"The bleary-eyed one became bewildered and in his excitement lost his footing on the slippery runway and fell underneath the horse, at the same time loosening his hold on the halter chain. The horse jerked his head loose, reared up, turned around and made a break for the dock. The man on the gangway tried to scramble out of the way. The horse, in wheeling, let fly with both heels and caught him below the right ear with his near hind foot. With a piercing shriek the drunk clasped both hands to his head, fell over backward and rolled to the foot of the gangplank, where he lay in a crumpled heap, the blood pouring from his nose and mouth and the wound below his ear. "Hearing this shriek, several of the men leading their horses, turned them loose in their fright, and there was a mad stampede on the dock. "The pasty-faced horseman, whom I helped out a little while before in the argument, was standing near the runway, holding on to a horse. He turned his horse loose and rushed to the bloody mass, which was twitching with convulsive shudders. The foreman snapped out a long string of curses that almost froze my heart: "'What did I tell you? Didn't I tell you not to look at him? I knew you would get it, and a damned good job, too; blocking that run with your fool tricks.' "Then he noticed the pasty-faced horseman stooping over the victim and went on: "'Get 'im by the heels, you cross between a corpse and a mummy, and drag him out of the way. We bloody well got to get this ship loaded to catch the tide.' "The pale-faced man kept on with his examination without paying any attention to the foreman's instructions. The foreman got blue in the face and bubbled over with rage. "'Did you hear what I tell you? Get 'im out of the way or I'll go down there and pound some obedience into you. This ship's got to be loaded.' "The man still paid no attention. The foreman was speechless. In a few seconds the stooping man straightened up, and looking the foreman straight in the eye, calmly replied: 'He's dead.' This did not seem to faze the foreman in the least and he bellowed out: 'How do you know he is dead?' The man answered simply: 'I'm a doctor.' Then the foreman once again exploded: 'A doctor! Blawst my deadlights, a doctor! Well, if you're a doctor, what in h---- are you doing on a horse ship? You ought to be rolling pills for the highbrows.' "The doctor never took his piercing look from the eye of the foreman. The foreman was now like an enraged bull. Spitting all over himself, he blustered out: 'Well, if he's dead, there is no doctor that can do him any good. A couple o' you black skunks over there,' addressing two negroes who were almost blanched to a bluish white and who were trembling nearby, 'get a-hold of him and drag 'im out of the way.' One of the negroes, with a leering grin, replied: 'I shipped on this here ship to handle hosses, and I don't allow nohow that it's my work to tote corpses around.'