ch was arranged to raise the pit of his stomach
above the rest of his body. Uncle Ed now wrapped a handkerchief around
his forefinger, and with it wiped out Bill's mouth and throat. Reddy,
who was the least excited of the lot, was told to draw Bill's tongue
forward so as to prevent it from falling back and choking the windpipe.
This he did with the dry part of the handkerchief, drawing the end of
the tongue out at the corner of the mouth, and holding it there while
Uncle Ed and I started the pumping action, which produced artificial
respiration. I was directed to grasp Bill's arms just below the elbows,
and swing them vertically in an arc until the hands met the ground again
above the head. This expanded the chest. Uncle Ed at the same time stood
over the body with his elbows on his knees and hands extended, as
illustrated in Fig. 88. Then I swung the arms up and back to the sides
of the body, but just before the hands touched the ground Uncle Ed
seized the body in both hands just below the ribs, and as soon as I
touched the arms to the ground he swung forward with all his weight on
his hands, squeezing the waist and pushing upward so as to force out the
air in the chest. Then he slowly counted, one, two, three, four, all the
time steadily increasing the pressure, until at the signal four, with a
final push, he shoved himself to the first position, shown in Fig. 88.
At the same signal I drew the arms up again over the head, and held them
there while Uncle Ed again counted four; then I returned the arms to the
sides, and Uncle Ed repeated the squeezing process. These movements were
continued for about three minutes, and then Bill gave a short, faint
gasp. We kept on with the artificial respiration, assisting the gasps,
which gradually grew stronger, until they had deepened into steady
breathing. Then we stripped off the wet bathing suit, and wrapping Bill
in Uncle Ed's clothing, laid him in the bottom of the boat. While Dutchy
hurried the boat across, Uncle Ed rubbed the patient's arms and legs.
The rest of us swam over and ran for blankets from the tent. Bill was
wrapped in one of the blankets and the other was used as a stretcher, on
which we carried him to the tent. Then one of us was sent post-haste
across to Lumberville for some whiskey, which was diluted in hot water
and given the patient a teaspoonful at a dose, every fifteen minutes at
first, and then at less frequent intervals. Uncle Ed kept Bill in bed
all the ne