HOW CAPTAIN EVANS SAVED HIS LEG
Evans was in both attacks on Fort Fisher, and in the second fight he was shot twice. The wounds were severe, and he was sent into hospital. His leg was shattered badly, and after examining it carefully the doctors told the young sufferer bluntly that they would be obliged to amputate it.
When they went out Evans made a resolution that his leg was not to be cut off. He came to the conclusion that he would rather quit right there than to go through life one-legged. It was his own leg anyhow, and nobody had a better right to decide the question than himself.
By some means he got hold of one of the big navy revolvers, and had it secreted under his pillow when the surgeons, with a blood-curdling array of knives and saws, made their appearance on the scene and began preparations to carry their threat into execution. But when the chief surgeon turned to the bed to examine the wounds he found himself looking into the black barrel of young Evans’s navy revolver.
THEY DID NOT TOUCH HIM AND HIS LEG WAS SAVED
“Now, see here,” said Evans, as the doctor retired in some alarm; “I want that leg to stay on. I need it. I will get well with that where it is, or not at all, and that’s the end of it. That leg does not come off. Do you understand what I mean?”
The doctor was dismayed. But he understood perfectly, and Evans carried the day. The wounds were dressed and healed rapidly. In several months he was out again. But he limped then, and will as long as he lives.