and dangerous channel ploughed through the muscles, but happily for Lawler and his family no important vein or artery had been severed. If properly cared for, there was reason to believe the healing process might be accomplished by nature without the sloughing away of the coats of the femoral artery. Should these finally give way, the end would certainly ensue, as nothing could save the victim from bleeding to death. “Tell me, thrue and honest now,” said McKenna, “how this thing happened. It is plain enough that it wor your own hand that did it.” “Why the d—l do you say that?” “Sure, an’ you needn’t take me for a _gomersal_, _cruddy_ from the bogs! I kin see, wid half an eye, that nobody could iver shoot ye like this, exceptin’ Mike Lawler himself!” “Thrue fur ye!” unwillingly answered Lawler, making a comical grimace and groaning aloud with the pain, as he reached for his staff. “That’s the raal fact of the matther! But how the d—l you came to know’t, is more’n I can tell!” “O, its aisy enough! Men don’t lie down, as a general thing, to get shot; then there’s no hole in your clothing, so the pistol must have been in your pocket when it exploded!” “Well, never mind that now,” whispered Lawler, turning an uneasy glance toward his wife, who was jingling the glasses as she cleansed them, and hence heard nothing of the communication. “Will ye kindly act as me crutch ’till I goes to the docthor? He made me promise to have it dressed the day; an’ by me sowl, I’d about as soon hev the leg cut off at wonst!” “Certainly,” said the agent, “I’ll help ye wid pleasure!” And he aided the injured man to rise; but he could not stand, and was eased back into his chair. “_Mo-vrone!_ But ye can’t walk! Ye must not try it! I’ll go fetch the docthor right here! So kape quiet, an’ I’ll soon be back. An’ while I’m gone, I’ll jist step in at the carpenter’s and tell him to make ye a crutch; fur sure, an’ if ye iver intend for to save yer leg y’ll want a substitute for a while!” Muff Lawler was so nigh a dead faint that he could not thank McKenna, who scampered away to bring the surgeon. The wound once dressed, and Lawler comfortably reclining on his bed, upstairs, McKenna volunteered to act as nurse, while the good woman of the house gave attention to the bar and all below. Then it was that the operative learned how the injury had been inflicted. As he shrewdly guessed, Muff had hurt himself while awkwardly returning a revolver to his pantaloons pocket, where he carelessly carried it, with the lock set preparatory for sudden use. Lawler closed the revelation with this unexplained but furtive statement: “An’ hadn’t it been for the accident, Fergus would have made bloody work somewhere before the mornin’!”