“I’ll say so. In the side—internal injuries. Outa his head when I was there this mo’ning.”
“What does the doctor say?”
“He ain’t seen him yet. On the way up now. I ’phoned down from Meagher’s ranch. He’d ought to pass here soon.”
“But why didn’t they get the doctor sooner? What were they thinking about?” she cried.
“Nobody with him but Don Black. He couldn’t leave him alone, he claims. Lucky I dropped in when I did.”
Impulsively Betty made up her mind. “I’m going to him. You’ll have to take me, Billy.”
“You!” exclaimed the ranger. “What’s the big idea, Betty?”
“Dad’s gone to Denver to the stock show. I’m going to look after him. That’s what Dad would want if he were here. Some one’s got to nurse him. What other woman can go in on snowshoes and do it?”
“Does he have to have a woman nurse? Can’t Mr. Merrick send a man up there to look after him?”
“Don’t argue, Billy boy,” she told him. “You see how it is. They don’t even get a doctor to him for fifteen or sixteen hours. By this time he may be—” She stopped and bit her lip to check a sudden swell of emotion that choked up her throat.