rthcoming, she
took it and began to pour a stream of hissing, bubbling water in at the
foot of the bath.

The skin of the torpid patient had been reddening for a few seconds, so
as to prove that its sensibility was returning, and now when the stream
from the kettle began to mix with the already very hot bath, and to
raise its temperature almost to boiling, suddenly there was heard a cry
from the bath, and the patient, with the agility of youth and health,
skipped out of the tub and into his bed, kicking vigorously and
exclaiming:

"Brigands! Assassins! You have scalded my legs to death!"

"Glory be to the Lord, he's saved!" cried one of the waiters, a devout
Irishman.

"Ciel! he speaks! he moves! he lives! mon frere!" cried the little
Frenchwoman, going to him.

"Ah, murderers! bandits! you've scalded me to death! I'll have you all
before the commissaire!"

"He scolds! he threatens! he swears! he gets well! mon frere!" cried
the old woman, busying herself to change his clothes and put on his
flannel nightgown. They then tucked him up warmly in bed and put
bottles of hot water all around, to keep up this newly stimulated
circulation.

At that moment Dr. Rocke came in, put his hand into the bath-tub and
could scarcely repress a cry of pain and of horror--the water scalded
his fingers! What must it have done to the sick man?

"Good heavens, madam! I did not tell you to parboil your patient!"
exclaimed Traverse, speaking to the old woman. Traverse was shocked to
find how perilously his orders had been exceeded.

"Eh bien, Monsieur! he lives! he does well! voila mon frere!" exclaimed
the little old woman.

It was true: the accidental "boiling bath," as it might almost be
called, had effected what perhaps no other means in the world could--a
restored circulation.

The disease was broken up, and the convalescence of the patient was
rapid. And as Traverse kept his own secret concerning the accidental
high temperature of that bath, which every one considered a fearful and
successful experiment, the fame of Dr. Rocke spread over the whole city
and country.

He would soon have made a fortune in New Orleans, had not the hand of
destiny beckoned him elsewhere. It happened thus:

The old Frenchman whose life Traverse had, partly by accident and
partly by design, succeeded in saving, comprehended perfectly well how
narrow his escape from death had been, and attributed his restoration
solely to the genius, skill and