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Page 74
"Thank you," returned Virginia quietly, going to the table. "I'll take
the case now, Dr. Patten."
"You?" Patten laughed, his eyes jeering. "You operate? Do you think
that they want you to cut a skein of silk with a pair of scissors? Cut
off a man's arm . . . how far would you go before you fainted?"
"That'll be about all, Patten," came Norton's voice sternly from the
door. "This is Dr. Page's case. Clear out."
"Thank you, Mr. Norton," said Virginia quickly. She was already making
an examination of the blood covered arm and hand, and did not look
around. "And please clear the room, will you? Let Tony's wife stay,
that is all. Eloisa."
The woman came forward, her eyes wide and frightened. Virginia smiled
at her reassuringly.
"_No muy malo_," she said in the few Spanish words which she could
summon for the occasion from those she had picked up from the desert
people. "_Muy bueno manana_. And now get me some warm water . . .
_agua caliente_. Mr. Norton, if you will open my instrument
case . . . no; the other one. And then stand by to help with the
anaesthetic if Patten hasn't already given him enough to keep him
asleep all night!"
She gave her directions concisely and was obeyed. Norton put the last
of the undesired onlookers out of the door, closed it after them, found
another lamp and some candles, did all that he could think of to help
and all that was asked of him. Eloisa, having brought the water,
withdrew to a corner and kept her fascinated eyes upon Virginia's face
and stubbornly away from her husband's.
Virginia, when she had completed a very thorough examination, turned
toward Norton, her eyes blazing.
"Patten has no more right to an M.D. after his name than you have," she
cried angrily. "Not so much, for he hasn't even any brains! Cut the
man's arm off! Why, there is only a simple fracture above the wrist
which won't cause a bit of trouble. The hand is another matter; but
even it isn't half as badly mangled as it looks. . . . The second and
third fingers are terribly crushed; they've got to come off. We might
as well do it now, while he is already under the chloroform. . . .
Tell Eloisa just how matters stand and then send her out."
Eloisa, already prepared for the greater operation, gasped her
gratitude for the lesser and allowed herself to be gently thrust from
the room. Then Norton came back to the table, his eyes wonderingly
upon Virginia. He knew that she was capable; he had read that fact the
first day when he had seen her hands. But it struck him as rather
unusual that a girl, any girl no matter what her training, should take
hold as she was doing.
And as she selected her instruments, laid them out upon a bit of
sterilized gauze upon a chair, cleansed her hands and prepared to
operate he began to feel a sense of utter confidence in her. Rapidly
his own anger rose at the thought of the crime Patten would have
perpetrated.
Tony Garcia, when in due time his consciousness came back to him
bringing the attendant dizzy nausea in its wake, looked down at his
side curiously, wondering how it would be to go without an arm. And
when his Eloisa told him. . . .
"We are going to sell our cow and the goats to-morrow!" vowed Tony
faintly. "And give her all the money!"
"_Si, si_, Tony," wept the wife.
Whereupon the small children, who were teaching the goats to pull a
wagon, set up a wail of grief and rebellion.
It struck both Virginia and Norton as a shade odd that Patten should be
still in Las Estrellas when they rode out of it long after midnight.
They saw him standing in the doorway of the one still lighted building
of the village as they galloped past. It was the Three Star saloon.
Patten's horse was tied in front of it. Since Patten neither drank nor
played at dice or cards here might have been matter to ponder on. But
in neither mind was there place now for any interest other than that
which again held them silent and constrained.
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