The record-union., 1896-11-22

ana neaVy, SO tnat L wondered Inal
Jock, unaided, could have kept him
moving SO long.
Give him more brandy Jock di-
rected .'more-that's it-he's had
nearly all the bottle. There's chance,
he went on presently; Il really believe
| there is l thought he'd have been
| dead before now. May be he don't
mean dying after all. A white man'd
| have been dead half an hour ago."
Il wish the doctord come"
-nlghty little good wishing"
The weary tramp went on. Twice L
| had to replenish the beacon torch, and
| once more we gave the Mexican gulp
of the brandy, which finished the bot
| tie. AS l was fixing the torch for the
| third time, I heard a shout down the
canyon. l answered with all my might
and in few minutes Jim Kelly and the
| doctor rode into the circle of the far-
| ing light.
"Alive?" the doctor asked.
ALIVE. yes" said Jock; ''alive and
| that's about ALL He cant speak"
What have you given him-brandy?
that's right. How much?"
"A bottleful."
iNSHt, dito you VIC hcPt hiiiA
That's it. He won't die now. Wonder
full fellows, these Greasers. He'd have
died before this if he meant dying.
| Let's see the wound"
! The candle burned as quietly in the
still air as in a room. The Mexican's
! foot was swollen, SO that it scarcely
| looked like human member: but in the
midst of the purple swelling was white
| circle with the little blue mark plainly
evident for its center. The Mexican
| seemed to feel no pain. even when the
| doctor handled the wound and pressed
il upward with his fingers.
Hold the candle close" he said. IT'S
blamed strange" he added, blamed
| strange" pecking at the little blue mark
with his forceps; 'the fang's in the
wound yet. 1 never heard of that hap
| peEing before. Shake him a bit; don't
! let him get drowsy''
| His swollen limbs wobbled like jelly
under the treatment. 1t was horrid
The doctor gave little dig, and then
| a little tug with his forceps. Presently
| be held up to the candle, in the clutch of
| the forceps, a long white spine, and re-
| garded it curiously.
Then he said in hollow voice: do
| you know what 1t is? It's not fang a
all; it's a cactus spike
| What
! A strangely perpleXed little group of
| men gazed into each others faces with
| questioning eyes, under the stars that
| twinkled out over the snow-topped
edges of the Sierras.
only a thorni"
Look at it," the doctor said you
can see the thing for yourselves
| One after the other we examined the
spine, feeling its point with finger that
we certainly should not have ventured
near it had it been poison-fang. And
| there's nothing else in the wound?"
| Jock asked.
Not thing else
And you mean to tell me that 1--we
| wasted two hours Of my TIME, to say
| nothing of bottle of our best brandy,
in walking about a Greaser that has
nothing the mauter but a thorn in his
| foot? Well, l am darned."
That's about what you've been
doing" the doctor said quietly.
| We'll, I am darned." Jock turned
with a look of righteous wrath to the
wretched Mexican, who was lying in a
| comatose heap in my arms; but the
first sight of his face checked the words
| unspoken.
Shake him up; keep him waking"
the doctor cried.
But you don't mean to tell me-"
Jock began again, when we had sue
ceeded in arousing some sign of life in
Louie, that all that" pointing at his
distended features, 'is the cactus
| thcrn?''
There's not mite else in the
| wound"
We'll, 1 am darned."
| "All the same" the doctor added
quietly, he'd have died if you hadn't
kept him going
Died! What Off"
SNAKE bite-shake him up there:
don't let him go drowsy."
Snake bite, Heavens and earth, I
thought you said there was nothing in
his foot beyond the thorn"
Then the doctor went up to Jock and
! laid hand on each of his shoulders,
and said, very slowly and distinctly:
| You mark me, Jock Peters, we're in
| face of a bigger thing tonight than
| snake bite. We're in face of one of the
biggest and ultimatist facts of human
nature. and one of its biggest myster
! ies-the influence of the mind upon the
body. I've heard of something like this
case before, although I've never seen
/ it, nor ever thought l should; and that
! in connection with a coolie and a cobra
in India. In that case, too, there was
no snake bite, although there was
| snake. The coolie saw the snake; it
| darted from beneath his feet, and at
1 the moment 0ikely from the start he
gave a thorn pierced his feet-just as
i it happened to the Greaser. And that
man, too, the same as this man here.
swelled up, showed all the symptoms
of snake poisoning and died. This man
1 we'll save. You, Jock, have practi-
cally saved him, by keeping him NOV
/ ing and counteracting the poison by the
brandy. Look at the man; isn't he
snake poisoned?"
by all that's blue, he looks it, Jock
admitted.
And all the hurt he's got-the physi-
| cal hurts just the pin prick of that
| thorn. The rests all mental-all the
swelling, the surcharging of the YES
sells, mental. Now. tell me, how do you
think that man would be but for his
morbid mental state, with all that
| brandy that you've given him?"
Dead, 1 suppose"
You're right-dead; as dead as you
| or would be, if We set to drink the same
| just now. But he-he's hardly drunk;
] he's sober. And he's better now-heart
acting better He bent and listened
| to it's beating as he smoke "YOu'ye seen