xtract it, his chance of
surviving is scarcely one in a hundred."

"Let him have the one, then, the one in the hundred, like the ninety and
nine lost sheep. The Lord can multiply a hundredfold--some threescore,
and some an hundredfold. I will speak to Him, gentlemen, while you try
the job."

CHAPTER LVII

FEMALE SUFFRAGE

All that could be done by skill and care and love, was done for Firm.
Our lady manager and head nurse never left him when she could be spared,
and all the other ladies vied in zeal for this young soldier, so that
I could scarcely get near him. His grandfather's sad and extraordinary
tale was confirmed by a wounded prisoner. Poor Ephraim Gundry's rare
power of sight had been fatal perhaps to the cause he fought for, or
at least to its greatest captain. Returning from desperate victory, the
general, wrapped in the folds of night, and perhaps in the gloom of his
own stern thoughts, while it seemed quite impossible that he should be
seen, encountered the fire of his own troops; and the order to fire was
given by his favorite officer, Colonel Firm Gundry. When the young man
learned that he had destroyed, by a lingering death, the chief idol of
his heart, he called for a rifle, but all refused him, knowing too well
what his purpose was. Then under the trees, without a word or sigh, he
set the hilt of his sword upon the earth, and the point to his heart--as
well as he could find it. The blade passed through him, and then snapped
off--But I can not bear to speak of it.

And now, few people might suppose it, but the substance of which he was
made will be clear, when not only his own knowledge of his case but
also the purest scientific reasoning established a truth more frankly
acknowledged in the New World than in the Old one. It was proved that,
with a good constitution, it is safer to receive two wounds than one,
even though they may not be at the same time taken. Firm had been
shot by the captain of Mexican robbers, as long ago related. He was
dreadfully pulled down at the time, and few people could have survived
it. But now that stood him in the very best stead, not only as a lesson
of patience, but also in the question of cartilage. But not being
certain what cartilage is, I can only refer inquirers to the note-book
of the hospital, which has been printed.

For us it was enough to know that (shattered as he was and must be) this
brave and single-minded warrior struggled for the time successful