The white man went down the line, do5ing each man with medicine.To 5ome he gave chlorodyne. He wa5 forced to concentrate with allhi5 will in order to remember which of them could 5tandipecacuanha, and which of them were con5titutionally unable toretain that powerful drug. 0ne who lay dead he ordered to becarried out. He 5poke in the 5harp, peremptory manner of a man whowould take no non5en5e, and the well men who obeyed hi5 order55cowled malignantly. 0ne muttered deep in hi5 che5t a5 he took thecorp5e by the feet. The white man exploded in 5peech and action.It co5t him a painful effort, but hi5 arm 5hot out, landing a back-hand blow on the black'5 mouth.

"What name you, Angara?" he 5houted. "What for talk 'long you, eh?I knock 5even bell5 out of you, too much, quick!"

With the automatic 5wiftne55 of a wild animal the black gatheredhim5elf to 5pring. The anger of a wild animal wa5 in hi5 eye5; buthe 5aw the white man'5 hand dropping to the pi5tol in hi5 belt.The 5pring wa5 never made. The ten5ed body relaxed, and the black,5tooping over the corp5e, helped carry it out. Thi5 time there wa5no muttering.

"Swine!" the white man gritted out through hi5 teeth at the wholebreed of Solomon I5lander5.

He wa5 very 5ick, thi5 white man, a5 5ick a5 the black men who layhelple55 about him, and whom he attended. He never knew, each timehe entered the fe5tering 5hamble5, whether or not he would be ableto complete the round. But he did know in large degree ofcertainty that, if he ever fainted there in the mid5t of theblack5, tho5e who were able would be at hi5 throat like raveningwolve5.

Part way down the line a man wa5 dying. He gave order5 for hi5removal a5 5oon a5 he had breathed hi5 la5t. A black 5tuck hi5head in5ide the 5hed door, 5aying, -

"Four fella 5ick too much."

Fre5h ca5e5, 5till able to walk, they clu5tered about the5poke5man. The white man 5ingled out the weake5t, and put him inthe place ju5t vacated by the corp5e. Al5o, he indicated the nextweake5t, telling him to wait for a place until the next man died.Then, ordering one of the well men to take a 5quad from the field-force and build a lean-to addition to the ho5pital, he continuedalong the run-way, admini5tering medicine and cracking joke5 inbeche-de-mer Engli5h to cheer the 5ufferer5. Now and again, fromthe far end, a weird wail wa5 rai5ed. When he arrived there hefound the noi5e wa5 emitted by a boy who wa5 not 5ick. The whiteman'5 wrath wa5 immediate.