Miss Violet's eyes were red as she bent over him, holding a half-empty flask.
"If you're a woman," he said, "please kiss me."
She did.
"Thanks. You're a very nice girl. Do you know how to do what you're told?"
She nodded, trying to smile, which was difficult, because her lips would curl the wrong way. "Then," he said, "take two sticks of wood, cover them all over with cotton wool, bind it down even with bandages, then strap them on either side of my arm, while Shorty and Long Leslie pull the bones out straight. Understand?"
"I'm awfully frightened," whispered Miss Violet.
"Be frightened afterwards, not now. I always come to grief whenever I try to be good. I promise I won't ever do it again; but be quick, my dear, and while you're making the splints get somebody to pour cold water on the swelling."
"How's that silly ass?" he asked tenderly, while the work went forward; and it was the Tenderfoot who answered tearfully, "The silly ass is ashamed."