rth Pole, with that aluminum flag flying at
its peak, there to float till time shall be no more."

"Well, Doctor, I am a thoroughbred British subject, and can't help
wishing that it was the Union Jack that you were going to leave there;
but you deserve all the honor of the occasion, and I am glad to bid you
Godspeed," said Barton heartily.

"Thank you," replied Dr. Jones, "now let us go down and see further
about your wife's case. I must be off to-morrow morning, bright and
early."

The Doctor and Barton repaired to the sick chamber. After nearly an hour
they left the house, walked down to the river bank, and talked long and
earnestly concerning the treatment of Mrs. Barton.

"I will tell you just what I am doing for your wife, and the grounds I
have for hope. I think, under the circumstances, that an expose of the
rationale of my treatment is due you, for two reasons, first, because I
desire to give you a reason for the hope that is within me, and so make
you as happy and comfortable as possible by filling you up with a
lively faith; secondly, because I delight in instructing intelligent
people in what I conceive to be the only rational and scientific system
of medicine known to man.

"In this pocket-case book, you will observe that I have taken Mrs.
Barton's symptoms very carefully and minutely:

"1. A fearful and apprehensive state of mind. She cannot tolerate being
left alone.

"2. Intolerable thirst for cold water. Drinks often, and but a sip or
two at a time.

"3. The pains are very sharp, lancinating, and burning.

"4. She is always worse at night, from twelve o'clock until two or
three, A.M. The pains then are intolerable, and burning like red-hot
iron, so that you are obliged to hold her in your arms to prevent her
doing herself injury.

"5. Great restlessness.

"6. Skin yellow, or straw-colored, dry and wrinkled.

"7. Very emaciated and weak.

"There are quite a number of other symptoms of less importance, but all
are found under but one drug in all the earth, and that drug is arsenic.
Do not be alarmed at the name, for the doses I give are absolutely
immaterial and can do no harm. But they do possess a curative power that
is truly miraculous and past the comprehension of man. What gives me
greater hope and confidence in your wife's case is the fact that she has
never been under the surgeon's knife. Operations for cancer not only do
no good whatever, but they reduce the patient's chances of cu