Page:The woman in battle .djvu/254

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THE SURGEON ASTONISHED.


was a slight relief, but the hurt was too serious a one for such treatment to be of permanent service, so an ambulance was procured, and I was taken to the railroad and put on the train bound South. The cars stopped at Corinth for two hours, and, feeling the necessity for some medical attendance as soon as possible, I sent for a young surgeon whom I knew intimately, and telling him that I was wounded severely, asked him to try and do something to relieve my suffering.

My Sex Discovered.

He immediately examined my arm, and, as I perceived by the puzzled expression that passed over his face, he was beginning to suspect something, and guessing that further concealment would be useless, I told him who I really was. I never saw a more astonished man in my life. The idea of a woman engaging in such an adventure, and receiving such an ugly hurt, appeared to shock him extremely, and he declared that he would not take the responsibility of performing an operation, but would send for Dr. S. This frightened me, for I had witnessed some specimens of that surgeon's method of dealing with wounded soldiers, and I insisted that he was too barbarous, and that he should not touch me. He then proposed to send for Dr. H., but I objected to this also, and finally, at my urgent solicitation, he consented to make a careful examination himself, and try what he could do.

My shoulder was found to be out of place, my arm cut, and my little finger lacerated a disagreeable and exceedingly painful, but not necessarily a very dangerous wound. The surgeon applied a dressing, and put my arm in a sling, after which I felt a great deal more comfortable, although the pain was still intense; and he then endeavored to induce me to stop at Corinth until I was in better condition for travelling. Now, however, that my sex was discovered, I was more than ever anxious to get away from my old associates, in the hope of finding some place where I could remain until I got well, and able to commence operations again in a different locality, without being annoyed by the attentions of impertinently curious people. I therefore insisted upon pushing on to Grenada, and he, finding that argument was useless, and, perhaps, appreciating my reasons for getting away as soon as possible, very kindly went and procured transportation papers for me; and before the information that a woman, disguised as