Several sufferers rushed forward at
the same instant to crave relief. One
of them a fine looking young fellow,
gained the race but not till he had
broken from the arms of a peasant girl,
who having either less faith or more
philosophy, implored him to consider
in the first place whether he had real
ly the toothache. Grimly smiled the
doctor when the head of the patient
was fairly between hiskne s; and rue
fully did the latter gaze up from the
helpless position into his executioner’s
face. We all looked with open
mouths and in dead silence upon the
scene, all except the young girl, who
with averted head, awaited, pale, trem
bling, and in tears, the event. The
doctor examined the unfortunate
mouth, and adjusted his instrument to
the tooth which it was his pleasure to
extract. The crowd set their teeth,
grinning horribly, and awaited the
wrench; but the operator, withdrawing
his hand, recommend the lecture with
greater unction than ever. A second
time was this unmerciful reprieve
granted, and then a third time, and the |
condemned groaned aloud. We could
stand no more; wc were already in a
paroxysm of the toochnche: feeling
a strange fascination creeping over us,
wc took to our heels and fled from the
spot.
