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"Ballyhoo is right," remarked Wynwood, commonly known as Madstone; "they've got us foul." "That being so, there aint any use for you, pards; so go back to camp, look after the cattle, and leave things to me." The meaning of this proposition, which may sound strange to the reader, was that the only possible way of saving Captain Shirril was by negotiating for his release.
Madstone explained that they were the ones that took fright earlier in the evening, and were on a dead run, when Ballyhoo shot down the Comanche that was pursuing Avon Burnet. The cattle had drifted a considerable way, but they were soon brought under control and headed in the right direction. All was going well, when off they went again at a more frantic rate than before.
One of his most stirring narratives related to the manner in which he escaped hydrophobia, after being bitten by a rabid wolf. He claimed that the only thing that saved him was the use of a madstone. Whether he was mistaken or not is not for us to say, but there was certainly no mistake about the origin of the name of Madstone, which clung to him forever afterward.
"I've just come from the top of the swell," said Madstone, who had been there since Ballyhoo, "and can't see anything of him. I 'spose he has overslept himself, because of the flurry last night." "I wish I could believe it is nothing worse," said Avon, walking thoughtfully out to where his mustang stood saddled and bridled.
He's a better-lookin' man than I expected to see; but it do seem as how his troubles have druv him to drink!" Childhood's impressions are ineffaceable, though they may be for a time set aside. Abraham Lincoln with all his lofty mind, acquiesced in the vulgar belief when he took his son Robert to have the benefit of a "madstone," at a distance from where the boy was dog-bitten.
The last remark was caused by the sight of two of their friends riding like mad, shouting and swinging their whips, which they had brought from camp. They were Madstone and Rickety, who were doing all they knew how to check the animals that seemingly would not be checked or turned aside.
But the unaccountable stampede of a portion of the herd had roused all, and, at the moment "Ballyhoo," as he was known to his friends, reined up, preparations were under way for a general start after the absent ones. "Where's Madstone and Shackaye?" asked Gleeson, looking down in the faces of the group, dimly shown in the firelight, and noticing that two of their number were missing.
Being a night prowler it frequents cow camps, and often crawls over the beds spread on the ground, and it certainly has a habit of biting any exposed part of the human body. When it does so, the bitten man at once starts off to Texas, where at certain places one can hire the use of a madstone. The madstone is popularly supposed to be an accretion found somewhere in the system of a white stag.
Among the Sontals in Bengal the snake stone, found within the head of the Adjutant-bird, is applied to a snake bite exactly in the same way and with the same supposed results as the Texas madstone, an accretion found, it is said, in the system of a white stag. Many natives of India die from purely imaginary snake bites.
As a matter of fact, the madstone is simply a porous rock which may adhere to a warm, moist surface and exert an absorbent action. Any poison introduced under the skin is disseminated through the system in less than two minutes. If the doctor ever gave you a hypodermic, your knowledge on this point is convincing.
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