Read The Lonely Cowboy (Trace Atkins Family) for Free Online Page B

husband,” protested Clayton.
    “If anything has happened I hold you responsible.”
    Sarah and Clint left the office.  I’m going to the preacher’s.  You and one of the boys go on out toward the Rocking A.  I’ll be along in a few minutes.”
    * * *
    At the preacher’s she heard what she expected.  They hadn’t seen or heard from Trace either, leaving only the route to the Rocking A to be followed.  She and the cowboy left by Clint set out in that direction knowing Clint was ahead.  They encountered no riders until they met Clint, who was headed back to town, riding fast.  It took a second glance to see he had someone tied in back of him.
    “I found him in the road about a mile ahead.  He’s been shot but he’s alive and has lost a lot of blood.  We have to get him to the doctor.
    They loaded him on the buckboard.  Sarah checked him and he had a wound in his lower abdomen, below the ribs.  His face and arms were burned from the sun.  His forehead felt hot to the touch.  Sarah tore a piece from her petticoat and poured water on it from one of the canteens they had brought.  She put this on his head.  Next she elevated his head and gave him sips of water.  The cowboy had taken the whip to the horses to get them to go faster. 
    Sarah called out to the men standing around looking, “Someone help us get him into the doctor’s  office, please.  He’s been shot.”
    Two cowboys came to the buckboard and lifted Trace out and carried him into the doctor's office.  The doctor was a relatively young man and was new in town.  Cimmaron was fortunate  to have him since he was schooled in the use of anesthetics. 
    He rolled Trace over and checked.  He could find no exit wound.  “The bullet is still in there and it has to come out.  I will put him to sleep and remove the bullet and also see if there is other damage.”  He sterilized the wound area with carbolic acid and put a cloth wet with chloroform over his nose and mouth and soon he was asleep.  The doctor made a small cut in the flesh to widen the area and saw the bullet, which he promptly removed.  “He’ll wake up and I’ll give him laudanum to reduce his pain.  I’ll keep him here where I can keep an eye on him for a few days.  He’s going to have to be monitored for a while to make sure it heals properly and does not get infected.”
    Trace had an uneventful recovery, having moved from the doctor’s office into a bedroom in the preacher’s house.
    Sarah had gone to see the sheriff.  “Sheriff, what are you going to do about Jess Clayton ambushing Trace?  He nearly killed him and this is twice he’s tried.”
    “Now Miss Sarah, I’ve talked with Clayton and he had witnesses that he never left town.”
    “Did you check his men.  I’ll bet some of them left town.”
    “I can’t do anything without proof, Miss Sarah.”
    “Well, I have all the proof I need.  If there is anything else done to the Rocking A or to my husband, the Bar S and the Kleburnes will handle it.”
    “Now I won’t stand for vigilantes in my town.”
    “Look around, Sheriff.  How much does this town depend on the Kleburnes and the Bar S for their business.  Compare that to how much Jess Clayton contributes.  You better pick a side and you’d better pick the right one.  If we have to go after Clayton, and we will, you don’t want to be in the middle.”
    She turned and left the sheriff pondering his dilemma while she headed to the preacher’s house.
    When she got there, the preacher was excited.  He had received an answer to the telegram he had sent shortly after the first attack on Trace and the Rocking A.  The telegram told him the San Antonio and Mexican Railway was going to extend a line from San Antonio to Corpus Christi and pass right through the Rocking A.  They were ready to begin acquisition of the right-of-way. Finally, here was the reason for Jess Clayton’s interest in the Rocking A.  
    Trace was up and about now but was