"
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.
Pages:
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238