McWilliams, his eyes following her every motion and alert to
anticipate her needs, saw that the color had washed from her face
and that she was controlling herself only to meet the demands of
the occasion.

As she was finishing, the sheepman opened his eyes and looked at
her.

"You are not to speak or ask questions. You have been wounded and
we are going to take care of you," she ordered.

"That's right good of y'u. I ce'tainly feet mighty trifling." His
wide eyes traveled round till they fell on the foreman. "Y'u see
I came back to help fill your hospital. Am I there now? Where am
I?" His gaze returned to Helen with the sudden irritation of the
irresponsible sick.

"You are at the Lazy D, in my room. You are not to worry about
anything. Everything's all right."

He took her at her word and his eyes closed; but presently he
began to mutter unconnected words and phrases. When his lids
lifted again there was a wilder look in his eyes, and she knew
that delirium was beginning. At intervals it lasted for long;
indeed, until the doctor came next morning in the small hours. He
talked of many things Helen Messiter did not understand, of
incidents in his past life, some of them jerky with the
excitement of a tense moment, others apparently snatches of talk
with relatives. It was like the babbling of a child, irrelevant
and yet often insistent. He would in one breath give orders