indomitable spirit still triumphed over the physical collapse,
for as the foreman looked a faint smile touched the ashen lips.
It seemed to say: "Still in the ring, old man."



CHAPTER 8. IN THE LAZY D HOSPITAL

Helen's first swift glance showed that the wounded man was
Bannister. She turned in crisp command to her foreman.

"Have him taken to my room and put to bed there. We have no time
to prepare another. And send one of the boys on your best horse
for a doctor."

They carried the limp figure in with rough tenderness and laid
him in the bed. McWilliams unbuckled the belt and drew off the
chaps; then, with the help of Denver, undressed the wounded man
and covered him with quilts. So Helen found him when she came in
to attend his wounds, bringing with her such things as she needed
for her task. Mrs. Winslow, the housekeeper, assisted her, and
the foreman stayed to help, but it was on the mistress of the
ranch that the responsibility of saving him fell. Missou was
already galloping to Bear Creek for a doctor, but the girl knew
that the battle must be fought and the issue decided before he
could arrive.

He had fallen again into insensibility and she rinsed and dressed
his wounds, working with the quiet impersonal certainty of touch
that did not betray the inner turmoil of her soul. But