CHAPTER FIVE.
"I'm so thirsty! Please, I'm so thirsty; and it is so hot!"
Twice over Doctor Kingsmead heard that appeal, but he could not move torespond to it, for Nature would have her way. He had sat watching hispatient's berth till he could watch no longer, since there are limits toeveryone's endurance, and that morning he had suddenly become insensibleto everything, dropping into a deep sleep that there was no fightingagainst.
He had slept all that day solidly, if the term may be used, quiteunconscious of everything; but towards evening he began either to hearthings or to dream and hear external sounds.
Feeling too reasserted itself. He was scorched by the heat, and therewas a pleasant lapping, washing sound of water making its way into hisears for some time before someone said the above words.
He smiled at last in an amused way as he lay in a half-conscious state,for it seemed to him that it was he that declared how thirsty he was andhow hot, and he felt how breathless it was.
So calm and still too, and so pleasant to lie back there in spite ofheat and thirst, listening to that lapping, washing sound softened bydistance into a whisper.
Then the words were repeated, and he lay perfectly still with his eyesclose shut, thinking in a dreamy way that it would be wise to drink aglass of water and open a window to let in the air, for it must be a hotmorning down in his old Devonshire home with the sun shining throughupon his bed.
Then all at once he opened his eyes and lay looking down at somethingupon the floor--something lying in the full glow of the ruddy sunshinewhich came through the round plate glass of the port-hole, and he wasstill so much asleep that he was puzzled to make out what it meant.
By degrees he grasped faintly that it was a man fast asleep, and makinga gurgling noise as he breathed, but he could not make out why that manshould be asleep on the floor of his bed-room in Devonshire, down thereat Dawlish where the blue sea washed against the red rocks.
It was very puzzling and confusing, and when for the third time he feltthat he was saying that he was so hot and so thirsty he uttered a sighand said to himself that he must get up and drink a glass of water andopen his bed-room window, before lying down again.
This thought roused him a little from his deep, heavy, stupefied state,and he had a surprise. For he made an effort to get up, and then feltstartled on realising the fact that he was not lying down, but sittingin an awkward position, his head hanging back over the side of a chair,and his neck stiffened and aching.
Then he knew that he was not at home in Devonshire, but in thestate-room of a ship, and that the heat was stifling.
This was enough to rouse him from his state of stupefaction a littlemore, and then as he straightened his neck and looked about he fullyawoke with one mental leap.
His first glance was at Carey, who had moved and lay in a differentposition, but was quite motionless now.
His next was at the little port-hole window, which he unfastened andthrew open, to feel a puff of soft air and hear the gentle washing ofthe ocean, which spread out calm and still like a sea of gold beneath anorange sky.
It was very calm, just heaving softly, and from a distance came atintervals the deep booming roar of the breakers on a reef; but there washardly a breath of air, for the terrible hurricane had passed.
Stiff and aching from the awkward position in which he had slept, thedoctor crossed to the door and pushed it open wide, with the result thatthe suffocating atmosphere of the cabin began rapidly to give place tothe soft, warm, pure air, every breath of which cleared the latesleeper's brain and gave him strength.
"Bostock--Bostock," he said, softly; but there was no answer, and hebent down and touched the sleeper on the shoulder.
"Where away then?" grumbled the man.
"Bostock, wake up."
"Heave to! D'yer hear? heave to!" came in low, muttered tones.
"Bostock, man, wake up. You've been asleep these ten or twelve hours."
Still no sensible reply, and the doctor gave the man a rough shake.
"Ay, ay, sir," he shouted. "All hands on deck! Tumble up, you lubbers;tumble up."
"Hush!"
"Eh? The doctor! All right, sir. Why, I've been asleep!"
"Yes, yes, but be quiet," whispered his companion. "I was overcome andhave slept too."
"But the youngster, sir?" whispered the old sailor, hoarsely, as he roseto his feet. "How is he, sir?"
"He has slept heavily. He does not seem any worse."
"I'm so thirsty!" came feebly from the boy's berth.
"Dear lad!" said Bostock, quickly. "I'll get some water for him todrink."
"Yes, quickly," cried the doctor, as he recalled his dream-like ideasand grasped the truth.
The old sailor hurried out, and the doctor laid his hand gently on hispatient's head, to find it moist with perspiration. As he did so theboy's eyes opened and he stared at the doctor wonderingly for a fewmoments before the light of recognition came into them, and he smiled.
"Doctor!" he said. "You here?"
"Yes, my dear boy," said the doctor, gently. "How do you feel?"
"Been dreaming horribly, and got such a bad headache. But--but--"
He stared about him, then back at the doctor, and an anxious look cameinto his eyes.
"Have--have I been ill?" he said, in a husky voice, and he raised onehand to catch at the doctor's, but let it fall with a faint cry of pain.
"Yes, a little; but you are getting better, my dear boy," said thedoctor, soothingly. "Don't be alarmed; only lie still."
"My shoulder throbs and burns, and my head is all queer. Ah, I remembernow," he cried, excitedly; "I fell."
"Yes, yes, but--"
"Oh, doctor," cried the boy, in a voice full of excitement, "don't say Ibroke my new double glass!"
"My dear lad," cried the doctor, smiling; "I don't know."
"Doctor!"
"But if you have I'll buy you another."
