Within the two rooms that they had defended, the odor of burned gunpowder was strong, stinging throat and nostrils.
Eddies of smoke hung between floor and ceiling.

Many of the men coughed, and it was long before they could reduce the horses to entire quiet.
They wrapped the dead man in his blankets and laid him in the corner.
They bound up the hurts of the others, as best they could and then, save for the watching, they relaxed completely.

Ned, his back against the wall, sat with his friends Obed and the Ring Tailed Panther.

He was utterly exhausted, and even in the dusk the men noticed it.
"Here, Ned," said Obed, "take a chew of this.

You may not feel that you need it, but it will be a good thing for you." He extended a strip of dried venison.