ent on the prairie, where surgical assistance is not
always available, and there was a shutter ready on the ground beside
him, for the Colonel had seen the field hospital in operation.

"Unhook the tailboard," he said sharply. "Two of you pick up the
shutter. Four more here. Now, arms about his shoulders, hips, and
knees. Lift and lower--step off with right foot, leading bearer,
with your left in the rear!"

It was done in a few moments, and when the bearers passed into the
big hall that rang with their shuffling steps, Maud Barrington
shivered as she waited with her aunt in an inner room. That
trampling was horribly suggestive, and she had seen but little of
sickness and grievous wounds. Still, the fact scarcely accounted for
the painful throbbing of her heart, and the dizziness that came upon
her. Then the bearers came in, panting, with Barrington and Dane
behind them, and the girl was grateful to her aunt, who laid a hand
upon her arm when she saw the singed head, and blackened face that
was smeared with a ruddier tint, upon the shutter.

"Lower!" said Colonel Barrington. "Lift, as I told you," and the
huddled object was laid upon the bed. Then there was silence until
the impassive voice rose again.

"We shall not want you, Maud. Dane, you and I will get these burnt
things off him."

The girl went out, and while she stood, feeling curiously chilly in
an adjoining room, Barrington bent over his patient.

"Well put together!" he said thoughtfully. "Most of his people were
lighter in the frame. Well, we can only oil the burns, and get a
cold compress about his head. All intact, so far as I can see, and I
fancy he'd pull through a good deal more than has happened to him. I
am obliged for your assistance, but I need not keep you."

The men withdrew, and when a rattle of wheels rose from the prairie,
Maud Barrington waylaid her uncle in the hall. Her fingers were
trembling, and, though her voice was steady, the man glanced at her
curiously as she asked, "How is he?"

"One can scarcely form an opinion yet," he said slowly. "He is
burned here and there, and his head is badly cut, but it is the
concussion that troubles me. A frantic horse kicks tolerably hard
you know, but I shall be able to tell you more when the doctor comes
to-morrow. In the meanwhile you had better rest, though you could
look in and see if your aunt wants anything in an hour or two."

Maud Barrington passed an hour in horrible