.

HERNANDO PEREIRA.
Several more days passed before I was allowed out of that little war-stained room of which I grew to hate the very sight.

I entreated my father to take me into the air, but he would not, saying that he feared lest any movement should cause the bleeding to begin again or even the cut artery to burst.

Moreover, the wound was not healing very well, the spear that caused it having been dirty or perhaps used to skin dead animals, which caused some dread of gangrene, that in those days generally meant death.

As it chanced, although I was treated only with cold water, for antiseptics were then unknown, my young and healthy blood triumphed and no gangrene appeared.
What made those days even duller was that during them I saw very little of Marie, who now only entered the place in the company of her father.
Once I managed to ask her why she did not come oftener and alone.