Free Oklahoma's Gold by Kathryn Long Page A

began.
     

Chapter 17
     
     
     
    "Ouch!" Daniel winced and jerked his head away from Emma.
     
    "Dadblast it, Daniel! I need to tend to it whether you like it or not," Emma scolded. She reached out once more to put some antiseptic on the gash. He'd been hit so hard it had busted his head open. Emma shook a bit with the fear of knowing how much worse it could have turned out.
     
    One of the hands had happened to hear the horses whinnying and stomping in the corral. He told Emma he suspected a coyote might have come down to the ranch and was spooking the livestock. So, he'd come out for a look and had found Daniel lying in front of the bunkhouse door.
     
    "All in a crumpled heap," he said, shaking his head. "Looked pretty near dead."
     
    "And you didn't hear or see anyone suspicious?" Emma questioned.
     
    "No, ma'am. Just them horses, upset over what happened to Daniel, I reckon."
     
    With that, Emma dismissed the ranch hand and began focusing her attention on Daniel. He'd lost quite a bit of blood. She puzzled over how and why this could have happened. She hadn't questioned Daniel, yet. He wasn't ready for that. But there were so many unanswered pieces to the puzzle. And she was anxious to find out how many answers Daniel possessed. Maybe none. That thought discouraged her. As sure as she was living and breathing, she just knew all these devilish acts had to do with Fred's attack. She walked across the room to call Doc Willis. Daniel had fallen into a fitful sleep. She wanted to care for him herself, but knew in her heart that she should have a professional check his condition. She clenched her fists after the call. She had realized a long time ago that she couldn't do it all. Now, she picked up the phone once more, glancing wearily at Daniel as she made a call to her nephew. "For what good it'll do," she muttered.
     
    "Hello, Caleb?" Emma began. Then she proceeded to tell him of the evening's event. Besides an occasional um-hum , the sheriff didn't say much, and it irritated Emma. "Are you awake over there, nephew?" she hollered. "Or should I get myself to your office and shake the stuffins out of you? My foreman, and dear friend, was nearly killed tonight and I want somethin' done about it. You hear?"
     
    "I guess I could come out to your place and, well … check it out," he replied.
     
    "Now, I guess you could and should, Caleb Gentry," she quipped, then slammed the phone receiver down.
     
    "Good for nothin' waste of taxpayer's money," she muttered as she crossed the room. She ran the washcloth under cold water, rung it out, then walked to Daniel's reclined figure to place it on his forehead.
     
    "Don't be too hard on Caleb."
     
    A gruff voice from behind Emma nearly caused her to drop the cloth on the floor. She swung around quickly to see Doc standing in the doorway. She hadn't realized he had arrived and heard all she had been saying. It rather embarrassed her to let anyone know she, Emma Thomas, talked to herself, making her seem like a crazy woman. That's all she needed the town folk thinking. Lord knew they probably thought bad enough things about her. However, it appeared Doc didn't seem to think anything strange about her behavior, so she just went on as usual.
     
    "I'm just worried about Daniel," she explained, now placing the cloth on her patient's forehead. Her hand trembled with the effort. Emma shifted her body in front of Daniel so that Doc wouldn't notice the nervous action. "And I just want all this dadblamed foolishness to end," she added.
     
    "What foolishness, Emma?" Doc asked with a puzzled look.
     
    Emma soon realized he really didn't have a clue to what she meant. She shook her head in amazement and a tiny feeling of doubt entered her mind. Was she overreacting? But that feeling only lasted a second and was replaced by her usual confidence.
     
    "The attack on Fred, all those incidents at so many ranches, you know what I'm referin' to. The fires, horses bit by snakes, all that." She