The record-union., 1897-08-09
EmbrOiderieS Reduced.

'sAT the same" the doctor added qui-
city, he'd have died if you hadn't kept
him going"
Died. What of?'
Snake bite-Shake him up there;
don't let him go drowsy."
Snake bitel Heavens and earth, l
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 distinctly and slowly:
You mark me, Jock Peters, were IN
the face of a bigger thing tonight than
snake bite. We're in the face of one of
the biggest and ultimatest facts or
human nature, and one of its biggest
mysteries-the influence of the mind
upon the body. I've heard OF
something like this case before. al
though I've never seen it, nor ever
thought 1 should; and that in connec-
ton with a coolie and cobra in In
dia In that case, too, there was no
snake bite, although there was a snake
The coolie saw the snake; 1T darted
from beneath his feet, and at the mo-
ment Qikely from the start he gave)
thorn pierced his feet-just as it hap
nened 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 we'n
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 pois-
oned?"
"Rv all that's blue he looks it," Jock
admitted.
And all the hurt he's got-the ply
sical hurts just the pin prick OF that
thorn. The rests all mental-all the
swelling, the surcharging of the vessels,
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 I 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 lis
tened to it's beating as he spoke.
You've seen a strange thing tonight,
gentlemen" he added, rising again, and
addressing us collectively; such a
thing as neither you nor / are likely
ever to see again. And I'll tell you an
other thing about it, gentlemen; it's
a thing that you won't find you get
deal of credence for when you come to
tell it to the boys. There's fashion
in this world for men to believe they
know the way things 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, Il should only speak, as
among gentlemen, with a hand on the
pistol pocket at the hip"
After a while the awful distortion of
Louie's face began to go down. You
can almost see it settling, like a bat
ter pudding" as Jim Kelly said; and
the fearful purple tinge died out of it.
His heart was beating naturally again,
and the doctor said we might let him
go to sleep.
In the morning he was difficult to
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 he did,
though his nerve was so shaken that
we had to send him back to the plain
again, where there are no rattlesnakes.
1t appeared later that Louie had cher
ished q morbid dread of snakes for a
long while, ever since he had had a
hand in the killing of one six feet long
down in the Republic of Mexico;
though after a couple of years on the
ranch he had almost forgotten that
there were such things. A man that is