instant imagined that his orders
would not be obeyed. "Get a tourniquet on that man's leg, you!" He
moderated his voice and manner about half a degree and spoke to Vehrner.
"You are not the doctor, you're the patient, now. You'll do as you're
told. Don't you know that a man shot in the leg with a .45 can bleed to
death without half trying?"

"Yo'-all do like de Cunnel says, 'r foh Gawd, yo'-all gwine wish yo'
had," Sergeant Williamson said, entering the room. "Git a move on."

He stood just inside the doorway, holding a silver-banded malacca
walking-stick that he had taken from the hall-stand. He was grasping it
in his left hand, below the band, with the crook out, holding it at his
side as though it were a sword in a scabbard, which was exactly what
that walking-stick was. Albert looked at him, and then back at Colonel
Hampton. Then, whipping off his necktie, he went down on his knees
beside Doctor Vehrner, skillfully applying the improvised tourniquet,
twisting it tight with an eighteen-inch ruler the Colonel took from the
desk and handed to him.

"Go get the first-aid kit, Sergeant," the Colonel said. "And hurry. Mr.
Stephen's been shot, too."

"Yessuh!" Sergeant Williamson executed an automatic salute and
about-face and raced from the room. The Colonel picked up the telephone
on the desk.

The County Hospital was three miles from "Greyrock"; the State Police
substation a good five. He dialed the State Police number first.

"Sergeant Mallard? Colonel Hampton, at 'Greyrock.' We've had a little
trouble here. My nephew's wife just went _juramentado_ with one of my
pistols, shot and wounded her husband and another man, and then shot and
killed herself.... Yes, indeed it is, Sergeant. I wish you'd send
somebody over here, as soon as possible, to take charge.... Oh, you
will? That's good.... No, it's all over, and nobody to arrest; just the
formalities.... Well, thank you, Sergeant."

The old Negro cavalryman re-entered the room, without the sword-cane and
carrying a heavy leather box on a strap over his shoulder. He set this
on the floor and opened it, then knelt beside Stephen Hampton. The
Colonel was calling the hospital.

"... gunshot wounds," he was saying. "One man in the chest and the other
in the leg, both with a .45 pistol. And you'd better send a doctor who's
qualified to write a death certificate; there was a woman killed,
too.... Yes, certainly; the State Police have been notified."

"Dis ain' so ba