t he did he did well. I said then to
myself that I would pay him if he brought me through--pay him in some
way.

Presently I heard them on the sand again, and I saw him come again and
bend over me. All the instruments they could find had been a razor and a
keen penknife; and all they could secure to staunch the blood was some
water, nearly boiling. For forceps Orme had a pair of bullet molds, and
these he cleansed as best he could by dipping them into the hot water.

"Cowles," he said, in a matter-of-fact voice, "I'm going after it. But
now I tell you one thing frankly, it's life or death, and if you move
your head it may mean death at once. That iron's lying against the big
carotid artery. If it hasn't broken the artery wall, there's a ghost of
a chance we can get it out safely, in which case you would probably pull
through. I've got to open the neck and reach in. I'll do it as fast as I
can. Now, I'm not going to think of you, and, gad!--if you can help
it--please don't think of me."

Ellen Meriwether had not spoken. She still held my head in her lap.

"Are you game--can you do this, Miss Meriwether?" I heard Orme ask. She
made no answer that I could hear, but must have nodded. I felt her hands
press my head more tightly. I turned my face down and kissed her hand.
"I will not move," I said.

I saw Orme's slender, naked wrist pass to my face and gently turn me
into the position desired, with my face down and a little at one side,
resting in her lap above her knees. Her skirt was already wet with the
blood of the wound, and where my head lay it was damp with blood.
Belknap took my hands and pulled them above my head, squatting beyond
me. Between Orme's legs as he stooped I could see the dead body of a
mule, I remember, and back of that the blue sky I and the sand dunes.
Unknown to her, I kissed the hem of her garment; and then I said a short
appeal to the Mystery.

I felt the entrance of the knife or razor blade, felt keenly the pain
when the edge lifted and stretched the skin tight before the tough hide
of my neck parted smoothly in a long line. Then I felt something warm
settle under my cheek as I lay, and I felt a low shiver, whether of my
body or that of the girl who held me I could not tell; but her hands
were steady. I felt about me an infinite kindness and carefulness and
pitying--oh, then I learned that life, after all, is not wholly
war--that there is such a thing as fellow-suffering and loving kindness