se so gaudy
and valuable a weapon; second, no man would be so stupid as to carry so
antiquated and inadequate a thing as a stiletto, when that most
murderous and satisfactory of all penetrating and cutting weapons, the
bowie-knife, is available. She was a strong woman, too, for it requires
a good hand to drive a stiletto to the guard, even though it miss the
sternum by a hair's breadth and slip between the ribs, for the muscles
here are hard and the intercostal spaces narrow. She was not only a
strong woman, but a desperate one also."

"That will do," said Arnold. He beckoned me to bend closer. "You must
watch this man; he is too sharp; he is dangerous."

"Then," resumed Entrefort, "I shall tell you what I intend to do. There
will undoubtedly be inflammation of the aorta, which, if it persist,
will cause a fatal aneurism by a breaking down of the aortal walls; but
we hope, with the help of your youth and health, to check it.

"Another serious difficulty is this: With every inhalation, the entire
thorax (or bony structure of the chest) considerably expands. The aorta
remains stationary. You will see, therefore, that as your aorta and
your breast are now held in rigid relation to each other by the
stiletto, the chest, with every inhalation, pulls the aorta forward out
of place about half an inch. I am certain that it is doing this,
because there is no indication of an escape of arterial blood into the
thoracic cavity; in other words, the mouths of the two aortal wounds
have seized upon the blade with a firm hold and thus prevent it from
slipping in and out. This is a very fortunate occurrence, but one which
will cause pain for some time. The aorta, you may understand, being
made by the stiletto to move with the breathing, pulls the heart
backward and forward with every breath you take; but that organ, though
now undoubtedly much surprised, will accustom itself to its new
condition.

"What I fear most, however, is the formation of a clot around the
blade. You see, the presence of the blade in the aorta has already
reduced the blood-carrying capacity of that vessel; a clot, therefore,
need not be very large to stop up the aorta, and, of course, if that
should occur death would ensue. But the clot, if one form, may be
dislodged and driven forward, in which event it may lodge in any one of
the numerous branches from the aorta and produce results more or less
serious, possibly fatal. If, for instance, it should choke eithe