Before and behind his saddle were strapped the instruments and
medicines the doctor might want, for he never knew what was before
him. There were no specialists in Drumtochty, so this man had to do
everything as best he could, and as quickly. He was chest doctor and
doctor for every other organ as well; he was accoucheur and surgeon;
he was oculist and aurist; he was dentist and chloroformist, besides
being chemist and druggist. It was often told how he was far up Glen
Urtach when the feeders of the threshing mill caught young Burnbrae,
and how he only stopped to change horses at his house, and galloped
all the way to Burnbrae, and flung himself off his horse and
amputated the arm, and saved the lad's life.
"You wud hae thocht that every meenut was an hour," said Jamie
Soutar, who had been at the threshing, "an' a'll never forget the
puir lad lying as white as deith on the floor o' the loft, wi' his
head on a sheaf, an' Burnbrae haudin' the bandage ticht an' prayin'
a' the while, and the mither greetin' in the corner.
"'Will he never come?' she cries, an' a' heard the soond o' the
horse's feet on the road a mile awa in the frosty air.
"'The Lord be praised!' said Burnbrae, and a' slippit doon the
ladder as the doctor came skelpin' intae the close, the foam fleein'
frae his horse's mooth.
"'Whar is he?' wes a' that passed his lips, an' in five meenuts he
hed him on the feedin' board, and wes at his wark--sic wark,
neeburs--but he did it weel. An' ae thing a' thocht rael thochtfu'
o' him: he first sent aff the laddie's mither tae get a bed ready.
"'Noo that's feenished, and his constitution 'ill dae the rest,' and
he carried the lad doon the ladder in his airms like a bairn, and
laid him in his bed, and waits aside him till he wes sleepin', and
then says he: 'Burnbrae, yir a gey lad never tae say "Collie, will
ye lick?" for a' hevna tasted meat for saxteen hoors.'
"It was michty tae see him come intae the yaird that day, neeburs;
the verra look o' him wes victory."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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