Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1874-03-12
A Doctors Adventure.

A Doctors Adventure.
and now we'll have a cosy, COM
Portable evening together said my
wife. And but what's that, Irving?'
My wife started nervously at sharp
peal at the bell interrupted our brief in
terval of domestic quiet.
only the surgery bell, my dear.
Somebody wanting me, suppose
And 1 went down stairs, secretly
wondering to myselfif, after all, there
was such very wide difference between
galley slave and country doctor.
The surgery door stood wide open,
but nobody was there, and through the
binding darkness without 1 could just
discern the black outlines of closed
carriage, and a man standing at the
horses head.
who's theIe-whatis wanting? /
asked, coming to the threshold, and
instinctively buttoning up the overcoat
I had hurriedly thrown on.
You're wanted, Doctor said the
man, speaking indistinctly behind the
muffiing that surrounded his face.
yes; but what for? Who wants me?'
Il am not at liberty to tell.'
had already entered the carriage,
but this suspicious answer inspired me
with distrust. 1 made a step to de-
scend, but / was too late. The vehicle
was already in motion.
1T is quite unnecessary to alarm your
| self, DOCTOR said a quiet measured
voice at my side Believe me, you are
quite safe; and 1 trust you will not feel
any uneaSineSs when / tell you that
YOU must be blindfolded.'
sHold!' calculated. 'It strikes me
that this is rather superfiuous. The
night is dark as Erebus, and you have
no lamp
Possibly returned the dry voice,
but it is best to run no risks
And then ensued a silence of some
ten or fifteen minutes, while the car
riage rolled swiftly along, and the low
murmured breathings of my unknown
companion kept time to my own un-
comfortable thoughts.
At length my companion spoke again
in the same soft, modulated tones:
Doctor, once more little precaution
is necessary-your promise never to
divulge to human soul a word of this
nights visit
l hesitated.
Il cannot bind myself by any such
covenant. The relations between ply
sician and patient are of course conf
dental; but
The carriage paused abruptly here,
and the door was swung open. At the
same instant something cold touched
my temples; it was the muZze of pis-
tol; I recoiled in horror.
sYou surely would not murder me?'
you premise, doctor?'
Il promised I gasped, recoiling once
more from the chilling touch Of the
cold steel at my temples.
Very we'll Gomez
T / was led up narrow walk, through
doorway into room, where the BAN
dage was removed suddenly from my
eyes.
The spot was very familiar to me-a
ruinous cottage, long since abandoned
to decay, in the very heart of a dense,
swampy woods. How the carriage
ever reached it l was at loss to know.
Upon a pile of straw, hurriedly thrown
into the corner of the mOuldering floor
lay a PROSTATE figure, moaning at ev-
cry breath. His face was concealed by
handkerchief, and the blood was
slowly dripping from a gunshot wound
Just above the ankle-a wound that
had been clumsily bandaged by some
unskillful hand. Moreover, there was
dark red stain upon the straw where
his head lay, and his light brown hair
was matted with coagulated. drops.
Two or three men stood around, with
rude masks of black cloth drawn over
their faces, in which three Sits were
cut for their eyes and mouth; and fe-
male figure knelt behind the heap of
straw, veiied closely. The men silent
ly made way for me as l advanced in
to the apartment, and held their Ian
terms so that the lurid light should fall
upon my strange patient, as silently
stepped and examined both wounds.
'Well?' asked my carriage companion.
Il can do nothing. The man must die.'
Nonsense! A mere bullet through
the leg-what does that amount top
hurriedly gasped the man.
in itself, not much; bnt that blow
upon the skull must prove fatal.'
A low, half-suppressed cry broke
from the woman opposite. She tore
the veil from ber face, as if she could
v
vealing features as white end beautiful
as so much sculptured stone. She did
not seem more than thirty, but after
wards knew that she was indeed ten
years older. But in spite of her pres
ent anguish how grandly beautiful she
was! Large dark eyes-hair like coil.
ed gold. catching strange CLEANS from
the shining lanterns-and a broad
smooth brow-it was a face you see
once in a whole lifetime. And yet, in
the midst of her distress, she never
spoke.
AT least yon can do something fol
him, doctor?' said my interlocutor, i'm
patiently. Don't let us waste time
here
AS proceeded in my ministration
the moaning grew fainter and fainter
the convulsive movements becam
scarcely perceptible. A faint CLEAN o
hope lighted up the face of the woman
who knelt with clasped hands oppe
site; she looked appealingly al me.
HE Is better-he is surely better?'
! He will be better soon,' l answered,