Dead Man's Walk by Larry McMurtry

before they could recover, Gus fell forward on his face. Bob Bascom had looked aside, in order to spit tobacco. He kept so much tobacco in his mouth that he was prone to choking fits in time of action. Rip Green had just glanced at his bedroll; he was suspicious by nature and was always glancing at his bedroll to make sure no one was stealing anything from it. Both Rip and Bob were startled when Gus fell on his face--Call was, too. He had not supposed Gus McCrae would be the type to faint.

But blood was pouring out of Gus's hip, and there seemed to be blood farther down his leg.

"Here, Sam," Major Chevallie said, motioning to his cook. "You're the doctor--tend to this man before he bleeds to death." "Need to get him closer to the fire so I can sew him up," Sam said. He was a small man, about the size of Rip Green; his curly hair was white. Call was uncomfortable with him--he had had little experience of darkies, but he had to admit that the man cooked excellent grub and seemed to be expert in treating boils and other small ailments.

Sam quickly scooped some ash out of the campfire and used it to staunch the flow of blood. He patted ash into the wound until the bleeding stopped; while waiting for it to stop, he threaded a big darning needle.

Matilda walked up about that time, dragging her pallet. Gus's yells had awakened her, and her mood was shaky. She kicked sand at Long Bill Coleman for no reason at all. The Mexican boy was asleep, but the old woman still sat by the fire, silent and unmoving.

"Sew that boy up before he gets conscious and starts bellowing again," Shadrach said. "If there's Indians around, they know where we are. This pup makes too much noise." "Why, they can mark our position by the fire--they wouldn't need the yelling," Bigfoot said. Gus soon proved to be awake enough to be sensitive to the darning needle. It took Matilda and Bigfoot and Bob Bascom to hold him steady enough that Sam could sew up his long wound.

"Why'd you kick that sand on me?" Long Bill asked Matilda while the sewing was in progress. He was a little hurt by Matilda's evident scorn.

"Because I felt like kicking sand on a son of a bitch," Matilda said. "You were the closest." "This boy's lucky," Sam said. "The lance missed the bone." "He might be lucky, but we ain't," Major Chevallie said. He was pacing around nervously.

"What I can't figure out is why Buffalo Hump would be sitting out there by himself," he added.

"He was sitting on a blanket," Gus said.

Sam had finally quit poking him with the big needle --that and the fact that he was alive made him feel a little better. Besides that, he was back in camp.

He felt sure he was going to survive, and wanted to be helpful if he could.

"I ran right past him, that's why he took after me," Gus said. "He had a terrible big hump." Gus felt that he might want to relax and snooze, but that plan was interrupted by the old Comanche woman, who suddenly began to wail. The sound of her high wailing gave everybody a start.

"What's wrong with her--now she's howling," Long Bill asked.

Shadrach went over to the old woman and spoke with her in Comanche, but she continued to wail.

Shadrach waited patiently until she stopped.

"She's a vision woman," Shadrach said.

"My grandma was a vision woman too. She would let out wails when she had some bad vision, just like this poor old soul." Call wanted the old woman to quiet down-- her wailing had a bad effect on the whole camp. Her wails were as sad as the sound of the wind as it sighed over the empty flats. He didn't want to hear such disturbing sounds, and none of the other Rangers did, either.

Shadrach still squatted by the old woman, talking to her in her own tongue. The wind blew swirls of fine sand around them.

"Well, what now? What's she saying?" Major Chevallie asked.

"She says Buffalo Hump is going to cut off her nose," Shadrach said. "She was one of his father's wives--I guess she didn't behave none too well. Her people put her out to die,