After this halt of fifteen minutes d.i.c.k pressed forward without more delay until he came upon the settlement, at what time he knew not, but to the best of his belief it was hardly more than an hour past midnight.

There was no thought in his mind of spending any portion of the money for a bed.

The earth offered such a resting-place as satisfied him; and since the day his father departed from Willow Point in the hope of finding a location where he could earn a livelihood with but little labor, d.i.c.k had more often slept upon the ground than elsewhere.

Now he threw himself down by the side of a storehouse, or shed, where he would be protected from the night wind; and there was hardly more than time to compose himself for rest before his eyes were closed in slumber.

No person in Antelope Spring was awake at an earlier hour next morning than d.i.c.k Stevens; for the sun had not yet shown himself when the boy arose to his feet, and looked around as if to say that he was in fine condition.

"A tramp of forty-five miles ain't to be sneezed at, an' when you throw in fifteen miles of desert an' a sand-storm to boot, it's what I call a pretty good day's work; yet I'm feelin' fine as a fiddle," he said in a tone of satisfaction, after which he made an apology for a toilet at the stream near-by.

d.i.c.k had no idea in which direction a physician might be found; therefore he halted in front of the first store he saw to wait until the proprietor came, half an hour later, to attend to customers.

It was such a shop as one would naturally expect to find in a settlement among the mountains of Nevada.

From mola.s.ses to perfumery, and from ploughs to fish-hooks, the a.s.sortment ran, until one would say all his wants might be supplied from the stock.

Cheese was what d.i.c.k had decided upon for his morning meal; and after purchasing two pounds, together with such an amount of crackers as he thought would be necessary, he set about eating breakfast at the same time that he gained the desired information.

"I've come from the other side of Smoke Creek Desert," he began, speaking indistinctly because of the fulness of his mouth, "an' want to find a doctor."

"Ain't sick, are yer?" the shopkeeper asked with mild curiosity.

"Daddy shot himself in the leg, an' mother don't know what to do for him; so I've come up to hire a doctor to tell me, an' buy whatever he says is needed."

"A kid like you come across the desert! Where's your pony?"

"I haven't got any. Daddy's horses are so nearly played out that they've got to be left to gra.s.s two or three weeks, if we count on doin' anything with 'em."

"Did you walk across?" the shopkeeper asked incredulously.

"That's what I did;" and d.i.c.k told of his sufferings during the sand-storm, not in a boastful way, but as if it were his purpose to give the prospectors the praise they deserved.

When he had concluded, the proprietor plunged his hands deep in his pockets, surveyed the boy from head to foot much as Parsons and Robinson had, saying not a word until d.i.c.k's face reddened under the close scrutiny, when he exclaimed,--

"Well, I'll be jiggered! A kid of your size--say, how old are you, bub?"

"Thirteen."

"Well, a baby of thirteen lightin' out across Smoke Creek Desert, an'

all for the sake of helpin' your dad, eh? Do you reckon you can bite out of Dr. Manter's ear all you want to know, an' then go back an' run the business?"

"It seems as if he ought to tell me what mother needs to do, an' I can remember every word. Then she said there would have to be some medicine to stop the fever; an' that's what I'm countin' on buyin', if he gives me the name of it."

"When are you goin' back?"

"I'm in hopes to get away this noon, an' then I'll be in camp by to-morrow mornin'."

"Say, sonny, do you want to stuff me with the yarn that you've travelled forty-five miles in less'n thirty-six hours, an' count on doin' the same thing right over agin, which is ninety miles in less'n three days?"

"I've done the first half of the journey, an' it couldn't have been more'n two hours past midnight when I got here. With such a lay-out as this for breakfast I'll be in good shape for goin' back; an' it would be a mighty poor boy who couldn't get there between this noon an'

to-morrow mornin', 'cause I'll go across the desert after dark, an' it ain't likely there'll be another sand-storm."

"Well, look here, sonny, stand right there for a minute, will you, while I go out? I won't be gone a great while, an' you can finish up your breakfast."

"But I want to see the doctor as soon as I can, you know."

"That'll be all right. I'll make it in my way to help you along so you sha'n't be kept in this town a single hour more'n 's necessary."

Having said this, and without waiting to learn whether his young and early customer was willing to do as he had requested, the proprietor of the store hurriedly left the building, and d.i.c.k had finished his meal before he returned.

The boy was stowing the remainder of the cheese and crackers into his pockets when the shopkeeper, accompanied by two men, who looked as if they might have been hunters or miners, entered.

"Is this the kid?" one of the strangers asked, looking as curiously at the boy as had the proprietor.

"That's the one; an' the yarn he tells must be pretty nigh true, 'cause he met Parsons an' Robinson, an' accordin' to his story they bought his rifle, leavin' it with him till such time as they want to claim it."

The newcomers questioned d.i.c.k so closely regarding the journey and its purpose that he began to fear something was wrong, and asked nervously,--

"What's the reason I shouldn't have come up here? When a feller's father is goin' to die if he can't get a doctor afoul of him, it's a case of hustlin' right sharp."

"An' accordin' to the account you've given, that's about what you've been doin'," one of the strangers said with an approving nod, which rea.s.sured the boy to such an extent that he answered without hesitation the further questions which were asked.

When the curiosity of the men had been satisfied, one of those whom the landlord had brought in, and who was addressed by his companions as "Bob Mason," said to d.i.c.k, as he laid his hand on the boy's shoulder,--

"We'll take care of you, my bold kid, an' see that you get all your father needs. If it wasn't that the doctor in this 'ere town is worked mighty hard, I'd make it my business to send him right down to your camp. But I reckon, if it's nothin' more'n a bullet through your dad's leg, he'll pull 'round all right with sich things as you can carry from here. Now come on, an' we'll find out what the pill-master thinks of the case."

d.i.c.k was thoroughly surprised that so much interest in his affairs should be manifested by strangers, and it pleased him that he was to have a.s.sistance in this search for medical knowledge.

He followed this new friend readily, and in a few moments was standing before the doctor, listening to Mr. Mason's highly colored version of the journey.

When he would have corrected the gentleman as to some of the points which had been exaggerated, he was kindly bade to "hold his tongue."

"I've heard all your yarn, my boy, an' can imagine a good many things you didn't tell. There's precious few of us in this section of the country that was ever overtook, while on foot, by the dancin' giants, an' lived to tell the story."

"I wouldn't be alive if it hadn't been for Mr. Parsons an' Mr.

Robinson."

"What they did don't cut any figger. It's what you went through with that I'm talkin' about, an' the doctor is bound to hear the whole story before he gives up what he knows."

Not until Mr. Mason had concluded the recital after his own fashion did he give the professional gentleman an opportunity to impart the information which d.i.c.k had worked so hard to obtain; and then the physician, after telling him in a general way how the patient should be treated, wrote out in detail instructions for Mrs. Stevens to follow.

Then from his store of drugs, pills, and nauseous potions he selected such as might be needed in the case, writing on each package full directions, at the expense of at least an hour's time; and when he had finished, d.i.c.k believed that his father would suffer for nothing in the way of medicine.

"There, lad," Dr. Manter said as he concluded his labors, and tied in the smallest possible compa.s.s the articles he had set out, "I allow your mother should be able to do all that is necessary; and unless the bone is so shattered that the leg must be amputated, it is possible you will get along as well without a physician as with one."

"Do you mean there's a chance my poor old man might have to let his leg be cut off?"