The fear did not lessen as the night drew on and finally
brightened into another day. When the sun flared up out of the
flatlands lying beyond Tecolote the wounded man at Struve's hotel lay
as he had done all night giving no sign to tell whether he was life's
or death's.
CHAPTER XIII
CONCEALMENT
The eyes of San Juan were upon Caleb Patten throughout the night and
during the long hours of the following day. Under them his inflated
ego grew further distended while, waxing more technical than ever, he
explained how a man in Rod Norton's condition could live and yet lie
like a man dead. So prolific and involved were his medical phrases
that men like John Engle and Struve began to ask themselves if Patten
understood his case. When, after twelve hours, the wounded man awoke
to a troubled consciousness Patten's relief was scarcely less visible
than that of Norton's friends. Patten felt his prestige taking unto
itself new wings and immediately grew more wisely verbose than ever.
It was a rare privilege to have the most talked of and generally liked
man of the community under his hands; it was wine to Patten's soul to
have that man show signs of recovering under his skill.
So he drove well-wishers from the room, drew the shades, commanded
quiet and came and went eternally, doing nothing whatever and appearing
to be fighting, sleeves rolled up, for a threatened life.
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