The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1884-02-28

dlQ not Gnlnk OF, ne was Cne OnlO
one of the three who would have
been capable of acting his part
| but yet did not know this either.
He only gave Jimmy and Bill
few hints as to what they were tt
do, how they were to look as scared
as possible when Bills father came
home at night, and how they were
to say they knew nothing Of Pet
except that he was suddenly ''took
bad"
Whereupon the taking prompt
ly occurred, and with a thud that
was unexpected even to Jimmy and
Bill, Pet threw himself down at
full length on the pavement. A
small crowd instantly collected
round them. Most of the people
only stared q moment and then
passed on; one or two expressed
pity; and after few moments the
inevitable policeman arrived and
pushed his way up to Pets side,
roughly questioning Jimmy and
Bill. They wimpered a bit and
looking frightened-to order, and
the policeman, after rolling Pet
over with his foot and finding him
apparently altogether unconscious
said he must 60 to the hospital,
and, with the help of a good-natured
bystander, himself carried him
there, Jimmy and Bill and several
others following.
It was something to De inside
those great walls, as Jimmy and
Bill and Pet, too, thought, while
the latter was being carried by the
reporter on a stretcher into the
casualty ward and big bell was
rung for Number One-that is, a
young dresser always handy, who
sees a case first, and, ifit be triflng,
attends to it without sending for
the house surgeon. But of Pet the
dresser could make nothing at all,
and he soon called the house sur
geon, who came running down from
the top of the high building and ap-
piled himself with the rapidity of a
hard-worked man to the considera-
tionSof the case before him. He
did not look over thirty, but there
was an amount of decision, a firm
ness and gentleness in his touch
Of Pet, which spoke well fot the.
use he had made of his head and
his heart. The policeman stated
what he knew and was dismissed,
while the surgeon looked for all the
most likely symptoms in Pet, and
was able to find none Of them. The
patient was simply unconscious.
The boys were asked whether Pet
had been III before he fell down
suddenly, and they said: ''No,
only the cougaE'
And as they both cried, or howled
steadily, all the time, the dresser
sent them away, telling them they
might come the next morning to
hear what is the matter with their
friend. They, not sorry to get their
dismissal after the surgeon had ar
rived on the scene, scampered off.
Then the surgeon, Systematically
and very patiently indeed, began
at Pets head anil examined him
down to his fest to find some cause
of this extraordinary unconscious
ness, and could find none. Dis
ease be found indeed, for the poor
little fellows lungs were half gone,
but as he said to the dresser: !:
s:Boys don't drop down unconscious
from that p Icing strangely bafied,
the surgeon ordered Pet to be taken
to the childrcn's ward, undressed
and put TO bed.
"We'll see what we can make of
him then," he said.
1t was not by any means easy
for Pet to keep up his acting. es-
pecially when strong ammonia was
put under his nose and almost boil
inc water to his feet, but he man
aoed il, more now from pride than
from longing after the Christmas
tree, even. Only when he was
lifted by the nurse into soft, clean,
warm bed, such as he had rever
dreamt of before. that small closed
mouth of his involuntarily parted,
and something very like a smile,
like the ghost ola smile, stole over
his face.
The surgeon, noticing it, was
struck with the idea that the boy
might be shamming.
"Feteh the battery here" he
said.
Pet did not know what a battery
meant, or his smile would certainly
have disappeared as involuntarily
as it had come.
The surgeon waited by his side,
holding his small hand and think
ing to himself that, shauming or
nor shamming, Pet had the most
pathetic face he had met with in
all his experience of sadness and
suffering.
Then the battery was brought
and a slight shock was administer
ed from it down Pets back,
"Oh !! that was horrible p thought
the lad. "What was it? Would il
come again?'
He managed not to vince under
it the first time. A second and {
harder shock was given. Pet did
not quite scream, but he pressed
his fingers so hard into the house
l