"Down there, sir!"
Lewis got half way down when a rank waft of acrid and mephitic air met
him and half-choked him. He struggled on, and when he found his bearings
by the dim and misty light he sat down on a locker and gasped. The
atmosphere was heated to a cruel and almost dangerous pitch, and the
odour!--oh, Zola! if I dared! A groan from a darkened corner sounded
hollow, and Ferrier saw his new patient. The skipper came down and
said--
"There he is, sir. When our topmast broke away it ketches him right in
the leg, and we could do nothin'. He has suffered some, he has, sir, and
that's true."
Ferrier soon completed his examination, and he said--
"It's a mercy I'm well provided. This poor soul must have a constitution
like a horse."
An ugly fracture had been grinding for forty-eight hours, and not a
thing could be done for the wretched fellow. Quickly and surely Ferrier
set and strapped up the limb; then disposing the patient as comfortably
as possible in an unspeakably foul and sloppy berth, he said--
"Let that boy stand by this man, and take care that he's not thrown from
side to side. I must breathe the air, or I shall drop down." When on
deck he said, "Now, my man, what would you have done if you hadn't met
us?"
"Pitched him on board the carrier, sir."
"With an unset fracture!"
"Well, sir, what could we do? None on us knows nothin' about things of
that sort, and there isn't enough of Mr.
Pages:
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40