at dentist are you
in league with? Gelid has just broken off his favorite tooth, and now
you want"--

"Bah!" replied Bangs, "don't frighten yourself; but what the deuce is
this? Wagtail, Gelid, my dear fellows, look here!"

A sailor, who was followed by the ship's surgeon, brought down on his
back, the poor fellow who had been wounded, and laid him on the table.
I must here remark that the captain's cabin in small vessels is
sometimes used as a cockpit, as it now was.

"Your pardon, captain and gentlemen," said the surgeon, "but I must,
I fear, perform an ugly operation on this poor lad, and I think it
better that you should go on deck."

I had now an opportunity of seeing what kind of mettle my friends were
made of.

"Doctor," said Bangs, pulling off his coat, "I can be of use, I know
very well--no skill, but firm nerves."

"And I," cried Wagtail, "can tie a bandage, although I am not a
surgeon."

Gelid said nothing, but when it came to the pinch was the most useful
of all. The wounded lad Wiggins, a fine young man, was weak and very
pale, but bold as a lion. A cannon shot had shivered the bone of his
leg just above the knee. Round his thigh was a tourniquet, and in
consequence he did not bleed much.

"Captain," said the poor boy, "I shall get over this. I have no great
pain, sir; I have not indeed."

All this time the surgeon was cutting his pantaloons from his leg, and
now a shocking sight presented itself to our view. The foot and leg
were blue and shrivelled, and connected with the thigh by only a small
ligament; the knee pan too was shattered. The doctor made the young
man swallow a glass of brandy, containing a strong dose of opium, and
then began to amputate the limb above the knee. As long as the knife
was used, Aaron remained firm, but when the saw grated against the
bone, he murmured with a shudder:

"I'm going on deck captain: I can't stand this--I'm sick as a dog."

He was so weak that I released him and took his place, holding Wiggins
in my arms. Wagtail, too, was soon obliged to beat a retreat, but
Gelid remained firm as a rock. The leg was amputated, the arteries
tied, and the surgeon busy in loosening the tourniquet, when suddenly
the thread which bound the principal artery, gave way, and a stream of
blood gushed forth, as if driven by an engine. The poor fellow had
hardly time to cry "Take away that cold hand from my heart!" when his
eyes grew dim, his lower jaw fell, and in a minute it