s more, these fellows get about him
and roll him. In two weeks he is kicked out, half dead. Oh, Hickey is a
villain, and he is in league with the red-light houses, too. They work
together, to the physical and moral damnation of the place. We want a
clean stopping-place, a club-room, and above everything else a
hospital. Why, when the miners and lumbermen happen to get off the same
night the blood flows, and there is abundant practice for any surgeon
for a week or so."

"Sounds exciting," said The Don, mildly interested. "Why don't you go
up, doctor?"

"It is not the kind of practice I desire. My tastes are for a gentler
mode of life. The dangers of the Pass are too exciting for me. They are
a quaint people," the doctor continued, "primitive in their ideas and
customs, pre-historic, indeed, in their practice of our noble art. I
remember an experience of mine, some years ago now, which made a vivid
impression upon me at the time, and indeed, I could not rid myself of
the effects for many days, for many days."

"What was that, doctor?" enquired Shock, scenting a story.

"Well, it is a very interesting tale, a very interesting tale. Chiefly
so as an illustration of how, in circumstances devoid of the amenities
of civilised life, the human species tends toward barbarism. A clear
case of reversion to type. There was a half-breed family living in the
Pass, by the name of Goulais, and with the family lived Goulais'
brother, by name Antoine, or, if you spelled it as they pronounced it,
it would be 'Ontwine.' The married one's name was Pierre. Antoine was a
lumberman, and in the pursuit of his avocation he caught a severe cold,
which induced a violent inflammation of the bowels, causing very
considerable distension and a great deal of pain. Being in the
neighbourhood attending some cases of fever, I was induced by some
friends of the Goulais to call and see the sick man."

"The moment I opened the door I was met by a most pungent odour, a most
pungent odour. Indeed, though I have experienced most of the smells
that come to one in the practice of our profession, this odour had a
pungency and a nauseating character all its own. Looking into the room
I was startled to observe the place swimming with blood, literally
swimming with blood. Blood on the floor, blood upon the bed, and
dripping from it."

"'What does this mean? Is someone being murdered? Whence this blood?'"

"'Non! non!" exclaimed Mrs. Goulais. "There is no one k