GARNET THE HERO
The dwellers of the Sound Country are early risers. For this reason,
Ethel Marion was up and dressed next morning earlier than ever before in
her life. The dawn was just breaking when breakfast was announced. One
of the buxom girls came to offer her services in dressing the invalid
stranger. Then she was assisted to the porch for a breath of the early
morning air, and she exclaimed in delight over the splendid view there
unfolded. Far off to the eastward the sun was just climbing up from
behind a sand dune on the Banks. For miles up and down the coast the
broken sand hills ran in a line north and south, trending the horizon.
These showed free from any vegetation except the scrub growth at their
base and the sand of them shone under the rays of the rising sun like
molten silver. In the foreground were the blue waters of the Sound now
dimpling under the caressing touches of a gentle breeze. Here and there
showed high lights from the whitecaps that stood out as souvenirs still
of the storm that had passed. Off to the right of the small bay upon
which the house was built, a tangled mass of evergreen shrubs offered a
vivid note in the color scheme. These were the undergrowth of the huge
forest trees, of which the limbs were almost hidden by the clinging
wreaths of mistletoe.
The esthetic sense of Ethel was touched to the deeps by this vista of
beauty round-about. No wonder that the dwellers in this blessed region
lived contented in youth, maturity, and old age. She wondered, rather,
that anyone could be cross or ill tempered or evil in any way within the
environment of a nature so benign.
She was reluctant when Miss Goodwin gently led her away from the
panorama of beauty toward the more sordid pleasure of the breakfast
table. As she went, Ethel offered a silent and most devout prayer of
gratitude for her preservation and for the kindness she had received
from Doctor Garnet and these strangers, whom just now she was very near
to loving.
Had it not been for the wish to appease the anxiety of friends at home,
Ethel would have been content to remain long in this wonder spot, among
a people so simple, so different from those to whom she had been
accustomed, who were so little acquainted with the manners and the
fashions of a so-called higher society. But, breakfast over, she was the
first to suggest that it were best to leave this remote settlement, with
all its charms of scenery and the compelling attractiveness of its
homely goodness. The nerve-racked Garnet also was anxious to depart. He
had rested comparatively well after the excitement and strain of the
previous day, and now to an eye not too critical he would have seemed
quite normal. Yet, a certain wildness in the expression of his eyes had
not wholly disappeared. Now that Ethel was herself again, she perceived
that there was something radically wrong with the man. Naturally enough,
she attributed this condition on his part to the worry over her welfare,
and she even experienced a feeling almost like remorse that she should
thus unwittingly have been the cause of suffering on his part.
The Goodwins urged them to remain for a longer rest, but they abandoned
their hospitable efforts when Ethel pointed out the necessity of at once
relieving the anxiety of her friends concerning her safety. They
provided, however, an ample amount of food to be carried by the
voyagers, which would suffice them until they reached a town on the
coast to the northward, and the entire family went down to the wharf to
wish them God-speed.
As the party approached the landing, the attention of all was called to
Shrimp, who hitherto had been neglected. He came walking proudly along
the beach toward them from the pier. When the physician explained that
the rooster was a pet, the Squire hurried back to the house and returned
quickly with a small package of corn. A moment later, the launch was
again in motion, while those on shore waved their adieux with
handkerchiefs, to which Ethel replied in kind.
Ethel was eager in her praise for every member of the family that had
shown them such kindness and hospitality.
"Oh, Doctor," she exclaimed, "just as soon as the new yacht is built,
the very first cruise shall be a visit to this beautiful spot. Father
must know these plain people who have been such life-savers to us. You,
too, Doctor Garnet, shall be one of the party. We'll see if we can't
devise some scheme by which to repay them for what they've done."
The physician made no reply. He seemed indeed to be wholly absorbed in
meditation. But he aroused with a start from his reverie at the girl's
next question.
"Doctor, you know a woman's inquisitiveness! Last night you bade me be
patient, and said that after a while you would tell me the whole story
of this unfortunate affair. Now, I simply must ask you just one
question. Will you answer it?"
"I'll try, Miss Marion," was the answer, given with an air as nonchalant
as he could assume.
"Where are the villains who took part in this affair? Did they go down
with _The Isabel_, or did they escape, and are they still at large?"
Garnet looked the girl straight in the eye as he replied in a tone of
the utmost sincerity.
"The arch-conspirator escaped. He is probably being hunted by the best
detectives in the country. He is sure to be captured eventually, dead or
alive."
"Thank you, Doctor," Ethel said gratefully. "And in proof of my thanks,
I won't trouble you any more on this subject, which seems to worry and
annoy you. Of course, I don't know what dreadful things you were obliged
to go through with in order to save yourself and me from harm. Really,
I'm not surprised that you don't wish to talk about it. But I do hope
they catch the guilty man and punish him as he deserves--hang him,
perhaps."
