Wharton advanced to the side of this strange figure, and observing
himself to be unnoticed, was about to request his assistance, when the
other broke silence in a soliloquy:--
"Now, I know this man to have been killed by Captain Lawton, as well as
if I had seen him strike the blow. How often have I strove to teach him
the manner in which he can disable his adversary, without destroying
life! It is cruel thus unnecessarily to cut off the human race, and
furthermore, such blows as these render professional assistance
unnecessary; it is in a measure treating the lights of science with
disrespect."
"If, sir, your leisure will admit," said Henry Wharton, "I must beg your
attention to a slight hurt."
"Ah!" cried the other, starting, and examining him from head to foot,
"you are from the field below. Is there much business there, sir?"
"Indeed," answered Henry, accepting the offer of the surgeon to assist
in removing his coat, "'tis a stirring time."
"Stirring!" repeated the surgeon, busily employed with his dressings;
"you give me great pleasure, sir; for so long as they can stir there
must be life; and while there is life, you know, there is hope; but here
my art is of no use. I did put in the brains of one patient, but I
rather think the man must have been dead before I saw him.
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