They then tucked him up warmly in bed and put
bottles of hot water all around, to keep up this newly stimulated
circulation.
At that moment Dr. Rocke came in, put his hand into the bath-tub and
could scarcely repress a cry of pain and of horror--the water
scalded his fingers! What must it have done to the sick man?
"Good heavens, madam! I did not tell you to parboil your patient!"
exclaimed Traverse, speaking to the old woman. Traverse was shocked
to find how perilously his orders had been exceeded.
"Eh bien, Monsieur! he lives! he does well! voila mon frere!"
exclaimed the little old woman.
It was true: the accidental "boiling bath" as it might almost be
called, had effected what perhaps no other means in the world could-
-a restored circulation.
The disease was broken up, and the convalescence of the patient was
rapid. And as Traverse kept his own secret concerning the accidental
high temperature of that bath, which every one considered a fearful
and successful experiment, the fame of Dr. Rocke spread over the
whole city and country.
He would soon have made a fortune in New Orleans, had not the hand
of destiny beckoned him elsewhere. It happened thus:
The old Frenchman whose life Traverse had, partly by accident and
partly by design, succeeded in saving, comprehended perfectly well
how narrow his escape from death had been, and attributed his
restoration solely to the genius, skill and boldness of his young
physician, and was grateful accordingly with all a Frenchman's noisy
demonstration.
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