I had no bear’s grease and I did not know if arnica was found in the neighborhood, but I decided that the wound must be cleansed and bandaged, at any rate, and that the sooner it was done the better, for the numbness was now passing off and the leg was commencing to pain again.
Carefully I unrolled the shirt, and as I exposed the limb I grew sick at the sight, for leg and ankle were black with congested blood, terribly swollen and misshapen, and with the flesh and skin deeply torn and cut. I could not tell whether it was dislocated or broken; although when I felt of it and moved it carefully with my hand it seemed so loose and caused me such agony that I feared the worst.
It was a long, tedious, and torturing operation to bathe the foot and ankle, wash out the cuts, and bind up the limb anew, but at last it was accomplished, and with sticks bound about it as splints to protect it, I determined to hobble about and try to discover some arnica plants before I became unable to move.
By means of a crutch I could travel fairly easily over the more open ground near the lake, and I made my way slowly and painfully toward a little open spot I had noticed a few days before. Here rank weeds and plants grew in abundance, and after searching for some time I discovered a clump of herbs which I felt sure were the same as those I had seen Joe gather.
While searching for the arnica I had wandered to the farther side of the glade, and as I glanced about to get my bearings my eyes fell upon a well-marked opening or trail leading into the woods close at hand. Filled with wonder at this, for I knew that the trail must have been made by human hands, I examined it intently. Yes, there could be no doubt of it. There were lichen-covered stumps showing the ax-marks and I realized that by chance I had stumbled upon an old wood road. Thrilled with excitement and almost forgetting the pain in my injured leg, I hobbled forward along the old road, for I knew that it must lead to some definite goal.
I was too overcome with my discovery to think that the road might lead for miles through the woods and that in my injured and weakened condition I was running a grave risk in following it away from my camp, and it was fortunate for me that the end came so quickly.