The doctor was busy, removing the stitches, and with no gentle hand this time made the proper surgical suture. "Leave it alone this way," said he, "and mind what I tell you. Seems like you can't kill a man out in this country. You can do things in surgery out here that you wouldn't dare tackle back in France, or in the States. I suppose, maybe, I could cut your head off, for instance." "I wish't you would," said Sim Gage. "She bothers me sometimes." After a pause he continued, "I been thinking over a heap of things. You see, I'm busted about flat. If I could go on and put up some hay, way prices is, I could make some money this fall, but them damn robbers has cleaned me, and I can't start with nothing. And I ain't got nothing. So there I am." He vouchsafed nothing more, but had already said so much that Doctor Barnes sat regarding him quietly. "Gage," said he after a time, "things might be better in this valley. I know that you'll stick with the Government. Now, listen. I'm going to have practical command here from this time on. This is under Army control. I'm going to run a telephone wire up the valley as far as your settlement. I'll appoint you a government special scout, to watch that road. If these ruffians are in this valley again we want to catch them." "You think I could be any use that way, Doc?" said Sim. "Yes, I've got to have some of the settlers with me that I can depend on, besides the regular detail ordered in here." "Would I be some sort of soldier, too, like?" demanded Sim Gage. "I tried to get in. They wouldn't take me. I'm--I'm past forty-five." "You'd be under orders just like a soldier." "Would I have any sort of uniform, like, now?" Doctor Barnes sat thinking for some time. "No," said he. "You have to pass an examination before you really get into the Army; and you're over age, you and Wid, both of you. But I'll tell you--I'll give you a hat--you shall have a hat with a cord on it, so you'll be like a soldier. We'll have a green service cord on it,--say green with a little white in it, Sim Gage? Don't that make you feel as if you were in a uniform?" "Now that'd sure be fine, Doc, a hat like that," said Sim. "I sure would like that. And I certainly would try to do what was right." Doctor Barnes, still sitting before the little white operating table where his surgical instruments lay, was looking thoughtful. "In all likelihood I shall have to put a corporal and four men up at your place. That means they'll have to have a house. I can commandeer some of the teams down here, and some men, and they'll all throw in together and help you build an extra cabin. You and they can live in that, I suppose?" "I reckon we could," said Sim Gage. "That'd be fine, wouldn't it?"