The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1918-09-05
CHAPTER XXX.
At Sleepy Cat.

of the after calm. In the romance OF
the sunshine next day De Spain, deli
rious and muttering, was taken to the
hospital at Sleepy Cat. In an adJoin-
ing room lay Nan, moaning reproaches
at those who were torturing her reluc-
family back to life. Day and night the
doctors worked over the three. The
town, the division, the stagemen and
the mountain men watched the out
come of the struggle. From as far as
Medicine Bend railroad surgeons came
to aid In the fight.
De Spain cost the most acute anxi-
ETY.. The cruz of the battle, after the
three lives we're held safe, centered on
the effort 10 save De SPANS arm-the
one he had chosen TO lose, If he must
lose one, when he strapped IL to the
whifletree. The day the surgeons
agreed that II his life were 10 be saved
the arm must come off at the shoulder
q gloom fell on the community.
In a lifetime of years there can come
to the greater part OF US but a few
days, q few hours, sometimes no more
than a single moment, 10 show Of what
stuff we are really made. Such a crisis
came that day TO Nan. Already she
had been wheeled more than once into
De SPANS room, to sit where she
could help % him back TO life. The
chief surgeon, in the morning, told
Nan of the decision. In her hospital
bed she rose bolt upright. "No!" she
HaclaraA Cnlamnlu sym chant fnka
his arm off !"
The surgeon met her rebellion tact
fully. But he told Nan. at last. that
De Spain must lose either his arm or
his life. NO" she repeated without
hesitation and without blanching, you
his life"
The blood surged into her cheeks
better blood and redder than the doc
tors bad been able to bring there-such
blood as De Spain alone could call INTO
them. Nan, with her nurses help,
dressed, joined De Spain, and talked
long and earnestly. The doctors, too,
laid the situation before him. When
they asked him for his decision. he
nodded toward Nan. "She will tell
you, gentlemen, what We'll do"
And Nan did tell them what the two
who had most at stake in the decision
would do. ANY man could have done
as much as that. But Nan did more.
She set herself out to save the arm
and patient both, and, lest the doctors
should change their tactics and move
together on the arm surreptitiously,
Nan stayed night and day with De
Spain, until he was able to make such
active use of either arm as 10 convince
her that he and not the surgeons would
0 on need the most watching.
Afterward when Nan, in some doubt,
asked the chaplain whether she was
married or single, he obligingly offered
to ratify and confirm the desert cere-
mony.
This affair was the occasion for an
extraordinary roundup at Sleepy Cat.
Two lOng-hostile elements-the stage
and railroad men and the Calabasas-
Morgan gap contingent of mountain
men, for one at least, f%raternized.
Warrants were ~pigeonholed, suspicion
suspended, sidearms neglected In their
~scabbards. The fighting men Of both
camps, In the presence of a ceremony
that united De Spain and Nan Morgan,
could not but feel a generous citation.
Each party considered that 1t was con-
tributing to the festivity In the bride
and groom and the very best each
could boast, and no false note dis
turbed the harmony Of the notable
day.
Gale Morgan, having given up the
fight, had left the country. Satterlee
Morgan danced till all the platforms in
town gave way. John Lefever attend
ed the groom, and Duke Morgan stern
ly but without conjunction, gave the
bride. From Medicine Bend, Farrell
Kennedy brought n notable company
of DE SPANS early associates FOR the
event. 1t included Whispering Smith,
whose visit to Sleepy Cat on this oc-
casion was the first In years; George
McCloud, who had come all the way
from Omaha to join his early comrades
III III WHO uuu lOSC none
of his taciturn bluntness-and so many
train dispatchers that the service on
the division was crippled for the entire
day.
A great company Of self-appointec
retainers gathered together from ovel
all the country, rode behind the gayl,
decorated bridal coach in procession
from the church to Jeffries' house
where the feasts had been prepared
During the reception a modest man
dragged from an obscure corner amonl
the guests, was made to take his plac
next Lefever on the receiving line. l
was Bob Scott. and he looked most TN
comfortable until he found a chanc
to slip unobserved back to the sid
Of the room where the distinguish,
Medicine Bend contingent, togethe
with McAlpin. Pardaloe, Elpaso AM
Bull Page. slightly unsteady but ez
tremely serious for the grave occasion
appeared vastly uncomfortable t.
gether.
NWN