Sins of the Father by Robert J. Thomas Page B

fire stopped and one of them ran for the doctor and the rest of them ran over to where Steele and Tex were. Steele was unconscious and Tex was moaning and groaning, holding his left shoulder. Doctor George Hammond came running carrying a big black bag. He checked out the sheriff first.
“How bad is he, Doc?” Jed asked.
“He’s been hit pretty badly. He took one shot in the back just above the right shoulder blade and the second bullet went straight through his left side, just below the lung, I hope. You men get him on my table right away while I check on Tex.”
Four men picked up Steele and headed for the doctor’s office and when they did, Pattie Nate came running out of Jed’s Saloon and let out a scream at the sight of Steele being carried into the doctor’s office.
“What happened to him?” Pattie asked, visibly shaken.
“Someone ambushed the sheriff and Tex while we were trying to put out the fire,” one of the men answered.
“Who did it? Who shot him?”
“No one knows. Everyone’s attention was on the fire. We didn’t even hear the shots above all the commotion over the fire. It was Jed that heard them.”
“Is he still alive?”
“Well, he’s still breathing, but he’s unconscious. He’s been hit twice and the doctor said it was pretty bad.”
Pattie had tears running down her face as she watched the four men gently place Steele on one of the two tables in the middle of the room. They left and headed back to where Doctor Hammond was still checking out Tex. Pattie gently cradled Steele’s face in her hands; some of her tears falling onto the sheriff’s face. She kissed him on his forehead. “Damn it, don’t you die on me Mark Steele. You hang on, you hear me?”
There was no response from Steele. Pattie knew that the doctor would need plenty of boiling water and cloths, so she immediately began the chore. She was putting the cloths into the pots of water when the doctor and Jed came into the room with four men carrying Tex who was moaning from the pain. They laid Tex onto the other table.
“Well,” said Doctor Hammond, “I’ve got to work on the sheriff first since he’s bleeding so badly. Pattie, get those cloths boiling as quickly as you can. One of you men go out back, get some extra firewood for the stove, and stoke it hot. It’s going to be a long night.”
The bullet that hit Steele in the back just above his right shoulder blade bounced off the bone and exited out of the top of his shoulder. Doctor Hammond probed around, removed some bone fragments, and cleaned the wound. All the while he was doing this, Pattie was holding bandages on Steele’s left side, trying to stop the bleeding as much as she could.
The Doctor finished up with the first wound and started working on Steele’s side. “Looks like a straight through and through. I don’t think it hit any vital organs or bones, but one more inch and it would have hit the lower part of the lung, and that would not have been a good thing.”
Doctor Hammond thoroughly cleaned out the wound from both the entry, exit point, stitched it up, and bandaged it. “That’s all I can do for him now, Pattie. He’s lost a lot of blood and I think he might be in a coma. I’ve got to work on Tex now.” Pattie nodded, tears still streaming from her now blood-red eyes. She held onto Steele’s left hand.
The Doctor went to work on Tex who was still moaning and groaning with pain. The Doctor gave him some laudanum for the pain, but he knew it wouldn’t help all that much. He started on the shoulder wound and that’s when he noticed it. The bullet had bounced off the deputy’s badge before entering his shoulder. Two men had to hold Tex down while the doctor dug around and found the bullet and a chunk of metal from the badge. He cleaned the wound and bandaged it up, and then he went to work on Tex’ right leg. The bullet had bounced off the bone and exited out the side of the leg. The doctor dug out several bone fragments, cleaned the