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XXII. The Patient 



THE progress of Strafe, the lamb that had 

 his leg broken, is about the most surpris- 

 ing thing I have seen in a long time. One 

 naturally thinks of a broken leg as a seri- 

 ous thing, and it is to a human being, but it doesn't 

 seem to cause so very much discomfort to a lamb. 

 Two days after the accident I saw him taking part 

 in a brisk game of "King of the Castle" with Clarissa 

 and Mary Belle. Of course he was hampered by his 

 game leg, which was bound up in the splints I had 

 put on it, but he found little difficulty in climbing 

 to the top of a pile of hay that had been thrown from 

 the top of a stack and defending his position against 

 assaulting forces. Though he carried his leg in the 

 air he could still bunt vigorously, and though he 

 sometimes got knocked over, he would immediately 

 return to the fray. Evidently the nervous system 

 of a lamb is not so sensitive as that of a human be- 

 ing. A child with a broken leg could not be taking 

 part in games so soon after the accident. Although 



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