and the Winnebagos could neither eat nor sleep. Poor Dick
was frantic, yet he dared not show himself at the house for fear every
one would point an accusing finger at him as the one responsible for the
misfortune.

But Sahwah, true to her usual habit of always doing the unexpected
thing, progressed along just the opposite lines from those prophesied by
the physician. After a few days her fever abated and the danger from the
concussion was over. Sahwah's head had demonstrated itself to be of a
superior solidness of construction. But the hip, which at first had not
given them a moment's uneasiness, steadfastly refused to mend. Dr.
Benson looked puzzled; then grave. The splintered end of that hip bone
began to be a nightmare to him. He called in another doctor for
consultation. The new doctor set it in a different way, nearly killing
Sahwah with the pain, although she struggled valiantly to be brave and
bear it in silence. Nyoda never forgot that tortured smile with which
Sahwah greeted her when she came in after the process was over. A week
or two passed and the bones still made no effort to knit. Another
consulting physician was called in; a prominent surgeon. He ordered
Sahwah removed to the hospital, where he made half a dozen X-ray
pictures of her hip. The joint was so badly inflamed and swollen that it
was impossible to tell just where the trouble lay. Sahwah fumed and
fretted with impatience at having to stay in bed so long. Surgeon after
surgeon examined the fracture and shook their heads.

At last a long consultation was held, at the close of which Mr. and Mrs.
Brewster were called into the council of physicians. "We have
discovered," said Dr. Lord, a man high up in the profession who was
considered the final authority, "that the ball joint of your daughter's
hip has been fractured in such a way that it can never heal. There is
one inevitable result of this condition, and that is tuberculosis of the
bone. If not arrested this will in time communicate itself to the bones
of the upper part of the body and terminate fatally. There is only one
way to prevent this outcome and that is amputation of the limb before
the disease gets a hold on the system."

"You mean, cut her leg off?" asked Mrs. Brewster faintly.

"Yes," said Dr. Lord shortly. He was a man of few words.

Sahwah was stunned when she heard the verdict of the surgeons. She knew
little about disease and it seemed wildly impossible to her that this
limb o