[28] The big "punch" in this story, as already
pointed out, was where the young squaw steps on the concealed
rattlesnake. Women in the audience screamed; men felt the proverbial
"cold chill" run down their spines. Then came the climax, in which the
young Westerner, hoping to save the life of the papoose, takes it away
from the dead mother and hurries back to meet the doctor-sheriff who
is pursuing him with the posse. The doctor tells him that the child is
dead; his sacrifice--from which the story derives its title--has been
unnecessary. The poison, drawn from the breast of the stricken woman
by the nursing child, has killed the baby. A real "punch," indeed! But
wait. A prominent physician in an Eastern city writes to the producing
company protesting that it is impossible for a child to draw poison
into its system in the manner described. And the physician _knows_!
In other words, what happened in the picture could not happen in real
life. The backbone of the plot has been broken! Seven in ten people
might not know the difference; they would never question the
probability of the scene. The other three in ten _would know_, and,
seeing your name on the film, would put you down as a first-class
"nature faker," or else as a very careless and badly informed writer.
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