Lucy Austin. 487 



however, was so far successful that he agreed to admit the surgeon^ 

 when they arrived, a proceeding to which he at first offered a deter- 

 mined opposition. 



The wound was of a depth and extent all but incredible when the 

 size of the dog was considered, and was among the tendons of the 

 wrist, which prevented excision a mode of treatment without which 

 neither of the surgeons would guarantee his safety. Excision and 

 amputation were synonymous in this case, though the former, being 

 the milder phrase, was at first used, until Leader inquiring what was 

 to become of his hand if the sinews of the wrist were to be cut away, 

 they were obliged to admit that the arm should be removed from 

 above the site of the injury. To be maimed for life was so repug- 

 nant to my unfortunate friend's feelings, that he vehemently protested 

 against the adoption of any remedial measures whatever ; and it 

 was not, until I declared with all the violence I could command that I 

 would have him tied down and treated as a lunatic, that he agreed to 

 submit to any .treatment provided his arm was not destroyed. The 

 wound was then subjected to ablution from a garden watering-pot, 

 held at arm's length, and then cauterized as effectively as possible. 



On the surgeons' departure Leader's melancholy grew deeper and 

 deeper. All my efforts to imbue him with any thing like hope were 

 unavailing. Reason and raillery were alike fruitless. " It's no use, 

 Ned ; uncle Fred died of it,'* was his eternal response to all my ar- 

 gumentation. To disabuse himself of the conviction that his days were 

 numbered he declared his entire inability, and entreated me to forego 

 any more remonstrance on that head. I then saw him to bed, and 

 took my leave for the night. 



When I reached my chamber I knew that sleep would not quickly 

 visit my pillow; and, throwing open the window, I drew a chair and 

 fell into a reverie on the occurrences of the day. The train of my 

 reflections was abruptly disconnected by feeling something moving 

 against my legs; and looking down I perceived Miss Austin's little 

 hound, which had entered unobserved. It commenced gamboling 

 about, and I unconsciously caressed it ; until, encouraged by my fa- 

 miliarity, it emitted a sharp playful bark. The sound in an instant 

 brought the circumstance in the library to my mind ; and the poor 

 little animal immediately became not only disagreeable, but positively 

 frightful to my disordered imagination. Leaping on the chair, and 

 grasping the candlestick, I hallooed out, and motioned to the dog to 

 leave the room ; but, thinking that I was merely continuing the sport 

 in a different way, he became more boisterously frisky, barking and 

 jumping as though he were possessed. My apprehensions now 

 amounted to absolute horror; the diminutive thing appeared to have 

 grown to the size of a calf, and its sportiveness was to me the ferocity 

 of a tiger. I was on the point of precipitating myself from the win- 

 dow, when the hound jumped on the chair, which caused me to shift 

 my position so suddenly that I lost my balance and fell heavily on the 

 floor. This caused the dog to redouble its gaiety. It bounded again 

 and again over my prostrate body, playing all manner of antics, and 

 capering round the apartment, barking incessantly, while I struck 

 out my legs to keep it from approaching me. Terror was fast un- 



