“May-may-gwan!” called Sam Bolton, sharply.

She came at once, running eagerly, the paralysis of her distress broken by his voice.  Sam directed her by nods of the head.  With some difficulty they carried the unconscious man to the flat and laid him down, his head on Sam’s rolled coat.  Then, while May-may-gwan, under his curtly delivered directions, built a fire, heated water, carried down the two remaining packs and opened them, Sam tenderly removed Dick’s clothes, and examined him from head to foot.  The cuts on the head were nothing to a strong man; the bruises less.  Manipulation discovered nothing wrong with the collar-bone and ribs.  But at last Sam uttered a quick exclamation of discovery.

Dick’s right ankle was twisted strongly outward and back.

An inexperienced man would have pronounced it a dislocation, but Sam knew better.  He knew better because just once, nearly fifteen years before, he had assisted Dr. Cockburn at Conjuror’s House in the caring for exactly such an accident.  Now he stood for some moments in silence recalling painfully each little detail of what he had observed and of what the physician had told him.

Rapidly by means of twigs and a tracing on the wet sand he explained to May-may-gwan what was the matter and what was to be done.  The fibula, or outer bone of the leg, had been snapped at its lower end just above the ankle, the foot had been dislocated to one side, and either the inner ligament of the ankle had given way, or—­what would be more serious—­one of the ankle-bones itself had been torn.  Sam Bolton realised fully that it was advisable to work with the utmost rapidity, before the young man should regain consciousness, in order that the reduction of the fracture might be made while the muscles were relaxed.  Nevertheless, he took time both to settle his own ideas, and to explain them to the girl.  It was the luckiest chance of Dick Herron’s life that he happened to be travelling with the one man who had assisted in the skilled treatment of such a case.  Otherwise he would most certainly have been crippled.

Sam first of all pried from the inner construction of the canoe two or three of the flat cedar strips used to reinforce the bottom.  These he laid in several thicknesses to make a board of some strength.  On the board he folded a blanket in wedge form, the thick end terminating abruptly three or four inches from the bottom.  He laid aside several buckskin thongs, and set May-may-gwan to ripping bandages of such articles of clothing as might suit.

Then he bent the injured leg at the knee.  May-may-gwan held it in that position, while Sam manipulated the foot into what he judged to be the proper position.  Especially did he turn the foot strongly inward that the inner ankle-bone might fall to its place.  As to the final result he confessed himself almost painfully in doubt, but did the best he knew.  He remembered the post-surgeon’s cunning comments, and tried to assure himself that the fractured ends of the bones met each other fairly, without the intervention of tendons or muscle-covering, and that there was no obstruction to the movements of the ankle.  When he had finished, his brow was wrinkled with anxiety, but he was satisfied that he had done to the limit of his knowledge.