“The operation was successful. I found the bullet and removed it.”
“She will live, then!” cried Mrs. Pennington, coming quickly toward him.
He took her hands very gently in his.
“My dear madam,” he said, “it would be cruel of me to hold out useless hope. She hasn’t more than one chance in a hundred. It is a miracle that she was alive when you found her. Only a splendid constitution, resulting from the life that she has led, could possibly account for it.”
The mother turned away with a low moan.
“There is nothing more that you can do?” asked the colonel.
“I have done all that I can,” replied Carruthers.
“She will not last long?”
“It may be a matter of hours, or only minutes,” he replied. “She is in excellent hands, however. No one could do more for her than Dr. Baldwin.”
The two nurses whom Custer had arranged for had arrived, and when Dr. Carruthers departed he took his own nurse with him.