Both legs, below the knee.
And the patient said, Cannonball swept me off my feet. One foot was gone altogether; the second needed to go right after it, as soon as possible.
Right. Any other pains, problems, or concerns?
Goddammit, the legs arent enough? he nearly shrieked.
She kept her voice even. Theyre more than enough, and theyll be addressed. She met his eyes and saw so much pain there that she retreated just a little, enough to say, Look, Im sorry, Mr. Newton. Were only trying to get you treated.
Oh, Ive been treated, all right. Those sons of bitches! How am I going to run a mill like this, eh? Whats my wife going to think when I get home and she sees?
She set the noteboard down beside the cot. Well, all Gods children got their problems. Here . . . She pulled a filled syringe off the second tier of the rolling cart and said, Let me give you something for the pain. Its a new treatment, but the soldiers have responded to this better than the old-fashioned shot of whiskey and bullet to bite on-
But he smacked her hand away and called her a name. Mercy immediately told him to calm down, but instead he let his hands flail in every direction, as if he desperately needed someone to hit. Dr. Luther caught one hand and Mercy caught the other. This wasnt their first unruly patient, and they had a system down. It wasnt so different from hog-tying, or roping up a calf. The tools were different, but the principle was the same: seize, lasso, fasten, and immobilize. Repeat as necessary.
She twisted one of his beefy arms until another inch wouldve unfastened the bones in his wrist; and then she clapped a restraining cuff from
the tray down upon it. With one swift motion, she yanked the thusly adorned wrist down to the nearest leg of the cot, and secured the clip to hold him in place. If Dr. Luther hadnt been performing pretty much the same technique on the other wrist, it wouldnt have held up longer than a few seconds.
But the doctors restraints were affixed a moment after Mercys. Then they were saddled with one violently unhappy man, pinioned to a cot and thrashing in such a manner that he was bound to injure himself further if he wasnt more elaborately subdued.
Mercy reached for the mask, spun the knob to dispense the ether, and shoved it over Silas Newtons face, holding him by the chin to keep him from shaking his head back and forth and eluding the sedation. Soon his objections softened and surrendered, and the last vestiges of his refusal to cooperate were overcome.
Jackass, Mercy muttered.
Indeed, said Dr. Luther. Get his shoe off for me, would you, please?
Yes sir, she said, and reached for the laces.
Over the next three hours, the doctors predictions were borne out. Two of the remaining three men survived, including the disagreeable Silas Newton. In time, Mercy was relieved by the severe and upstanding Nurse Esther Floyd, who hauled the young Nurse Sarah Fitzhugh along in her wake.
Mercy left the bloody beds behind the curtain and all but staggered back into the main ballroom grounds, where most of the men had at least been seen, if not treated and fed quite yet. Stumbling past them and around them, she stopped a few times when someone tugged at her passing skirt, asking for a drink or for a doctor.
Finally she found her way outside, into the afternoon that was going gold and navy blue at the edges, and would be nearly black before long.
Shed missed supper, and hadnt noticed.
Well. Shed pick something up in a few minutes-whatever she could scavenge from the kitchen, even though she knew good and well itd be pretty much nothing. Either you ate as soon as you were called, or you didnt eat. But itd be worth looking. She might get lucky and find a spare biscuit and a dab of butter, which would fill her up enough to let her sleep.
She was almost to the kitchen when Paul Forks, the retained man, said her name, stopping her in the hallway next to the first-floor entry ward. She put one hand up on the wall and leaned against it that way. Too worn out to stand still, she couldnt hold herself upright anymore unless she kept moving. But she said, Yes, Mr. Forks? What is it?
Begging your pardon, Nurse Mercy. But theres a message for you.
A message? Goddamn. Ive had about enough of messages, she said, more to the floor than to the messenger. Then, by way of apology, she said, Im sorry. Its not your fault, and thanks for flagging me down.
Its all right, he told her, and approached her cautiously. Paul Forks approached everyone cautiously. It couldve been a long-standing habit, or maybe it was a new thing, a behavior acquired on the battlefield.
He went on to say, It came Western Union. He held out an envelope.
She took it. Western Union? You cant be serious. She was afraid maybe it was another message repeating the same news shed received the day before. The world was like that sometimes. No news for ages, and then more news than you can stand, all at once. She didnt want to read it. She didnt want to know what it said.