Free The Yellow Rose by Gilbert Morris

right, Jerusalem?” Clay said.
    “I’m . . . all right.”
    “I know it hurts, but we’ve got to get it bandaged to stop the bleeding.”
    Clay washed away the blood with the water Moriah had brought, took the bandage, and carefully put it over her back. He hesitated then and looked up. “Julie, maybe a woman ought to do this. It’s got to be tied around in front. You’d better do it.”
    “Nope,” Julie said. “I’m no good at things like that. You go right ahead.”
    Clay hesitated, but Jerusalem said, “Go on, Clay. Do it.” She sat up, gasping from pain, and pulled her dress down until it hung around her waist. Clay was behind her, and instantly he took some of the long strips and began to pass them around her body. He put one over her shoulder and several high over her chest. Even as he did, he could not help notice that her back was as smooth as a young girl’s. It was strong and well-formed, but he put that out of his mind.
    When he tied the last bandage behind, he said, “You can pull your dress up now.”
    Jerusalem pulled her dress up. It was torn in the back, but she held it up in front, then turned to face him. She saw that Clay’s face was flushed.
    “Well, I guess you’ve seen a woman’s back a time or two.”
    “Well, I reckon not under these circumstances. We got off lucky, but I wish it was me that got nicked instead of you.”
    “I’m glad it wasn’t.”
    Clay licked his lips and said nervously, “When I saw you lyin’ on the floor with blood all over your back, I like to have died, Jerusalem.”
    Jerusalem stared at him curiously. “Did you, Clay? Why did you feel like that?” She saw him struggle for an answer, but he was unable to find one.
    “I reckon they’ll be worried about you. I’ll go fetch ’em. That bandage will have to be changed pretty often.”
    Jerusalem smiled then. “Well, I’ve got a good doctor. You can take care of that, I expect.” She saw Clay stare at her blankly, then he shook his head and turned and hurried from the room. She smiled as she watched him go. “It’s good to see you shook up even if it takes a bare back to do it, Clay Taliferro!”

CHAPTER
SIX
    S am Houston stood looking at the dispatches that Deaf Smith had just arrived with. He had taken them from a Mexican courier. When Houston looked up from them, there was a gleam in his eyes. “Well, Deaf, I reckon it’s time to find out who’s the big dog.”
    “Reckon so, General.” Deaf gestured toward the messages. “According to these, you ain’t likely to catch Santa Anna with fewer men. I doubt he’s got more than seven, eight hundred in his column.”
    “But he’ll have more if we don’t take him now.”
    “What’s your plan, General?” Deaf asked.
    “I’ll tell you, Deaf, but then you keep it to yourself. I don’t want the men to know what’s going on until it happens.” He pulled a rough map out of the desk drawer and laid it flat on the table. “Okay, here we are. Up here is the San Jacinto River, and over here is Buffalo Bayou. That’s where we are now.”
    “You’re right about that. It looks to me like we’ve got ourselves caught in a trap.”
    “If Santa Anna moves in, he’ll come in from here, you see, and he thinks he’ll have us trapped. And in a way he will.”
    Suddenly, Deaf Smith laughed his high-pitched eerie laugh. “I think I got your meanin’, Sam. Our boys can’t run away this way because the river’s there. They can’t run this way because of Buffalo Bayou. They could take off toward Harrisburg, I reckon.”
    “Not if you take some men and burn the bridge.” Houston smiled grimly.
    Deaf Smith stared at the general. “We’d be trapped for sure, wouldn’t we?”
    “That’s right, but that’s my plan. Keep it to yourself. We let Santa Anna’s column come in right here alongside Lake Peggy. I don’t think he’ll come chargin’ in. I think he’ll set up camp and wait for reinforcements. If he does that, then we’ve got