the doctor remained in the kitchen with Mr. Hennage.
Toward morning Bob McGraw opened his eyes and looked at Donna very wonderingly. Then his glance wandered around the room and back to the girl. He was plainly puzzled.
“Where's my horse,” he whispered, “and my spurs and my gun and hat?”
Donna bent over him and placed two cool fingers on his lips.
“The hemorrhage has stopped,” she warned him, “and you mustn't speak or move, or you may bring it on again.”
“I remember—now. I fired—low—and he—got me. Where's Friar Tuck?”
“Your horse? He's in the corral at San Pasqual, and your gun is in the kitchen with your spurs, and your hat—why, I guess I forgot to bring your hat with me. But don't worry about it. I'm Donna Corblay of the Hat Ranch, and I'll give you your choice of a hundred hats if you'll only get well.”
“Are you—the—girl—that kissed me?”
Donna's voice was very low, her face was very close to his as she answered him. His lean brown hand stole confidingly into hers—for a long time he was silent, content to lie there and know that she was near him.
Presently he looked up at her again, with the same dominating, wistful entreaty in his brown eyes. She lowered her head until her cheek rested against his, and his arm went upward and around her neck.