7 - Aesculapius, M.D

We had not gone very far along when the pain in my side became
poignant and I called out of the window to Sambo:

"Sammy, is there a doctor anywhere on the way out to the Zoo?" I
asked.

"Yassir," he replied, slowing down a trifle. "We gotter go right by de
doh ob Dr. Skilapius."

"Doctor who?" I asked--the name was new to me.

"'Tain't _Skill_-apius," growled the boy behind, who seemed rather
jealous that I had taken no notice of him. "It's Eee-skill-apius."

"Oh," said I, beginning to catch their drift. "Dr. Aesculapius. Is that
what you are trying to say?"

"Yassir," said both boys. "Dass de man."

"Well, stop at his office a moment," said I. "I'm feeling a trifle
ill."

In a few minutes we drew up before a large door to the right of the
corridor before which there hung a shingle marked in large gilt
letters:

+-----------------------------------+
| |
| AESCULAPIUS, M.D. |
| |
| Office Hours: 10 to 12. |
| |
| Tuesdays. |
| |
+-----------------------------------+

I knocked at the door and was promptly admitted.

"I wish to see the doctor," said I.

"This is Monday, sir," the maid replied--I couldn't quite place her,
but she seemed rather above her station and was stunningly beautiful.

"What of that?" I demanded, as fiercely as I could, considering how
pretty the maid was.

"The doctor can only be seen on Tuesdays," said she. "It's on the
door."

"But I'm sick," I cried. "Very sick, indeed."

"No doubt," she replied, with a shrug of her shoulders that I found
very fetching. "Else you would not have come. But you are not so sick
that you can't wait until to-morrow, or if you are, you might as well
die, because the doctor won't take a case he can't think over a week."

"Nice arrangement, that," said I, scornfully. "It may do very well for
immortals, but for a mortal it's pretty poor business."

The maid's manner underwent an immediate change.

[Illustration: "'THEN YOU MUST DIE'"]

"Excuse me, sir," she said, making me a courtesy. "I did not know you
were a mortal. I presumed you were a minor god. The doctor will see
you at once."

I was ushered into the consulting-room immediately--in fact, too
quickly. I wanted to thank the pretty maid for taking me for an
immortal. There was no time for this, however, for in a moment
Aesculapius himself appeared.

"You must pardon Alcestis," he said, after the