It was Bumpus who gave utterance to this exclamation, though possibly he hardly realized, himself, that he was saying anything, as he stood there, and gaped at the sight of the wounded mountaineer being helped along into their camp.
But if Bumpus, and some of the others, were spell-bound by what they saw, gazing as though fascinated at the blood dripping from the man's fingers, Thad Brewster was not included in this group.
He had long ago picked up a smattering of knowledge connected with a surgeon's duties; and ever since taking up the new life of a Boy Scout, those things which concerned the saving of human life had somehow appealed to young Thad with redoubled force.
More than once now had he been called upon to show what he knew along these lines. A boy had been severely cut by an ax he was carelessly wielding in camp; and might have bled to death only for the energetic actions of Thad, who knew just how to secure a stout bandanna handkerchief around above the wound, with the knot pressing on the artery; and making a tourniquet by passing a stick through the folds of the rude bandage, twist until the bleeding was temporarily stopped, and the boy could be taken to a doctor.
Another time it had been a case of near drowning, when Thad, who had learned his lesson well, succeeded in exercising the lad's arms, after laying him on his chest and pressing his knee upon him, until he had started the lungs to working. In that case every one of the other scouts declared that only for these prompt applications of scout knowledge the unfortunate one would surely have died.
And so, when he saw that the man who was being thus supported into their camp had been shot in the arm, and was in danger of bleeding to death, the surgeon instinct in Thad Brewster came immediately to the surface.
He never once thought about the fact that the man was very probably one of those very lawless moonshiners, whose presence all around had virtually marooned himself and chums in the heart of the mountains. He was a man, and in trouble; and perhaps Thad could be of some help!
And so the generous-hearted boy sprang forward, eager to lend a hand.
"Bring him right up to the fire, men!" he exclaimed. "What happened to him? Was he shot? We heard a gun go off a little while ago, and wondered what it meant."
The two men urged their injured companion forward. He seemed to have little mind of his own in the matter; though Thad could see that he had his jaws set, and was apparently determined to betray no sign of weakness in this terrible hour. The customary grit of the North Carolina mountaineer was there, without fail. It showed in the clenched hand, the grim look on his weather-beaten face, as well as in those tightly closed teeth.