ident happened. After
they realized how bad he was hurt, Bill remounted his horse and rode
nearly a mile; but the wound bled so then that the fellow with him
insisted on his getting off and lying on the ground while he went into
the ranch for a wagon. Well, it's to be supposed that he lost no time
riding in, and I was sent to San Angelo for a doctor. It was just
noon when I got off. I had to ride thirty miles. Talk about your good
horses--I had one that day. I took a free gait from the start, but the
last ten miles was the fastest, for I covered the entire distance in
less than three hours. There was a doctor in the town who'd been on the
frontier all of his life, and was used to such calls. Well, before dark
that evening we drove into the ranch.

"They had got the lad into the ranch, had checked the flow of blood and
eased the pain by standing on a chair and pouring water on the wound
from a height. But Bill looked pale as a ghost from the loss of blood.
The doctor gave the leg a single look, and, turning to us, said: 'Boys,
she has to come off.'

"The doctor talked to Bill freely and frankly, telling him that it was
the only chance for his life. He readily consented to the operation, and
while the doctor was getting him under the influence of opiates we fixed
up an operating table. When all was ready, the doctor took the leg off
below the knee, cursing us generally for being so sensitive to cutting
and the sight of blood. There was quite a number of boys at the ranch,
but it affected them all alike. It was interesting to watch him cut and
tie arteries and saw the bones, and I think I stood it better than any
of them. When the operation was over, we gave the fellow the best bed
the ranch afforded and fixed him up comfortable. The doctor took the
bloody stump and wrapped it up in an old newspaper, saying he would take
it home with him.

"After supper the surgeon took a sleep, saying we would start back to
town by two o'clock, so as to be there by daylight. He gave instructions
to call him in case Bill awoke, but he hoped the boy would take a good
sleep. As I had left my horse in town, I was expected to go back with
him. Shortly after midnight the fellow awoke, so we aroused the doctor,
who reported him doing well. The old Doc sat by his bed for an hour and
told him all kinds of stories. He had been a surgeon in the Confederate
army, and from the drift of his talk you'd think it was impossible to
kill a man without cu