"No, no; only the stagnation of the blood."
"Will the limb ever be good for anything again?"
"Oh yes; neither the bone nor nerve has suffered injury; the ball has
glanced from the bone, passed under the nerve, and cut the humeral artery.
Your tourniquet has saved you from bleeding to death. 'Tis well you knew
enough to apply it. The flesh is much torn where the ball passed out; but
that will heal in time."
The doctor's task was done. Nap had set a plate of food within reach of
the stranger's left hand, and he was devouring it like a hungry wolf.
"Now, sir," said the good doctor, when the meal was finished, "I should
like to hear how you came by that ugly wound. I can't deny that things
look suspicious. I know everybody, high and low, rich and poor, for miles
in every direction, and so need no proof that you do not belong to the
neighborhood."
"No; a party of us, from New Orleans last, came out to visit this
beautiful region. We were roaming through a forest yesterday, looking for
game, when I somehow got separated from the rest, lost my way, darkness
came on, and wondering hither and thither in the vain effort to find my
comrades, tumbling over logs and fallen trees, scratched and torn by
brambles, almost eaten up by mosquitos, I thought I was having a dreadful
time of it.
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