very fair
salesman and as I was to furnish him with the polish at a stipulated
sum, I felt that I could very soon be deriving an income from his
services. My idea was to keep him with me till he could get acquainted
with the business and then arrange with some drug house to ship him what
he wanted and pay me my profits.

[Illustration: A SUCCESSFUL SURGICAL OPERATION.--PAGE 454.]

Our third day out we drove into a small hamlet, and after hitching the
old nag to a post began operations. I called at a house where there was
considerable excitement and learned that an old lady had fallen down
stairs and either broken or badly sprained her ankle. The principal
cause for excitement was the fact that no Doctor could be found. As I
passed from the house I saw Frank crossing the street a block or two
away and called to him. He came right up and I explained to him the
critical condition of the old lady and suggested that he should go in
and play surgeon as they were unable to find a doctor at home. He
consented and we went in together. Frank looked wise, and I did the
talking. Finally one of the women in attendance beckoned us to the
bedside. Frank made a hasty examination, and with my assistance helped
her to a chair and began pulling the victim around the room by her
crippled leg. She yelled and kept yelling, we pulled and kept pulling,
her son swore and kept swearing, while the dog barked and kept barking.
Everything was in a hubbub and every one excited. The neighboring women
soon left in disgust. The more we pulled the more excited we all became
and the more assurance Frank seemed to have that pulling was the only
remedy. We were very soon rewarded with success, for a moment later the
joint went back into place, snapping like a pistol, which gave the old
lady immediate relief. Then Frank _did_ look wise and I dubbed him
Doctor Frank at once.

They inquired where he was practicing, and he told them he was a
traveling Doctor. I suddenly spoke up and said:

"Why, ladies, this gentleman graduated at Whiting, Indiana. You've all
heard of that place?"

"O, yes, we've all read of it," they answered in chorus.

When asked what his charges would be he glanced at me as if undecided
what to make it. I raised both hands intimating ten dollars as the
proper figure. He said:

"Well, the usual charge for a case of this kind is twenty dollars, but
I'll charge you only ten."

They hesitated, and grudgingly paid the price, but were