, and died next day."

"I said, Major, that a wise man was always ready to listen to good
advice. I was not a wise man in those days--I was a pig headed young
fool. I thought I knew all about it, and I was quite right according
to my experience in London hospitals. In the case of an Englishman, the
hand would have been amputated, and the man would have been all right
three weeks afterwards. But I knew nothing about these soft hearted
Hindoos, and never dreamt that an operation which would be a trifle to
an Englishman would be fatal to one of them, and that simply because,
although they are plucky enough in some respects, they have no more
heart than a mouse when anything is the matter with them. Yes, if it
hadn't been for the old Colonel, who gave me a private hint to say
nothing about the affair, but merely to put down in my report, 'Died
from the effect of a gunshot wound,' I should have got into a deuce of a
scrape over that affair. As it was, it only cost me a hundred rupees
to satisfy the man's family and send them back to their native village.
That was for years a standing joke against me, Miss Hannay; except your
uncle and the Colonel, there is no one left in the regiment who was
there, but it was a sore subject for a long time. Still, no doubt, it
was a useful lesson, and my rule has been ever since, never amputate
except as a forlorn hope, and even then don't amputate, for if you do
the relatives of the man, as far as his fourth cousins, will inevitably
regard you as his murderer. Well, I must be off; I will look in tomorrow
morning, Major, and make an inspection of your resources."

"I am glad to see the Hunters are going to bring over their carriage,"
the Major said, two days later, as he looked through a letter. "I am
very glad of that, for I put it off till too late. I have been trying
everywhere for the last two days to hire one, but they are all engaged,
and have been so for weeks, I hear. I was wondering what I should do,
for my buggy will only hold two. I was thinking of asking Mrs. Doolan if
she could take one of the Miss Hunters, and should have tried to find a
place for the other. But this settles it all comfortably. They are going
to send on their own horses halfway the day before, and hire native
ponies for the first half. They have a good large family vehicle; I
hoped that they would bring it, but, of course, I could not trust to
it."

The Doctor presently dropped in with Captain Doolan. After c