a sheet before it. Invitations
had been given to Dr. Bado and Dr. Munoz, and all physicians who chose
to come, and having met the governor in the evening, I had asked him to
be present. These all honoured us with their company, together with a
number of self-invited persons, who had introduced themselves, and
could not well be turned out, making quite a crowded room.

The first who presented himself was a stout lad about nineteen or
twenty, whom we had never seen or heard of before. Who he was or where
he came from we did not know, but he was a bisco of the worst kind, and
seemed able-bodied enough to undergo anything in the way of surgery. As
soon as the doctor began to cut the muscle, however, our strapping
patient gave signs of restlessness; and all at once, with an actual
bellow, he jerked his head on one side, carried away the doctor's hook,
and shut his eye upon it with a sort of lockjaw grip, as if determined
it should never be drawn out. How my hook got out I have no idea;
fortunately, the doctor let his go, or the lad's eye would have been
scratched out. As it was, there he sat with the bandage slipped above
one eye, and the other closed upon the hook, the handle of which stood
out straight. Probably at that moment he would have been willing to
sacrifice pride of personal appearance, keep his squint, and go through
life with his eye shut, the hook in it, and the handle sticking out;
but the instrument was too valuable to be lost. And it was interesting
and instructive to notice the difference between the equanimity of one
who had a hook in his eye, and that of lookers-on who had not. All the
spectators upbraided him with his cowardice and want of heart, and
after a round of reproof to which he could make no answer, he opened
his eye and let out the hook. But he had made a bad business of it. A
few seconds longer, and the operation would have been completed. As it
was, the whole work had to be repeated. As the muscle was again lifted
under the knife, I thought I saw a glare in the eyeball that gave token
of another fling of the head, but the lad was fairly browbeaten into
quiet; and, to the great satisfaction of all, with a double share of
blackness and blood, and with very little sympathy from any one, but
with his eye straight, he descended from the table. Outside he was
received with a loud shout by the boys, and we never heard of him
again.

The room was now full of people, and, being already disgusted wit