nded man's head upon her
knees.

Without ceremony Dick forced his way through the little crowd of
onlookers, gave one keen glance at the prostrate man, and then, turning,
shouted to Grosvenor:

"This chap is bleeding to death, Phil--artery severed apparently. Just
explain to our man, will you, and tell him that, with his permission, I
propose to save the poor fellow's life. Mafuta, bring my medicine chest
here, quick!"

The little crowd, that was fast being augmented by new arrivals, scowled
ferociously at the, to them, uncouthly clad but stalwart figure of the
young doctor who had so unceremoniously forced his way in among them,
but remained passive, possibly gathering, from the tone of his speech,
that he proposed to succour the wounded man; nor did the officer in
charge of the party offer any objection, but obediently called a halt
when requested by Grosvenor to do so. A few seconds later, therefore,
Dick, with Grosvenor as his assistant, was kneeling beside the wounded
man, deftly bathing his terrible injury with an antiseptic lotion, prior
to the more difficult and delicate task of searching for and securing
the ends of the severed artery, which had been spouting blood like a
fountain until Dick had applied the tourniquet. The entire operation of
dressing, stitching, and binding up the wound occupied the best part of
half an hour, by which time the roadway was packed with people anxiously
enquiring what was amiss, and eager to get a glimpse of the benevolent
young barbarians who had so strangely come among them and at so
opportune a moment. Those who were favourably enough placed actually to
see what was going on were filled with amazement and--despite their
unreasoning hatred of strangers--admiration at the deftness with which
Dick first stanched the flow of blood and then proceeded to dress the
injury; for, strangely enough, this people, highly civilised though they
were in some respects, possessed but the most rudimentary knowledge of
medicine and surgery, pinning their faith chiefly to the virtue of
charms and incantations, their knowledge being not nearly sufficient to
enable them successfully to grapple with so serious an injury as that
with which the young Englishman was so calmly and competently dealing.
As the operation proceeded, these people, usually so cold and self-
contained, reported progress to those who were less favourably situated
for observation than themselves, and in this way the entir