Everything seemed geared to nightmare slowness. Other figures were thrusting leisurely at shapes that hardly crawled. The thorn bush, flaming high, gave him light to see and stab a dopy joe creeping toward him. He got it, rolled over and tried to get up.
He woke with daylight in his eyes, tried to move and discovered that his left leg hurt. He looked down and saw a compress of leaves wrapped with a neat hide bandage. He was in the cave and there were others lying parallel to him. He got to one elbow. “Say, what”
“Sssh!” Sue Kennedy crawled over and knelt by him. “The baby is asleep.”
“Oh. . .”
“I’m on nurse duty. Want anything?”
“I guess not. Uh, what did they name her?”
“Hope. Hope Roberta Baxter. A pretty name. I’ll tell Caroline you are awake.” She turned away.
Caroline came in, squatted and looked scornfully at his ankle. “That’ll teach you to have a party and not invite me.
“I guess so. Carol, what’s the situation?”
“Six on the sick list. About twice that many walking wounded. Those not hurt are gathering wood and cutting thorn. We fixed the ax.”
“Yes, but. . . we’re not having to fight them off?”
“Didn’t Sue tell you? A few buck walking around as if they were dazed. That’s all.”
“They may start again.”
“If they do, we’ll be ready.”
“Good.” He tried to raise up. “Where’s Grant? How bad was he hurt?”
She shook her head. “Grant didn’t make it, Roddie.”
“Huh?”
“Bob took off both legs at the knee and would have taken off one arm, but he died while he was operating.” She made a very final gesture. “In the creek.”
Rod started to speak, turned his head and buried his face. Caroline put a hand on him. “Don’t take it hard, Roddie. Bob shouldn’t have tried to save him. Grant is better off.”
Rod decided that Carol was right no frozen limb banks on this planet. But it did not make him feel better. “We didn’t appreciate him,” he muttered.
“Stow it!” Caroline whispered fiercely. “He was a fool.”
“Huh? Carol, I’m ashamed of you.”
He was surprised to see tears rolling down her cheeks. “You know he was a fool, Roddie Walker. Most of us knew. . . but we loved him anyhow. I would ‘uv married him, but he never asked me.” She wiped at tears. “Have you seen the baby?”
“No.”
Her face lit up. “I’ll fetch her. She’s beautiful.”
“Sue said she was asleep.”
“Well . . . all right. But what I came up for is this: what do you want us to do?”
“Huh?” He tried to think. Grant was dead. “Bill was his deputy. Is Bill laid up?”
“Didn’t Sue tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“You’re the mayor. We elected you this morning. Bill and Roy and I are just trying to hold things together.”
Rod felt dizzy. Caroline’s face kept drawing back, then swooping in; he wondered if he were going to faint..
“plenty of wood,” she was saying, “and we’ll have the kraal built by sundown. We don’t need meat; Margery is butchering that big fellow that fell off the bluff and busted his neck. We can’t trek out until you and Carmen and the others can walk, so we’re trying to get the place back into shape temporarily. Is there anything you want us to do now?”
He considered it. “No. Not now.
“Okay. You’re supposed to rest.” She backed out, stood up. “I’ll look in later.” Rod eased his leg and turned over. After a while he quieted and went to sleep.
Sue brought broth in a bowl, held his head while he drank, then fetched Hope Baxter and held her for him to see. Rod said the usual inanities, wondering if all new babies looked that way.
Then he thought for a long time.
Caroline showed up with Roy. “How’s it going, Chief?” Roy said.
“Ready to bite a rattlesnake.”
“That’s a nasty foot, but it ought to heal. We boiled the leaves and Bob used sulfa.”
“Feels all right. I don’t seem feverish.”
“Jimmy always said you were too mean to die,” added Caroline. “Want anything, Roddie? Or to tell us anything?”