The woman came forward, her eyes wide and frightened.  Virginia smiled at her reassuringly.

“No muy malo,” she said in the few Spanish words which she could summon for the occasion from those she had picked up from the desert people. “Muy bueno manana.  And now get me some warm water . . . agua caliente.  Mr. Norton, if you will open my instrument case . . . no; the other one.  And then stand by to help with the anaesthetic if Patten hasn’t already given him enough to keep him asleep all night!”

She gave her directions concisely and was obeyed.  Norton put the last of the undesired onlookers out of the door, closed it after them, found another lamp and some candles, did all that he could think of to help and all that was asked of him.  Eloisa, having brought the water, withdrew to a corner and kept her fascinated eyes upon Virginia’s face and stubbornly away from her husband’s.

Virginia, when she had completed a very thorough examination, turned toward Norton, her eyes blazing.

“Patten has no more right to an M.D. after his name than you have,” she cried angrily.  “Not so much, for he hasn’t even any brains!  Cut the man’s arm off!  Why, there is only a simple fracture above the wrist which won’t cause a bit of trouble.  The hand is another matter; but even it isn’t half as badly mangled as it looks. . . .  The second and third fingers are terribly crushed; they’ve got to come off.  We might as well do it now, while he is already under the chloroform. . . .  Tell Eloisa just how matters stand and then send her out.”

Eloisa, already prepared for the greater operation, gasped her gratitude for the lesser and allowed herself to be gently thrust from the room.  Then Norton came back to the table, his eyes wonderingly upon Virginia.  He knew that she was capable; he had read that fact the first day when he had seen her hands.  But it struck him as rather unusual that a girl, any girl no matter what her training, should take hold as she was doing.

And as she selected her instruments, laid them out upon a bit of sterilized gauze upon a chair, cleansed her hands and prepared to operate he began to feel a sense of utter confidence in her.  Rapidly his own anger rose at the thought of the crime Patten would have perpetrated.

Tony Garcia, when in due time his consciousness came back to him bringing the attendant dizzy nausea in its wake, looked down at his side curiously, wondering how it would be to go without an arm.  And when his Eloisa told him. . . .

“We are going to sell our cow and the goats to-morrow!” vowed Tony faintly.  “And give her all the money!”

“Si, si, Tony,” wept the wife.

Whereupon the small children, who were teaching the goats to pull a wagon, set up a wail of grief and rebellion.