Free The Taylor County War by Ford Fargo Page A

hands rapidly. “And while you are there, tell Li Wei
that he needs to take a basket of fresh linen to Miss Abby Potter’s
Boarding House. Chop-chop.”
    Jing Jing cast a regretful glance
at Tsu Dong then scurried through. Mrs. Li closed the curtain
behind her, then turned to Logan.
    “I am sorry to keep you, Doctor
Munro,” she said, now studiously ignoring the young man.
    Tsu Dong grunted irritably, then
yanked the door open and strode out, banging it shut behind
him.
    “A petulant young man,” Logan said,
smiling at Mrs. Li. And with that thought he again wondered whether
the young man’s anger betrayed the sort of personality that could
be channeled into the sort of tasks that he suspected Tsu Chiao
ordered his nephews to perform.
    “Again, I am sorry, Doctor. We do
not want our children to have anything to do with Tsu Chiao or any
of his ruffians. They are not – like us.”
    Logan concurred. The Li family were
sober, upstanding members of the Wolf Creek Chinese community,
whereas Tsu Chiao was, in his opinion, nothing more than an opium
dealer, brothel keeper and a ruthless gang boss. Logan despised him
and was aware that Tsu Chiao disliked him simply because he was
British. He had heard from patients that Tsu Chiao often boasted
about having fought in the Opium Wars against the British when he
was a young man.
    Suddenly the door was violently
thrown open.
    “Get behind me,” Logan cried to
Mrs. Li as he spun around, fully expecting to be confronted by an
angry Tsu Dong.
    Instead it was a flush faced
fourteen-year-old boy with a black left eye that was just about
closed. He was shirtless and covered in trail dust.
    “My word, Frank Miller, you look as
if you’ve walked into a post. How did –?”
    Frank unconsciously reached up to
his eye and winced as he touched the bruised flesh. “Oh, that ain’t
nothing, Dr. Munro. But I’m real glad I found you. You have to come
with me, sir. Mr. Sublette sent me.”
    “What’s the emergency, Frank?”
    “It’s Obie and Ethan, they’re both
hurt bad. Obie’s been shot in the chest and…and we’re wasting
time.” He put a hand on Logan’s arm and pulled. “Please, Doc.
They’re bleeding.”
    Logan could see that the lad had
been under some sort of immense strain and had witnessed some
tragedy. Clearly he had been sent to get medical aid.
    “Take it easy, Frank,” he said
calmly. He clasped the youngster’s shoulders and held him firmly,
and looked him straight in the eye. “Just take a deep breath, son,
then tell me exactly what has happened.”
    “Dr. Munro,” Mrs. Li said with a
sharp intake of breath. “It must be the school party. Mr. Sublette
took some of the boys on a trip to look for bones. My son Li Wei
wanted to go, but my husband said he is needed here at the
laundry.”
    She reached under the counter and
pulled out a fresh shirt. Frank took it gratefully and put it
on.
    He nodded his head vigorously.
“That’s right, Doc,” he said, his voice steadier and calmer. “We
were on Mr. Breedlove’s land on a trip to find dinosaur bones. Mr.
Sublette was about to show us his rifle, a Whitworth .451. We had
set up a target and were on our way back to the camp when we saw
Billy Below and some of the T-Bar-B cowboys inspecting our wagon.
We had a few laughs, and they was about to head off, when a bunch
of Rolling-R wranglers rode up and started shooting.”
    “They started shooting at who? At
Billy Below and the T-Bar-B men?”
    “At all of us. They were just
shooting at everyone and there were about half a dozen of them.
They were trying to kill us all!”
    Despite himself, the boy shivered.
“It all happened so fast. Obie Wilkins and Ethan Hartman were hurt
the worst. Obie was shot in the chest and the blood was pumping out
of him. Ethan has a huge spike of wood sticking out of his leg.
Billy Below and Mr. Sublette were wounded and two of the T-Bar-B
boys were killed. Mr. Sublette killed a couple of them and…and I
shot one that was