r--"

"What d'ye mean kid you?" I asks him. "Didn't the doctor--"

"Doctor!" he interrupts me, slammin' down the pillow. "If that guy was
a doctor, I'm Caruso! He comes in here where I'm practically dyin' and
tries to sell me a book!"

"Gimme it all!" I gasps.

"He sits down at the bed," explains the Kid, "and takes a big, black
book out of what I figured was his medicine chest. He holds it up and
asks me if I see it and I says I did, thinkin' I had passed the first
test easy. Then he says he wrote the book himself and it's full of
hope and cheer or dope and beer--to tell you the truth, I don't know
which it was on account of the pain. Anyhow, I let him get away with
it, and he tells me to think of how lucky I actually am alongside of
the Crown's Prince of Germany--and then he begins to read from that
book! It seems it's a novel about faith bein' stronger than pain. By
this time, I seen that he was either nutty or tryin' to kid me, so I
cut him off by askin' him when he's gonna fix up my arm. He says he's
doin' it now, and when he gets through, he'll leave the book which will
be a total of twenty-five bucks. When I come to, I ask him how long he
had been a doctor, and he gets sore and claims he's a healer of the
Mystic Sliders or somethin' like that, and what do I mean by callin'
him a doctor? Then I called him a few other things so's he wouldn't
have no kick comin' and gave him the bum's rush out of the room. Eddie
Duke starts to moan about me maulin' his friend, and--well, get him to
show you his eye!"

The door opens suddenly and Miss Vincent sticks the curls which all the
shop girls is copyin' around the side of it.

"It's the doctor!" she whispers.

"Say!" pipes the Kid, grabbin' a pillow. "That old guy is game, eh?"

"A fightin' fool!" I agrees.

But this time a tall, solemn-lookin' guy breezes into the room and
stares at me and the Kid with the same warm friendliness that a
motorcycle cop regards a boob tryin' out a new auto. I figured he was
the bird I had ordered by 'phone, and hit 1000 on the guess. He leans
over the Kid, prods him around a bit, and then goes over him like he
had lost somethin' and thought maybe he'd find it there. Then he
straightens up and grunts.

"Hmph!" he says. "This man is a nervous wreck! Completely run
down--needs rest and diet. I have my car outside and can take him over
to the sanitarium, if--are you a relative?"

"His manager," I explains. "How abo