The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,217

his head. Fear made her angry and she took it out on him.

“Damn it, Eulis Potter! You’re not gonna hang, but you’re gonna freeze to death unless you let me help.”

“Cold,” he muttered.

She laid her hand against his face. The fire beneath his skin was frightening.

“I know honey,” she said softly. “I know you’re cold. Let’s go inside the cabin, okay?”

“Okay,” he said, and passed out.

She took advantage of the moment by quickly wrapping the rope around his chest and tying it off. She pulled it as taut as she dared without getting him too close to Rosy’s hooves, then grabbed Rosy’s halter and began leading her toward the cabin as fast as she dared, dragging Eulis behind.

Twice she had to stop and brush snow from his face before they made it to the cabin. She dragged him all the way to the doorsill, then untied the rope and pulled him inside the cabin. Quickly, she unhitched Rosy and left her free to graze as she ran back inside.

Eulis was lying where she’d left him. Snow was melting from his pants and coat, leaving him lying in a swiftly spreading puddle. She shut the door, tore off her coat and dropped to her knees beside him.

“Got to get these wet things off you,” she muttered, and started pulling at his boots.

He moaned once, but didn’t move. His silence was more frightening than when he’d fought her before.

She shoved the wet boots near the fire to dry, and then began tugging off his pants. It took longer to get off his coat and shirt, because she had to keep rolling him from side to side.

Finally, he was naked, and Letty started to shake. Already, the first signs of the pox were visible on his skin.

“God give me strength,” she prayed softly, and then squatted behind him, slid her hands beneath his arms and started to pull.

“Help me, Eulis. Please God… help him to help me.”

She pulled again, this time pulling up in an effort to get him to his feet and into bed and somehow he moved. The success of her effort gave her strength, so she pulled again, and he moved again, and so it continued until he was finally on the bed.

He promptly rolled over onto his side and moaned. When she tried to cover him up, he kicked off the covers.

“Hot… too hot.”

Letty grabbed the bucket and ran out the door, coming back moments later with it packed full of snow. She scooped some of it into a pan and then set the bucket by the fire to melt. With shaking fingers, she began bathing his skin with the snow, hoping to lower his temperature.

It wasn’t until sundown that she remembered the mules and ran out into the night, carrying the rifle to bring them home. To her relief, they’d come to the lean-to on their own, and she quickly shut them in, then she set the rifle aside and carried in as much firewood as she thought they might need.

She brought in a fresh bucket of snow, and the last thing she brought in was the rifle. Once inside, she let the door swing shut. When the sound echoed, Letty flinched. She turned and stared at the door, then down at the man on the bed. Before, when she’d shut them in each night, it had been to keep them safe from danger. Tonight, the danger was within, and there was little she could do to keep it out.

By morning he was covered in pox and out of his head. Letty had spent the night by his side, bathing his body with the melted snow, and when she could manage it, getting water down his throat. She was so tired she was shaking and nearly blind from exhaustion, yet sleep was impossible. If she closed her eyes, Eulis might die, and she couldn’t let that happen.

After a quick trip outside to relieve herself, and to let out the mules, she came back carrying a chunk of bone with a little meat and fat that they’d butchered from the elk. She started it to simmer, adding salt and a pinch of dried sage. Maybe today Eulis would feel better, and if he did, he would need sustenance, but nothing heavy—just a little elk broth.

Once she’d put the soup bone on to cook, she felt better, as if by planning ahead, she’d given Eulis a future she’d been uncertain he would have.

A familiar stench rose from the bed and