112 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



the doctor began to cut the muscle, however, our 

 strapping patient gave signs of restlessness ; and all 

 at once, with an actual bellow, he jerked his head 

 on one side, carried away the doctor's hook, and 

 shut his eye upon it with a sort of lockjaw grip, as 

 if determined it should never be drawn out. How 

 my hook got out I have no idea ; fortunately, the 

 doctor let his go, or the lad's eye would have been 

 scratched out. As it was, there he sat with the 

 bandage slipped above one eye, and the other closed 

 upon the hook, the handle of which stood out 

 straight. Probably at that moment he would have 

 been willing to sacrifice pride of personal appear- 

 ance, keep his squint, and go through life with his 

 eye shut, the hook in it, and the handle sticking out; 

 but the instrument was too valuable to be lost. And 

 it was interesting and instructive to notice the dif- 

 ference between the equanimity of one who had a 

 hook in his eye, and that of lookers-on who had not. 

 All the spectators upbraided him with his cowardice 

 and want of heart, and after a round of reproof to 

 which he could make no answer, he opened his eye 

 and let out the hook. But he had made a bad bu- 

 siness of it. A few seconds longer, and the opera- 

 tion would have been completed. As it was, the 

 whole work had to be repeated. As the muscle was 

 again lifted under the knife, I thought I saw a glare 

 in the eyeball that gave token of another fling of the 

 head, but the lad was fairly browbeaten into quiet ; 

 and, to the great satisfaction of all, with a double 



