Fix Bay'nets: The Regiment in the Hills

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

  THE DOCTOR IN A FANTIGUE.

  Drummond returned to the hospital with his glass, and, to Mrs SergeantGee's disgust, installed himself in the window and sat for a couple ofhours lightening the painful monotony of Bracy's imprisonment byscanning the movements of the distant enemy hovering about in the hills,and making comments thereon.

  "Ah," he said at last, "what we want here is a company of gunners, withlight howitzers to throw shells a tremendous distance. If we could havethat cleverly and accurately done, we could soon scatter the beggars;but as it is--"

  "Yes, as it is," said Bracy peevishly, "we have no gunners and nohowitzers; and if we had, how could they be dragged about among thesehills?"

  "It would be difficult," said Drummond. "There are some fellowscrawling out of that west ravine now. Wait till I've focussed them,and--"

  "No, no; don't do any more to-day," cried Bracy. "I can't bear it. Youonly make me fretful because I can't be about doing something again."

  "Of course it does; but what is it, old fellow? Are you in pain?"

  "Pain? I'm in agony, Drummond. I can't sit up, for I seem to have nopower; and I can't lie still, because I feel as if there; was somethingred-hot burning through my spine."

  "Poor old chap! I say--think the bullet is still there?"

  "No, no; it passed right through."

  "What does the Doctor say?"

  "Always the same--always the same: `You're getting better.'"

  "That's right; so you are," said the Doctor, who had just come to thedoor.--"Ah, Mr Drummond, you here?"

  "Yes, sir. Cheering poor old Bracy up a bit."

  "That's right. How's your wound?"

  "Horrible nuisance, sir."

  "Hum! ha! I should like to have; a look at it, but I suppose it wouldnot be etiquette. All the same, etiquette or no, if it does not beginto mend soon come to me."

  "I will, sir. Good-afternoon. Ta, ta, Bracy, old man. Keep up yourspirits."

  "You needn't go, Mr Drummond," said the Doctor. "I can't stay manyminutes, and you can talk to him after I'm gone. Well, Bracy, my lad,wounds easier?"

  "No. Worse."

  "That they are not, sir. You told me you felt a little numbness of theextremities."

  "Yes, sir. Arm and leg go dead."

  The Doctor nodded.

  "That agonising pain in the back goes on too," continued Bracy."Sometimes it is unbearable."

  "Do you think the bullet is still there, sir?" ventured Drummond.

  "You stick to your regimental manoeuvres, sir," said the Doctor gruffly."What do you know about such things?"

  "Not much, sir; only one of our fellows was very bad that way before youcame, and it was through the bullet remaining in the wound."

  The Doctor nodded slowly, and made an examination of his patient,promised to send him something to lull the pain, and then, after a fewcheerful words, went away, sent a draught, and the sufferer dropped intoa heavy sleep.

  The days went on, with plenty of what Shakespeare called alarums andexcursions in the neighbourhood of the great fort, the enemy beingconstantly making desultory attacks, but only to find Graves's boys andWrayford's men, as they were laughingly called, always on the alert, sothat the attacking party were beaten off with more or less loss, butonly to come on again from some unexpected direction.

  Bracy had plenty of visitors, and Mrs Gee told him that this was thecause of his want of progress; but the visitors dropped in all the same,and the patient made no advance towards convalescence. Now it would bethe Colonel, who was kind and fatherly, and went away feeling uneasy atthe peculiarity of his young officer's symptoms, for Bracy was fretfuland nervous in the extreme; now an arm would jerk, then a leg, and hismanner was so strange that when the Colonel went away he sent for DrMorton, who bustled in, to meet the Colonel's eye searchingly.

  "Doctor," said the latter, "I've just come from Bracy's bedside. Hedoes not get on."

  "Not a bit," said the Doctor gruffly.

  "I have been watching his symptoms carefully."

  "Very good of you," said the Doctor gruffly. "I've been watching yourmanoeuvres too."

  This was meant for a sarcastic retort, but the Colonel paid no heed, andwent on:

  "That poor fellow has the bullet still in the wound."

  "No, he has not," retorted the Doctor.

  "Then there is something else?"

