"'Wouldn't he have a better chance if some skin-grafting were done?'
"'Not a bit of doubt of it,' said I.
"'Then,' he said, 'if it won't incapacitate me for the service, you can go ahead on me.'"
"Who'd have thought it of Van Sluyd!" exclaimed Eric. "Talk about nerve, that's the real thing! What did you do, Doctor?"
"I went and had a chat with the captain and told him just what was needed. I told him that it would put Van Sluyd out of active training for several weeks and might set him back in his examinations."
"What did the captain say?" questioned the boy.
"He just asked me if I thought that the man's recovery was in any way dependent on it, and when I said I thought it was, he answered that I could go ahead. You can be sure Van Sluyd won't lose out by it."
"But won't it cripple him?"
"Not a bit," the surgeon answered. "I'll just take a few square inches of skin off the thigh and he'll be all right in a few weeks."
"Won't he have an awful scar?"