"So I fell from up aloft?"
"Here you are, sir," came in a hoarse voice; "got at the tank quiteeasy, and I found a sound glass."
Then the sturdy fellow gave a frisk after the fashion of an ancientgoat.
"Hooroar!" he cried; "Jack's alive O! I knew he wouldn't die a bit!"
"Hush! Silence, man!" cried the doctor. "Mind! you're spilling thewater."
"So I am," said the old sailor, gruffly, and he began to pour out aglassful from the tin he held in one hand, raising the other so as tomake the clear, cool liquid sparkle in bubbles as if he meant to give ita head.
"Ha!" sighed Carey, smiling. "Quick! I am so thirsty."
He was about to try and rise, but the doctor checked him.
"Don't do that," he said. "I'll raise you up, pillow and all, andBostock shall hold it to your lips. No, stop.--Is the vessel muchbroken up, my man?"
"Not a bit, sir, but I expect she's got holes in her bottom."
"I won't be a minute, Carey, lad. I'm going to my surgery. Don'tmove."
He hurried out, leaving Bostock standing with the glass and tin ofwater, breathing hard and staring down at the injured boy.
"Here, Bob," said Carey, faintly. "What's the matter?"
"You lie still and wait till the doctor comes back, my lad," said theold fellow, gruffly.
"I am lying still," said Carey, peevishly. "Tell me directly; what'sthe matter?"
"Why, you said you knowed. I heard yer. You said you fell from upaloft."
"Yes, yes," cried Carey; "but the doctor asked you if the ship was muchbroken up."
"Did he, sir?"
"You know he did, and you said she had got some holes in her bottom."
"Did I, sir?"
"Yes, yes, of course you did," cried Carey, impatiently.
"Well, it's a rum un, then, sir."
"Now, no nonsense; tell me, surely. Oh, I don't understand!" sighed theboy, wearily.
"Here we are, my boy," said the doctor, entering with a piece of glasstube bent at right
angles. "Give me the glass, Bostock."
"Glass it is, sir," growled the man, and the doctor inserted one end ofthe glass syphon in the water and the other between his patient's lips,so that he could drink without being raised.
Carey half, closed his eyes, and his countenance bespoke his intenseenjoyment, as the cool, pleasant water trickled slowly down his drythroat till the glass was emptied, and the old sailor raised the tin heheld.
"'Nother go, sir?" he asked.
"Yes," said Carey.
"No," said the doctor; "not yet."
"Ha!" sighed Carey; "but that was good. I say, doctor, I am brokensomewhere, am I not?"
"Yes."
"'Tisn't my neck, is it?"
"Hor! hor! hor!" chuckled the old sailor.
"Well, it feels like it," said Carey, pettishly.
"Perhaps I hardly ought to tell you now," said the doctor, gravely.
"Then it is," cried Carey, excitedly.
"No, no, no. Nonsense. You have fractured a bone, but it is not aserious matter, my dear fellow. It is the collar-bone, but if you arequiet it will soon knit together again."
"How queer. But I've hurt my head too."
"Yes, a good deal; but that will soon come right."
"Not cracked it, have I, doctor?"
"Decidedly not."
"Ha!" sighed the boy. "That's a good job. That comes of having a goodthick head, Bob. I remember slipping, but no more. I say, didn't Icome down an awful whop?"
"You lie still and don't talk, my boy," said the doctor, quietly.
"Yes, directly; but tell me about the ship. Why aren't we going on? Ican't hear the throbbing of the engine."
"Nay, my lad," said the old sailor, shaking his head; "never no more."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you must know, Carey, my lad," said the doctor; "but I don't wantyou to become excited about it. If I tell you, will you lie still thenand be patient?"
"Of course I will, doctor, if I must."
"The fact is, then, since your fall we have been in a terriblehurricane."
"A hurricane? Why, it was only this morning I tumbled."
The doctor shook his head.
"Never mind when it was," he said. "You have been lying here some time,and I grieve to tell you that while you were insensible we had a greatmishap. The main shaft broke, and we have been driven on a reef."
"Wrecked?"
"Yes."
"But we're all saved?"
"I hope so," said the doctor. "Now I shall tell you no more to-day.Will you have a little more water?"
"Yes, please," said the boy, eagerly, and he drank the half-glassfulmore given to him with the greatest of avidity, closed his eyes directlyafter, and dropped off into a calm sleep.
"That's bad, aren't it, sir?" whispered the old sailor, as the doctorbent over his patient.
"Bad? No. Look at the soft dewy perspiration on his temples."
"I see, sir. Oughtn't it to be wiped dry?"
"No, no; let him sleep. It is a sign that he will not be troubled withfever, and its following weakness."
"But he aren't had no brackfuss, sir."
"He has had all that he requires, and he will sleep for hours now."
"Bless the lad! That's good news, sir. It's a fine thing to be adoctor, and know all these things. Can he be left, sir?"
"Yes; he will be better undisturbed."
"Then don't you think, sir, as you and me'd better go on deck andoverhaul things a bit; see how things are and look round?"
"Yes, certainly."
"Then you lead on, sir, for there's a deal I'm wanting to see."
The door was softly closed upon the sleeping lad, and doctor and ableseaman stepped into the saloon to try and make out how they stood.
King o' the Beach: A Tropic Tale Page 5