  "Tell me something I don't know," said the Doctor gruffly.

  "You think there is, then?"

  "I know there is," replied the Doctor. "Do you think, sir, I don'tunderstand my profession?"

  "Don't be pettish, Morton. I don't wish to interfere; but I amextremely anxious about poor Bracy."

  "Can't be more so than I am, sir."

  "Tell me what you feel is wrong."

  "Bit of iron, I expect, close up to the vertebrae. The abominablemissile broke up, and part remained behind."

  "Then, in the name of all that's sensible, why don't you extract it?"

  "Because, in the name of all that's sensible, I don't want to see thepoor fellow die of _tetanus_--lockjaw, as you call it."

  "You dare not extract it?"

  "That's it, sir. The piece--a mere scrap, I dare say--keeps his nervesin a horrible state of tension, but it is beyond my reach. Are yousatisfied now?"

  "Perfectly; but can nothing be done?"

  "Nothing but leave it to Nature. She may do what I can't."

  "Danger?"

  "Of being a cripple; not of anything fatal."

  "Poor fellow!" said the Colonel sadly.

  "Yes, poor fellow!" said the Doctor. "I'm doing all I know, and must beoff now, for you keep me very busy."

  Roberts had been sitting with the patient that same afternoon, andtowards evening the Major dropped in, glass in eye, and sat talking fora bit, with Bracy fighting hard to keep down his irritability, for theMajor was a bad visitor in his way.

  "You ought to be up and about, Bracy," he said.

  "Yes; I long to be."

  "Then why don't you try to brace yourself up--be bracy by nature as wellas by name--eh? Ha, ha! Don't you see?"

  "Because I am so weak, sir," replied the patient grimly.

  "Ah, that's what you think, my dear boy," said the Major, yawning, andshooting his glass out of his eye. "That's what you think. Now, if youwere to pull yourself together and make up your mind to get well you'dsoon master that weakness."

  "Do you think I'm shamming, then, sir?"

  "Well, no, my dear boy," said the Major, stretching the string of hiseyeglass as he picked it up, and then giving the latter a polish withhis handkerchief before proceeding to stick it into its place; "I don'tthink you are shamming, but that you are in a weak state, andconsequently have become hypochon--what you may call it. If you wereto--"

  Flick! and a sudden jump of the Major to his feet, as he turned sharplyto look down at Bracy.

  "Confound you, sir! What do you mean by that?"

  "Mean by--mean by what?" stammered Bracy, who lay perfectly motionless,with his arms by his sides.

  "Mean by what, sir? Why, by striking at my eyeglass and sending itflying."

  "No, Major; no, I assure you I--"

  "Don't prevaricate with me, sir. There's the string broken, and there'sthe glass yonder. I--I can forgive a certain amount of irritability ina sick man; but this is impish mischief, sir--the action of a dementedboy. How dare you, sir? What the dickens do you mean?"

  "Major, I assure you I wouldn't do such a thing," cried Bracy wildly.

  "Don't tell me," muttered the Major, striding across to where his glasslay, and picking it up. "Cracked, sir, cracked."

  "Indeed, no, Major; I am sure I am quite--"

  "I didn't say you were, sir: but my glass. The last I have, and not achance of replacing it. How am I to go on duty? Why, you must be mad,sir. You might have struck me."

  The Major's words were so loud and excited that they brought Mrs Gee tot
he door, to glance in and hurry away, with the result that directlyafter the Doctor appeared.

  "What's the matter?" he cried. "Bracy worse?"

  "Worse, sir?" cried the Major, who was now in a towering rage, thebroken glass, a part of which had come out of the frame into his hand,having completely overset his equanimity. "Worse, sir? Look at that."

  "Broken your eyeglass?" said the Doctor angrily, "and a good job too.You can see right enough, for we tested your eyes. Only a piece ofconfounded puppyism, of which you ought to be ashamed."

  "Doctor Morton," cried the Major, puffing out his cheeks, his red facegrowing mottled in his anger. "How dare you!"

  "How dare I, sir?" cried the Doctor, who was quite as angry. "How dareyou come here, disturbing my patients, and turning the place into abear-garden just because you have dropped your idiotic eyeglass andbroken it? Do you know I have poor fellows in the next room in aprecarious state?"

