mber 23 the oil
lamps, stuck in brackets along the walls, smoked. At one end, where two
pine tables were placed, the air from the open window blew the flames
distractingly. A surgeon, half dead with fatigue, strained well-nigh to
the point of tears, exclaimed upon it. "That damned wind! Shut the
window, Miss Cary. Yes, tight! It's hell anyhow, and that's what you do
in hell--burn up!"

Judith closed the window. As she did so she looked once at the light on
the northern horizon. The firing shook the window-pane. The flame of the
lamp now stood straight. She turned the wick higher, then lifted a
pitcher and poured water into a basin, and when the surgeon had washed
his hands took away the reddened stuff. Two negroes laid a man on the
table--a gaunt North Carolinian, his hand clutching a shirt all
stiffened blood. Between his eyelids showed a gleam of white, his breath
came with a whistling sound. Judith bent the rigid fingers open, drew
the hand aside, and cut away the shirt. The surgeon looked. "Humph!
Well, a body can but try. Now, my man, you lie right still, and I won't
hurt you much. Come this side, Miss Cary--No, wait a moment!--It's no
use. He's dying."

The North Carolinian died. The negroes lifted him from the table and put
another in his place. "Amputation," said the surgeon. "Hold it firmly,
Miss Cary; just there." He turned to the adjoining table where a younger
man was sewing up a forearm, ripped from wrist to elbow by a piece of
shell. "Lend me your saw, will you, Martin?--Yes, I know the heat's
fearful! but I can't work by a lamp that has Saint Vitus!" He turned
back to his table. "Now, my lad, you just clench your teeth. Miss Cary
and I aren't going to hurt you any more than we can help. Yes, above the
knee." The younger surgeon, having finished the cut, wiped away with a
towel the sweat that blinded him. "The next.--Hm! Doctor, will you look
here a moment?--Oh, I see you can't! It's no use, Mrs. Opie. Better have
him taken back. He'll die in an hour.--The next."

The ward was long, low ceiled, with brown walls and rafters. Between the
patches of lamplight the shadows lay wide and heavy. The cots, the
pallets, the pew cushions sewed together, were placed each close by
each. A narrow aisle ran between the rows; by each low bed there was
just standing room. The beds were all filled, and the wagons bringing
more rumbled on the cobblestones without. All the long place was
reekingly hot, with a strong smell