The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1896-11-05
tured near it hsd it been . poison fang.
"And there's nothing else In tho
wound % Jock asked.

tured near it hsd IL been q poison fang,
"And there's nothing else in thu
wound?" Jock asked.
mot q thing else."
"And you mean to tell me that T've
wasted two hours of my time, to say
nothing of = bottle of our best brandy,
in walking about Greaser that haa
nothing the matter but thorn in h1a
foot? Well, am darned."
''That's about what you have been do
ing" the doctor said, quietly.
"Well, am darned." Jock turned
with a look of righteous wrath to the
wretched Mexican, who was lying in
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 he had succeed
ed in arousing some sign of life in Louie,
that all that" pointing at his distend'
ed features, lis the cactus-thorn"
"There's not mite else in the
wound"
SWELL am darned."
GAIL the same" the doctor added
quietly, he'd have died if you hadn't
kept him going
"Died! What of?'
''Snake-bitc! Shake him up therel
Don't let him go drowsy!"
"Snake-bite! Heavens and EARTH: ]
thought you said there was nothing IN
his foot beyond tie thorn"
Then the doctor went up to Jock and
laid a hand on each of his shoulders,
and said, very slowly and distinctly:
'You mark me, Jock Peters, we're in
face of bigger thing tonight than
snake bite. We're in face of one of the
biggest and ultimatest facts of human
nature. and one of it's biggest mysteries
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 I should; and that in
connection with coolie and a cobra in
India. In that case, too, there was nc
snake bite, although there was snake
The coolie saw the snake; it darted
from beneath his feet, and at the SAME
moment Qikely from the start he gave)
thorn pierced his foot-just as it hap
Dened to the Greaser. And that man
too, the same as this man here, swellec
up, showed all the symptoms of snake
poisoning, and died. This man well
save. You, Jock, have practically saved
him by keeping him moving and coun'
teracting the poison by the brandy.
Look at the man; isn't he snake-poi'
soned:"
'By all that's blue he looks it," Jock
admitted.
"And all the hurt he's GOETHE physic.
al hurts just the pin-prick of that
thorn. The rests all mental-all the
swelling, the surcharging of the ves'
sells, mental. Now. tell me, how do
you think that man would be but fol
his morbid mental state, with all that
brandy that you've given him?"
Dead, I 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 tc
it's beating as he spoke. you've seen
o strange thing tonight, gentlemen
he added, rising again, and addressing
US collectively; "such thing as neither
you nor are likely ever to see again
And I'll tell you another thing about
it. gentlemen; it's thing that you
won't find great deal of credence TO,
when you come to tell it to the boys
There's fashion in this world for mel
to believe they know the way thing.
happen; and the thing that happens in
a way they don't know they put aside
as a thing that didn't happen. So Of
this" the doctor added, simply, 81
should only speak, as among gentle
men, with the hand on the pistol-pocket
at the hip"
After awhile the awful distortion OF
Louie's face began to go down. "You
can almost see it settling like batter
pudding" as Jim Kelly said; and the
fearful purple tinge died out Of it. Hi.
heart was beating naturally again, and
the doctor said we might let him "a
to sleep.
| In the morning he was difficult ia
rouse, as he might be after so heavy a
| night, but the doctor said he would do
right enough if we gave him rest for a
| day or two. And so we did, though his
nerve was, so shaken that we had to
send him back to the plain again, where
| there are no rattlesnakes. It appeared
later that Louie had cherished morbid
dread of snakes for long while, ever
since he had had hand in the killing
of one six feet long down in the republic
of Mexico; though after couple of
years on the ranch he had almost for
gotten that there were such things. A
man that is nervous about snakes
should never go barefoot in the hills.
1T only shows what told you," Jock
Peters commented. .'Strychnine is the
thing for snake bite, because it is
such a nerve tonic. If a man could make
believe he had not been bitten he need
never die of snake bite. If ever I'm bit
ten shall make believe it was cactus
spine."
This is a true story, although it's
such a good one. If ANYBODY doubts IT,