  "What! Dropped my eyeglass, sir? I tell you, this lunatic here struckat me, sir, and knocked the glass flying."

  "What!" cried the Doctor. "Did you do that, Bracy?"

  "No, no, Doctor," stammered the young man; "I assure you I--I--"

  "I--I--I!" roared the Major. "How dare you deny it, sir! He did,Doctor. The fellow's stark staring mad, and ought to be in astrait-waistcoat. He isn't safe. He might have blinded me. I came inhere quite out of sympathy, to sit with him a little while, and this isthe treatment I received. Suppose I had lost my sight."

  "Look here, Major," said the Doctor, turning to him, after stepping tothe bed and laying his hand upon Bracy's forehead; "the poor fellow isas weak as a babe, and could no more have done what you say than flownout of the window and across the valley. You are exaggerating, and--Oh,my gracious!"

  The Major had just time to hop aside and avoid the Doctor's head, forall at once a tremendous kick was delivered from the bed, and thereceiver was propelled as if from a catapult across the room, to bringhimself up against the wall. Here he turned sharply, to see Bracy lyingperfectly still upon the bed, staring at him wildly, and the Majorholding his sides, his always prominent eyes threatening to start fromhis head, while his cheeks became purple as he choked with laughter andstamped about, trying hard to catch his breath.

  "Ho, ho, ho! Ho, ho, ho!" he laughed hoarsely. "Oh Doctor! you'll bethe death of me. This is too rich--this is too rich--this is too rich!"

  "Too rich? Be the death of you? I wish it would," panted the Doctor,turning to the bed to shake his fist at Bracy, but keeping well out ofreach of his leg, "You treacherous young scoundrel! How dare you playme such a trick as this?"

  Bracy's lips moved, but no sound was heard, and his eyes looked wildlypathetic in their expression.

  "I didn't give you credit for such monkey-tricks; but I've done with younow. You've been imposing upon me--you're shamming--malingering, so asto keep out of going on duty again. You might have injured me forlife."

  "Don't bully the poor fellow, Doctor," cried the Major, wiping his eyes,and picking up one piece of his glass which he had dropped. "I don'tthink he's shamming, he's off his head. Look how his eyes roll. Poorlad! Give him a dose of something to quiet him, for he's as mad as aMarch hare."

  "Mad as a March hare!" snarled the Doctor, rubbing himself. "I told youit's all a trick."

  "I--I--I--d-d-don't care what it is," stammered the Major; "but Iwouldn't have missed it for a hundred eyeglasses. Ho, ho, ho! Ho, ho,ho! I can't stop myself. I never laughed so much in my life.--Ha!" headded as he sank into a chair and wiped his eyes; "I feel better now."

  "Better!" cried the Doctor. "You may as well let me give you something,or you'll be disgracing yourself before the men."

  That was enough. The Major sprang to his feet, to look threateningly atthe Doctor.

  "Disgrace myself, sir?" he cried furiously.

  "Bah!" cried the Doctor, and he bounced out of the room, and, forgettinghis patients in the ward near, banged the door.

  "There, you've done it now, Bracy!" cried the Major, calming down, andgoing up to the bedside. "No more of those games, sir, or I shall hitout too. What's the matter with you? Are you shamming, or are you offyour head?"

  "Beg pardon, sir," said Gedge, entering the room; "the Doctor's sent meto keep watch by Mr Bracy, sir; and he has given me orders that no oneis to be near him till he has decided what is to be done."

  "What! Order me to go?" said the Major fiercely. "You go back toDoctor Morton, and tell him never to dare to send me such a message asthat again."

  "Yes, sir," said Gedge, saluting.

  "No; stop. This is his own ground," said the Major. "Here, go on withyour duty, my lad, and keep a sharp eye on Mr Bracy. He is... or--er--not quite so well to-day. You needn't tell the Doctor what I said."

  "No, sir; cert'n'y not, sir," replied Gedge, and he held the door open,standing like a sentry till the Major had passed out, closed it, and Ihen stood looking down at Bracy, who lay gazing at him despairingly forsome moments before raising his hand cautiously and doubtingly towardshis lips.