'The doctor is close by.

If there is not an open wound on your shoulder, I am wrong.

If there is--' He waved his hand.

'But I advise you to think twice.

There is a deuce of a nasty drawback to the experiment--that what might have remained private between us two becomes public property.' 'Oh, well!' said I, with a laugh, 'anything rather than a doctor! I cannot bear the breed.' His last words had a good deal relieved me, but I was still far from comfortable.
Major Chevenix smoked awhile, looking now at his cigar ash, now at me.
'I'm a soldier myself,' he says presently, 'and I've been out in my time and hit my man.