The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1896-11-05
tured near it hsd It been q poison fang.
'.And there's nothing else In the
u,o,,nd 90 Inck asked

tured near 1t h2d ~ been poison 1oaB'
"And there's nothing else in thu
wound?" Jock asked.
mot thing else"
"And you mean to tell me that 1'vs
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 q thorn IN hia
foot? Well, I am darned."
"That's about what you have been do
ing," the doctor said, quietly.
"Well, am darned." Jock turned
with look of righteous wrath to the
wretched Mexican, who was lying in
Il comatose heap in my arms; but thu
first sight of his face checked the words
unspoken.
':Shakc 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, sis the cactus-thorn"
"There's not a mite else in tho
wound"
l wen, all ulA ASN'
'All the same" the doctor added
quietly, "he'd have died if you hadn't
kept him going
"Died! What OFF,
"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 the thorn"
Then the doctor went up to Jock and
laid a hand on each of his shoulders
and said, very slowly and distinctly;
s.You mark me, Jock Peters, we're IN
face of a bigger thing tonight thar
snake bite. We're in face of one of the
biggest and ultimatest facts of human
nature, and one of it's biggestmysterle'
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 a coolie and 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]
a thorn pierced his foot-.just as it hap
pened 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 wei
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, joel
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 yes
sells, mental. Now. tell me, how dc
you think that man would be but fol
his morbid mental state, with all thai
brandy that you've given him?''
dead, I suppose ?"
"You're right-dead; as dead as yor
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 tt
it's beating as he spoke. 'You've seer
q strange thing tonight, gentlemen,
he added, rising again, and addressing
us collectively; "such a thing rs neither
you nor I are likely ever to see again
And I'll tell you another thing abou
it. gentlemen; it's thing that yo1
won't find a great deal of credence fol
when you come to tell it to the boys
| svo+ II e.,
to believe they know the way things
happen; and the thing that happens il
a way they don't know they put aside
as thing that didn't happen. So o.
this" the doctor added, simply, 81
should only speak, as among gentle
men, with the hand on the pistol-pocke
at the hip"
Louie's face began to 60 down. "Yor
can almost see it settling like batte1
pudding" as Jim Kelly said; and thu
fearful purple tinge died out of it. Hi!
heart was beating naturally again, ant
the doctor said we might let him e
to sleep.
In the morning he was difficult tt
| IOuSS, DIS TIC ullSuI Oe d1LcT So uedNy
night, but the doctor said he would d.
right enough if we gave him rest for {
day or two. And so we did, though hi:
nerve was, so shaken that we had tt
send him back to the plain again, whcr.
there are no rattlesnakes. It appeared
later that Louie had cherished morbic
dread of snakes for long while, eve,
since he had had hand in the killing
of one six feet long down in the republic
of Mexico; though after a couple o,
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 I told you," Joel
Peters commented. "Strychnine is tn.
thing for snake bite, because it il
such a nerve tonic. II man could make
believe he had not been bitten he neec
never die of snake bite. If ever I'm bit
ten I shall make believe it was a cactu.
spine"
This is q true story, although it's
such good one. If anybody doubts it