The next morning her breathing was regular, and pulse stronger, but feverish; and about seven o’clock she came out of her comatose state and regained consciousness. She spoke but once, and apparently at the sound of her own voice immediately went into a convulsion, clinching her little fists, screaming and calling to her father for help! When Tom first heard that awful cry and saw her terrified eyes and drawn face, he tried to cover his own eyes and stop his ears. Then he gathered the little convulsed body into his arms and crooned into her ears, “There, Pappy’s baby, don’t cry! Pappy’s got you now. Nothin’ can hurt you. There, there, nothin’ shall come nigh you!” He covered her face with tears and kisses while he whispered and soothed her to sleep. When the noon train came up from Independence, General Worth arrived. Tom had asked Gaston to telegraph for him in his name. Tom eagerly grasped his hand. “General I knowed you’d come--you’re a man to tie to. I never knowed you to fail me in your life. You’re one of the smartest men in the world too. You never got us boys in a hole so deep you didn’t pull us out”-- “What can I do for you?” interrupted the General. “Ah, now’s the worst of all, General. I’m in water too deep for me. My baby, the last one left on earth, the apple of my eye, all that holds my old achin’ body to this world--she’s--about--to--die! I can’t let her. General, you must save her for me. I want more doctors. They say there’s a great doctor at Independence. I want ’em all. Tell ’em it’s a poor old one-legged soldier who’s shot all to pieces and lost his wife and all his children--all but this one baby. And I can’t lose her! They ’ll come if you ask ’em--” His voice broke. “I ’ll do it, Tom. I ’ll have them here on a special in three hours or maybe sooner,” returned the General pressing his hand and hurrying to the telegraph office. The doctors arrived at three o’clock and held a consultation with Doctor Graham. They decided that the loss of blood had been so great that the only chance to save her was in the transfusion of blood. “I ’ll give her the blood, Tom,” said Gaston quietly removing his coat and baring his arm. The old soldier looked up through grateful tears. “Next to the General, you’re the best friend God ever give me, boy!” The General turned his face away and looked out of the window. The doctors immediately performed the operation, transfusing blood from Gaston into the child. The results did not seem to promise what they had hoped. Her fever rose steadily. She became conscious again and immediately went into the most fearful convulsions, breaking the torn artery a second time. Just as the sun sank behind the blue mountains peaks in the west, her heart fluttered and she was dead. Tom sat by the bed for two hours, looking, looking, looking with wide staring eyes at her white dead face. There was not the trace of a tear. His mouth was set in a hard cold way and he never moved or spoke.