“Dear me!  How can you say such a thing, Wicker?”

“Well, you’d like old Anderson.  He’s a jewel!”

“I dare say—­an emerald.  No, no—­that was not fair or kind, Wicker.  I unsay it.  Mr. Crow and all of them have been good to you.  Forgive me the sarcasm.  Mr. Crow is perfectly impossible, but I like him.  He has a heart, and that is more than most of us can say.  And now let us return to earth once more.  When will you be ready to start for Boston?  To-morrow?”

“Heavens, no!  I’m not to be moved for quite a long time—­danger of gangrene or something of the sort.  It’s astonishing, mother, what capable men these country doctors are.  Dr. Smith is something of a marvel.  He—­he—­saved my leg.”

“My boy—­you don’t mean that—­” his mother was saying, her voice trembling.

“Yes; that’s what I mean.  I’m all right now, but, of course, I shall be very careful for a couple of weeks.  One can’t tell, you know.  Blood poisoning and all that sort of thing.  But let’s not talk of it—­it’s gruesome.”

“Indeed it is.  You must be extremely careful, Wicker.  Promise me that you will do nothing foolish.  Don’t use your leg until the doctor—­but I have something better.  We will send for Dr. J——.  He can run up from Boston two or three times—­”

“Nothing of the sort, mother!  Nonsense!  Smith knows more in a minute than J——­ does in a month.  He’s handling the case exactly as I want him to.  Let well enough alone, say I. You know J——­ always wants to amputate everything that can be cut or sawed off.  For heaven’s sake, don’t let him try it on me.  I need my legs.”

It is not necessary to say that Mrs. Bonner was completely won over by this argument.  She commanded him to stay where he was until it was perfectly safe to be moved across the river, where he could recuperate before venturing into the city of his birth.  Moreover, she announced that Edith and she would remain in Boggs City until he was quite out of danger, driving over every day in their chartered automobile.  It suddenly struck Bonner that it would be necessary to bribe “Doc” Smith and the entire Crow family, if he was to maintain his position as an invalid.

“Doc” Smith when put to the test lied ably in behalf of his client (he refused to call him his patient), and Mrs. Bonner was convinced.  Mr. Crow and Eva vigorously protested that the young man would not be a “mite of trouble,” and that he could stay as long as he liked.

“He’s a gentleman, Mrs. Bonner,” announced the marshal, as if the mother was being made aware of the fact for the first time.  “Mrs. Crow an’ me have talked it over, an’ I know what I’m talkin’ about.  He’s a perfect gentleman.”

“Thank you, Mr. Crow.  I am happy to hear you say that,” said Mrs. Bonner, with fine tact.  “You will not mind if he stops here a while longer then?”

“I should say not.  If he’ll take the job, I’ll app’int him deputy marshal.”