THE RED COW 



the curious bit of information that surgeons use 

 only three splints when setting a human broken leg. 

 My own instinct was to use four, but being assured 

 that the doctors use only three I felt that there 

 might be some mystic reason for it that was beyond 

 the lay mind and made my preparations accordingly. 

 Strafe had been placed on a bench, where he lay 

 quite composedly while I took his measure for his 

 new set of splints, which I was whittling from a 

 shingle. Apparently he was not a bit frightened or 

 distressed. Judging from his appearance he seemed 

 to think he was coming in for an extra lot of petting 

 from the boy who was holding him, and he seemed to 

 be enjoying himself. Finally, I got my splints ready, 

 packed a bunch of loose wool around the broken leg 

 and then began to wind a cotton bandage around my 

 somewhat clumsy looking attempt at surgery. A 

 visitor held the bones straight while I was doing 

 this and Strafe did not struggle a particle. Evi- 

 dently a lamb's sense of pain cannot be as acute as 

 that of a human being. Though I was as gentle as 

 possible I am sure that my touch was clumsy and 

 that a broken bone in the human body if handled so 

 inexpertly would have caused acute suffering. The 

 lamb neither struggled nor protested, but allowed 



96 



J 



