It is a
curious case, sir; I will take you to see it--only across the fence
there, where you may perceive so many bodies together. Ah! the ball has
glanced around the bone without shattering it; you are fortunate in
falling into the hands of an old practitioner, or you might have lost
this limb."
"Indeed!" said Henry, with a slight uneasiness. "I did not apprehend the
injury to be so serious."
"Oh, the hurt is not bad, but you have such a pretty arm for an
operation; the pleasure of the thing might have tempted a novice."
"The devil!" cried the captain. "Can there be any pleasure in mutilating
a fellow creature?"
"Sir," said the surgeon, with gravity, "a scientific amputation is a
very pretty operation, and doubtless might tempt a younger man, in the
hurry of business, to overlook all the particulars of the case."
Further conversation was interrupted by the appearance of the dragoons,
slowly marching towards their former halting place, and new applications
from the slightly wounded soldiers, who now came riding in, making hasty
demands on the skill of the doctor.
The guides took charge of Wharton, and, with a heavy heart, the young
man retraced his steps to his father's cottage.
The English had lost in the several charges about one third of their
foot, but the remainder were rallied in the wood; and Dunwoodie,
perceiving them to be too strongly posted to assail, had left a strong
party with Captain Lawton, with orders to watch their motions, and to
seize every opportunity to harass them before they reembarked.
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