When Dick opened his eyes it was broad daylight. He was lying in a
barely furnished room. A surgeon was leaning over him bandaging his
wounds, while on the other side of the bed stood three red-shirted men,
whose rough beards and belts with bowie knives and pistols showed them
to be miners. One of them had his face strapped up and his arm in a
sling. An exclamation of satisfaction burst from him as Dick's eyes
opened.
"That is right, lad. You will do now. It has been touch and go with you
all night. My life aint no pertik'lar value to nobody, but such as it is
you have saved it. But I won't talk of that now. Which ship do you
belong to? We will let them know at once."
"The _Northampton_," Dick said in a whisper.
"All right; don't you talk any more. We will get your friends here in no
time."
But when Mr. Allen came ashore Dick was again unconscious. The mate
fetched two more surgeons, who, after conferring with the first, were
all of opinion that although he might possibly recover from his wounds,
weeks would elapse before he would be convalescent. Before night fever
had set in, and it was a fortnight before he was again conscious of what
was passing round him. He looked feebly round the room. One of the
red-shirted men was attending to a pot over a charcoal fire. Turning his
head he saw, standing looking out of the window, his friend Tom Haldane.
"Halloa, Tom," he said, in a whisper, which, however, reached the
midshipman's ears. He turned sharply round, and hurried to the bedside.
"Thank God, Dick, you are conscious again. Don't try to talk, old
fellow; drink this lemonade, and then shut your eyes again."
Dick tried to raise his hand to take the glass, but, to his surprise,
found he was unable to do so. Tom, however, put it to his lips and
poured it down his throat. It was cool and pleasant, and with a sigh of
relief he again closed his eyes, and went off into a quiet sleep.
When he awoke it was evening; the window was open, and the fresh air
came in, making the lamp on the table flicker.
"How do you feel now, old man?" Tom asked.
"I feel all right," he said, "but I am wonderfully weak. I suppose I
must have lost a lot of blood. Has the skipper given you leave to stop
with me for the night?"
Tom nodded. "I will tell you all about it in the morning, Dick. There is
some chicken broth Dave has been cooking for you. You must try and drink
a bowl of it, and then by to-morrow morning you will be feeling like a
giant."
Dick laughed feebly. "It will be some time before there is much of a
giant about me. Tom; but I feel as if I could drink some broth."
The next morning Dick woke feeling decidedly stronger. "Raise me up and
put some pillows behind me, Tom. It is horrid being fed from a spoon,
lying on one's back."
The man called Dave, and Tom, lifted him up as he wished, and then the
latter fed him with the broth, in which some bread had been crumbled.
"Now, then," Dick said, when he had finished; "let us hear what the old
man said. I suppose he was in a tremendous rage?"
"That he was! a brute!"
"Why, there is my chest. What has he sent that ashore for? I should
think I could be taken on board again to-day."
"You won't be taken on board the _Northampton,_" Tom said, "for by this
time she is down somewhere near Cape Horn."
"Eh!" Dick exclaimed in astonishment. "Why, how long have I been here?"
"A fortnight to-day, Dick."
Dick was too surprised to make any remark for some time.
"But if the _Northampton_ has gone, how is it that you are here, Tom?"
"Simply because she has gone without me, Dick. The old man was in a
furious rage when he heard in the morning what had happened to you. Of
course, we were in a great stew--I mean the third mate and myself--when
Allen came off at twelve o'clock without you, after waiting an hour and
a half at the wharf for you to turn up. We all felt sure that something
must have happened, or you would never have been all that time late.
There was a row between Allen and the skipper the first thing in the
morning. Allen wanted to go ashore to make inquiries about you, and the
old man would not let him, and said that no doubt you had deserted, but
that if you came on board again he would have you put in irons.
"Well, there was a regular row going on when a boat came off with a man
in a red shirt, who I know now is one of Dave's partners, and said that
you were desperately wounded, and that the Spanish doctor they had
called in thought that you would die. So then the old man couldn't help
Allen's going ashore. Of course, he could do nothing, as you were
insensible, but he got two other surgeons. Their opinion was that you
would not get over it, but that if you did it would be a long time
first. When Allen got back there was another row. He wanted to have you
brought on board. The captain said that as you had chosen to mix
yourself up in a row on shore, you might die on shore for anything he
cared. Then I asked for leave to stay with you when the vessel sailed,
and got sworn at for my pains. In the afternoon I filled up your chest
chockfull with as many of my things as I could get into it, and sent it
ashore. By the next night we had got all the cargo on board, and were to
sail by the next morning, and I lowered myself down and swam ashore.
"Allen had told me exactly where you were lying, so I came here at once
and told Dave who I was, and why I had come ashore, and as soon as it
was light he took me round to the room the other two had. The captain
came ashore in the morning and stormed and raved at the Consul's, but he
had better have kept on board. I told our friends here all about it, and
as he went back to the boat again one of them pitched into him, and gave
him such a tremendous licking that I hear he had to be carried on board.
As soon as he got on board the _Northampton_ sailed, so you see here we
both are. I have written off to your father and mine, giving them a full
account of the whole affair, and saying what a brute Collet had been on
the whole voyage. They will be sure to lay the letters before the firm,
and as Allen and Smith will, when they are questioned, speak out pretty
straight, you may be sure the old man and his friend, the first mate,
will have to look for a berth somewhere else."
"It is awfully good of you to have come ashore to nurse me, Tom."
"Bosh! Why, I have got away from the _Northampton_. I found, too, that
as far as nursing was concerned I might as well have stayed on board,
for Dave here and his two mates have, one or other of them, been with
you night and day, and they could not have taken more care of you if
they had been women. Still I have been very glad to be here, though till
three days ago there seemed very little hope of your pulling through it.
Now you have talked enough, or rather, I have talked enough, Dick; and
you had better turn over and get another sleep."