140 Life of a Fossil Hunter 



laughter which used me up for the rest of the 

 day. 



Another time I had a rather unusual experience. 

 My assistant, a Mr. Wright, and I were digging 

 out rhinoceros bones on Sappa Creek. We had 

 noticed a house on the other side of the creek, al- 

 though dense timber cut off most of its surround- 

 ings, and happening to look toward it once, we saw 

 a girl of about sixteen years rush out from the tim- 

 ber and begin to climb the steep hill toward us. I 

 never saw anyone run so fast up so steep a hill. 

 Her strength failed her, however, when she got to 

 us, and it was some time before she could tell her 

 story. It seems that her mother had gone out to 

 milk, and as the ground was slippery from a rain of 

 the night before, she had fallen and dislocated one 

 of the bones in the palm of her hand. 



All the men were away and had taken all the 

 horses, and it was seventeen miles to the nearest 

 doctor. The girl, knowing that we were digging up 

 bones, had concluded that we could set them, and 

 had come to us for help. Although I had never at- 

 tempted anything of the kind before, I could not re- 

 sist the poor child's appeal and went to the house. 

 The mother lay moaning on her bed, and would 

 answer nothing when I asked whether I should try 

 to set her hand. But as the girl was very desirous 

 that I should make the attempt, I decided to do so. 



