The Argosy, Vol. 84 No. 2 — page 50: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

232 tor, some of them would have been left here to look after the plant. For more reasons than one she had hoped his suc- cess would be better than this. Well, at least she could somewhat slacken the flow of blood. And the man’s pulse told her she could scarce wait for that until she should hunt about the whole camp for aid. Hastily tearing off the shirt which was the only garment above his waist, she got busy with lint and antiseptic solution. Then she made a tight knot of absorbent cotton, soaked it in the bichlorid, and, after wrapping a strip of gauze twice around the body, pressed the knot firmly over the wound and began to bind it tightly into place. It was the method that would have suc- ceeded with her father, had his wound been no wider than this man’s bullet-hole. It was no easy matter to lift the man sufficiently to get the gauze under him at each turn. And she could hardly imagine a worse spot for any approach to what she had learned of surgical cleanliness. When she had got the sixth circle drawn about him she was dripping with perspiration, her hands trembled from weariness in pulling to get the pressure on the wound. She essayed to bring the ends of her strip of gauze together. One of them slipped from her fingers. She managed to get the end again with- out the complete loosening of the ban- dage. But the slight jerk of the slip had released the plug a trifle. For the mo- ment it looked as if the whole job would have to be done over again. She felt her nerve giving way now. She had no more gauze with her; the lint could not be torn into strips. For a mo- ment she felt a feminine impulse to “ drop in a heap” on the ground and give way to tears of despair. Then the realization that a life depend-:- ed upon her doing nothing of the kind braced her. She pulled her flagging en- ergies together. She decided it were bet- ter to make the best of what she had done than to try to do it again. THE ARGOSY. With a supreme effort she got the ends crossed far enough to make the knot. This she turned hard upon the cotton plug. Once more thé flow of blood was stopped. Next it was necessary to get some stim- ulant down the wounded man’s throat. To do this she had to turn him upon his back. He was heavy—Haggins saw to it that his policemen were a little the strong- est men available. Thrice she tried unsuccessfully to turn over the limp form without such a wrenching as would start the bleeding again. She was summoning strength for the fourth attempt when she heard foot- steps approaching from behind the carcel. With a wave of joy she distinguished that one of the pairs of feet were shod. The natives insisted on being barefoot, even cutting out the soles of their shoes when they had to wear uppers to protect | their ankles. It would be Phillips. At last she would have the help she needed. She only hoped that his men were not far behind with the love-crazed doctor in tow. -She doubted little that Phillips could compel the young surgeon to perform an operation even as a prisoner. “Mr. Phillips,” she called, as the men seemed about to swing across the front of the carcel and turn down toward his bun- galow. - The steps were halted. Dimly, through the fog, she could see the men. turned toward her. A big pocket-flash was pointed at her just as she found her- self puzzled that Phillips’s form did not loom a head taller than the natives. “Ah,” came in purring: Portuguese and a voice she had learned within the past four days to hear with terror—“ as usual, trying to help the fallen. As the tempo- rary manager of this camp, permit me to thank you, and to assume the honor of escorting you to the bungalow for a short rest before you have to return to your duties with your poor father.”’ “Temporary manager!” The words came in a gasp. COMCOOOK They - (C@