hen I should think it could be managed. I know the least thing will
notch a razor. Now I should think if we took the large knife, and with
my pocket-knife or with the edge of a hard stone notch the edge
carefully all the way down, it would make a very good saw."

"I should think it might do anyhow, Godfrey, and the idea is a very good
one. Well, let us set about it at once. I can get a piece of fresh bone
to try on; no doubt they kill a sheep here every day."

They set to work and in ten minutes had notched the blade of the knife
all the way down. Alexis had, as he expected, no trouble in obtaining a
freshly-picked bone, and they found that the knife sawed through it very
cleanly. Then Alexis went in to see the boy again. Before, he had been
lying with his eyes half-closed, without a vestige of colour in his
cheeks; the warm milk had done its work almost instantaneously, and he
was perfectly conscious and there was a slight colour in his cheeks. His
pulse had recovered strength wonderfully. Alexis nodded approvingly to
the Buriat. He drew him outside the tent.

"If I were you," he said, "I would send away all the people from the
other huts. If the poor child screams they may get excited and rush in,
and it is better that everything should be perfectly quiet. I should
send away also the ladies, unless of course his mother particularly
wishes to be with him; but it will be trying for her, and I own that I
would rather not have anyone in the tent but you and my friend."

The Buriat went inside; he returned in two or three minutes. "My wife
will stay; my sister and the attendant will go." Then he called to the
men who were standing at the doors of their huts:

"The doctor says there must be silence for some time; he is going to do
something and he wishes that all shall retire to a distance until I wave
my hand for them to return. Will there be anything you want?" he asked
Alexis.

"A large jug of warm water," he said, "a bowl, and some soft rag--that
is all. By the time that is ready I shall be. You will have to hold his
leg, Godfrey," he went on as the Buriat returned to his tent. "You must
hold it just under the knee as firmly as possible, so as to prevent the
slightest movement. But I am going to try to mesmerize him. I have seen
it done with perfect success, and at any rate it is worth trying. In the
weak state he is in I ought to be able to succeed without difficulty.
Now I want a couple of small flat stones with