The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-04-16

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he was asking him what they put into
tin besides antimony to make britannia
of it,"
"Antimony!." exclaimed Mrs. Hackle-
down, with a glance at her bottle on the
shelf. els the boy crazy?" but at that
instant the new doctors sleigh whirled
into the yard.
The doctor had q call on q road he had
never investigated, and the snow was
deep; could he obtain a pilot?
"Send Mink" suggested Medad. "IW
do the milking, and he can find out all
about antimony," and in three minutes
more the sleigh whirled out of the yard
again. with the tip of Mink's nose just
visible above the folds of the buffalo
robe. and q busy thinking going on under
his big cap, with ear-tabs Of Mrs. Hack
downs own knitting.
"A doctor knows some things that a
lawyer Doesn't" 1fhe could only ask
him what q tourniquet was! open
your mouth, your eyes and your ears"
If he only dared!
They turned corner after corner, and
at last the doctor looked suddenly down
at Mink's nose. "All right down there?
Is II pretty OlQ Tic aSkeu.
Eyes, sir" answered Mink, %hesitating-
ly. "Only"-
Only WHAT" .
"Ifyou would be so kind rs to tell me
what a tourniquet is?"
"A tourniquet"-and the doctors
laugh rang out over the snowy hills
what ever put that into your heade A
tourniquet, my boy. is an instrument we
use to stop the flow Of blood from
wounds. if we're going to cut of q mans
leg, for instance"
"The arteries. you know" and the
doctor began to warm up, the arteries
carry the blood from the heart down.
ward to the extremities; the veins only
bring it back; sc when we don't want a
man to bleed to death, we put on the
tourniquet above the wound. 1t clasps
round the leg or the arm, and by turn
ing u screw. we give it such n grip that
the arteries come to q dead halt, and
what little veins lose below, amounts to
nothing. Clear Us daylight, eh?"
Mink nodded. and his eyes snapped
under the rim of his big cap.
"And on Il pinch. you can make n
Yourself" the doctor went on. IF you
meet n wild Indian and he gives you q
stab in your knee that you're afraid IS
going to run you dry, just take your
handkerchief and tiei it l~ooselyjust above.
Then cut a small round stick from the
first tree, slip it through the handker-
chief. give it n few round turns, and you
have u tourniquet Of your own. Under
stand?"
Mink nodded again, and pointed to Il
weatllerbeaten little house Just in sight.
"Muclf Obliged" he said. THAT
there's the house.
The snow melted off at last, the long.
slow winter was gone, and every II
drew Il breath of relief.
"~Jerusalem." exclaimed Medad. isn't
this lust the weather to 60 Maying!n
"Oh. isn't it, echoed an ~ecstatic voice
beside him, and Il pair of eyes rs blue rs
violetS looked up into his. They belong
ed to his cousin, Lucy H~ackledown. and
had been almost too much for Medad
during the three weeks she h&d been WIS.,
iting the farm.
There was only one thing that saved
him. Ecttie Newman, whose seat had
been next him Ill winter at singing
school. had brown eyes, and Medad hdd
thought there wasn't another such pair
in the world. But now, blue or brown.
brown or blue. which was it? If he only
could get them both off on Il May party
together, he was sure he might find out.
and put an end to it.
Mother" he said. " can you get up
douchruts and cold chicken enough for =
lot Of us to 90 Maying Tomorrow"
1t was all settled; the big two-horse
wagon was "hitched up" bright and
early next morning, Tom Newman's
light buggy following behind, and room
made miraculously for everybody, Mink
included, Of course. All was ready at
last, even to Medals special pride, Il
monstrous holiday handkerchief, which
paraded a red-plaided corner out of his
breast-pocket. and a new reel of small
rope that he threw into the wagon at the
last moment. "Girls are always want
ing to tie wreaths. or some such non.
sense. Get up, Dick" he said, and
they were of.
It was a fve-mile ride to the woods,
the May-fowers turned up in great pink
and white punches, the blue eyes and the
brown were still ~.diStracting, and by
twelve o'clock there was q loud call for
the lunch-basket. But, somehow, after
that. though every one had flowers
enough, no one felt like going home.
"What was to be done!"
Lets pitch quoits,' said Medad. Its
lust the placc-smooth as a barn floor
pitch quoits!" shouted Nettie's BROTH
er, Tom; ''you don't suppose smooth
stones drop off the pine rocks, do you?"
Mcuad drew out the precious handker-
chief and considered, drawing the red
and blue corners through his fingers until
it fluttcred in the wind like a small sail,
Tell you what" he exclaimed Mt last,
"there's a thousand or so at the bottom.
of the ravina yonder."
ooh" screamed Cousin Lucy and all
the other girls together; "you neve
could-you mustn't!!"'
couldn't! Don't you believe | could
climb down there and back again with
the quoits before you really knew you
were scared?"
Lets see you try it," said Tom, with
a contemptuous challenge in his tone,
In an instant the handkerchief was
thrust back into its place, and the chal-
lenge was accepted,
N1cuc, tNClstilllcU Nelllc, SpTluSlnS
forward and laying her hand on his arm,
don't let Tom make n fool Of you!
Don't mind him, Nobody in his senses
would try going down there for anything
less than a case Of life and DEATH"
Medad gave her one look; the eyes
were more irresistible than ever, but he
| never would be dared. He shook off her
hand with a laugh, and sprang to the
edge Of the cliff.
It was almost perpendicular, the ravine
seeming like a cleft in a solid wall Of rock,
at the bottom of which lay q tiny brook,
| and lust width enough for a narrow wag-
on-track to squeeze beside it. The wall on
each side was a ragged mass of clear rock.
with nothing to break its sixty feet of
| surface except it's own rough spurs pro;
| iecting here and there, and the dwarfed
| pine bushes that thrust their roots into
| every .grudging ~crevice they could find.
But over the edge went Medad with a
| swing, his hands grasping the topmost
pine bush, and his feet feeling out for the
| nearest spur of rock. The blue eyes
| looked appealingly into the brown, and
| the brown turned to Tom with an indig-
nant flash.
Aren't you ashamed, Tom?" and
Tom stepped to the edge of the bank. -,
Come, Mede, that's enough; you'd
better come back" he said. But Mede's
blood was up; His feet felt a ridge. of
rock under them, and cautiously letting
20 of the bush, he reached down and
took hold of lower one.