Rocky Ford enterprise., 1913-05-16

| per, covered with blood. was lying
on the river bank, with the motor
boat at my feet, supported by two
bowling native servants
"'Where Is Ficre?' I asked.
1.-The others are bringing him: he
will die soon,. too,' they replied.
"And the buffalo?
Dead was the laconic reply.
"a thick flood of blood was contin-
ually flowing from my mouth and the
right side of my face. The natives
lifted me into the boat, and with
every moment the blood flowed faster.
"Quick.' managed to gasp. the
medicine chest!'
They brought 1t to me. There was
only one thing to do and that quickly.
Sew, sew. sew! Terrible necessity
taught me how to ply the surgical
needle. With a native holding my
shaving-mirror before me and another
supporting me by the shoulders, I
thrust the needle through the flesh.
A Jagged, irregular hole as large as
my hand gaped in my right cheek;
my under lip hung loosely quivering.
Under the Mortified gaze of the ma
tives I jabbed the bent needle again
and again into my flesh and cobbled
the tattered ends together.
THE pain was excruciating. Heav-
en- alone helped me to keep my
senses. To this day do not know
how I managed to do 1t. The lower
jaw was broken in two places-near
the ear and near the lip-and from
this crushed mass a long splinter of
bone with three teeth attached hung
loosely by the nerves and flesh of the
gums. The whole outer flesh OF the
lower jaw was scraped loose. Teeth.
roots and bones lay white and SHIN
mering through the hole In my cheek.
My tongue, pierced by the point of
the buffalo's horn, was half torn
from its foundations. spat contin-
uously splinters of bone and teeth.
Eat last the operation was finished
to the best of my ability, and I BAN
.daged by face as best l knew how.
A strong stimulant gave me new life
and helped me to face the other sur
gical operation for Fiere.
I'm the meantime the tent had been
erected and bed prepared for my
poor companion, from whom James,
the cook, had already cut the clothes
with pair of scissors. He had re-
covered consciousness, and softly his
pale lips formed the words, tres
mauvais' (very bad. He had been
pierced and tossed three times. The
left breast muscle hung loose; heart
and lungs were untouched. In the
left side, between heart and hip. was
a great tear. This wound / imme-
diately sewed together. James wash
ed, bandaged and put Fiere to bed.
He breathed regularly. and seemed
to sleep.
Might fell dark and dismal-a
night full Of pain. during which my
mouth seemed full of red-hot stones.
Toward morning a short. troubled
sleep gave me temporary relief from
my awful agony. With the gray light
of dawn awoke to fresh tortures.
Everything was deadly still. I sum-
moned the servants by clapping my
hands and they opened the tent door.
Then I arose and crossed over to
Fiere's bed. The first light OF day
fell on a pale, shrunken face. 1t was
DEATH"
So, on the very Threshold of sue
cess, one was taken and the other
left, shattered wreck. Far from all
aid and alone with his native SER
wants, Lieutenant Graetz faced the
situation as only a man of his cali
ber could. One of the natives was
dispatched at once to Kasama, in
northeastern Rhodesia. to summon
help. This was the nearest point In
habited by white men.
DR.. G. F. Randall. the district sur
geon, and Mr.. Cookson, the magis-
trate of Kasama. marched day and
night for two days to his relief.
Hastily further operations were per-
formed under the most difficult cir
cumstances. And then. on an I'M
provised stretcher. Graetz was car
ried to Kasama. One can imagine
the painful journey. journey rem
dered all the more pitiful because of
the loss of his trusted assistant. The
relief party buried poor Fiere at
Charenama, but later his body will
be brought to Kasama and re-interred
there by the white fathers of the
Catholic mission.
To most men this disastrous set
back would prove an insurmountable
hindrance to the completion of the
program: but with Lieutenant Graetz
it was different. He has started
again and will continue his journey
until 1t is completed or until death
claims him. He intends to reach the
mouth of the Congo by the end of the
year. man of superlative grit. who
fiinches from no dangers and who
knows not what the words fear and
defeat mean,