The physician winced at the innocent remark, and vouchsafed no reply.
The launch sped on and on. The wind increased in some degree during
mid-forenoon, as is usual in southern waters at this season of the year.
But the little craft was staunchly built, and by taking advantage of the
headlands she made fairly good progress.
Garnet was beginning to suffer again from lack of the drug. Ethel had
not as yet seen him use the hypodermic needle, nor did he care to have
her. But by rapid stages his desire reached such a point that he must
either have the relief of morphia or go mad. Then his cunning brain
suggested that it would be easy enough to deceive this guileless girl.
So he boldly told her that he was in a highly nervous state and
suffering as well from a splitting headache, and that, therefore, he
deemed it advisable to take a small injection of morphia, which would
undoubtedly relieve him.
Ethel had not the faintest idea that this learned man, of such eminence
in his profession, was, in fact, a drug fiend. She had no suspicion of
the truth even when she saw the point of the hypodermic syringe
penetrate the skin of his forearm. She merely admired the graceful, deft
movements of the long and slender fingers.
Nevertheless, the girl could hardly fail to note the change that came
almost immediately over the man. Now he became again his usual self,
with little, if any, trace of nervousness, with the manner that was
affable and sympathetic.
It was a half hour later when Ethel, ever alert, noticed a fisherman's
boat laboring clumsily down the Sound. In years agone, it had been
equipped with a sail, but now it chugged away industriously under the
energy of a wheezing gasoline engine. There were several persons
aboard--three men, two women and a baby in arms. During her first glance
at the ungainly-looking boat, the beat of the engine ceased, and it was
evident from the actions of the man who busied himself with the
machinery that the motor had balked. As the launch drew nearer, the girl
saw that those in the broken-down craft were in a state of
consternation, with their attention centered on the child. She cried out
in wonder to the Doctor.
"What in the world can be the matter in that boat? It must have
something to do with the baby."
Garnet answered without hesitation.
"Yes, Miss Ethel, I've been watching, and there is certainly something
seriously wrong. I'll go close enough to hail them."
The men in the fishing boat began to wave their hats as distress
signals, and the Doctor nodded and raised his hand as a signal that he
was coming.
When the launch came within hailing distance, one of the men shouted out
an explanation. The propeller had become entangled in a piece of
floating net, and so rendered useless. The party came from the
Tournequin Bay section, where an epidemic of diphtheria was raging. This
baby had not improved under the "granny" treatment of the neighborhood,
in which there were no doctors. In consequence, it was now being taken
to Beaufort to receive the antitoxin--that new remedy for which such
miracles were claimed. Even as the man was speaking, the baby was seized
with a fit of strangling that brought it almost to the point of death.
Came a transformation scene. Here was no longer Garnet, the crazed drug
fiend. In his stead was revealed the man and the physician--he who in
times of distress and suffering had always given his services to the
best of his ability. In this moment the old instinct rose dominant. He
called to them in a loud clear voice.
"I am a physician. If you will permit me I'll come aboard and try to
give temporary relief. Something must be done promptly, or the child
will die."
In order to save Ethel as far as possible from any danger of contagion,
Garnet brought the launch alongside the stern of the fishing boat, since
the baby was in the bow. As he stepped aboard the other craft he bade
one of the men let the launch drop back astern to full length of the
painter. While this was being done, the physician, medicine case in
hand, hurried to the child that lay struggling spasmodically in its
mother's arms. An instant of examination showed to Garnet's practiced
eyes that the throat was almost completely filled with the membrane
characteristic of the disease, and that it must be only a matter of
minutes before suffocation would ensue unless effective measures for
relief were taken. A glance to the shore two miles away told him
that the delay in reaching it would prove fatal to his patient's
chances. It was evident that if the baby's life were to be saved he
must act--and act now. Nor did he hesitate. With lightning-like
rapidity he took out his emergency kit of surgeons' tools. He bade the
most intelligent-appearing of the men hold the child according to his
precise directions. Then, with his coat off and shirt sleeves rolled up,
Doctor Garnet braced himself in the tossing boat and performed the
operation of tracheotomy, while the mother crouched weeping and praying
with her face hidden in her hands.
Presently, the sufferer grew quiet, for now it was able to breathe
again. Thanks to the great skill of this man, once again a life had been
saved.
The parents of the child were profuse in the expressions of heartfelt
gratitude. They would have given what little money they had to this
savior of their child. But Garnet, of course, would take no fee for his
services. He diverted the chorus of thanks by offering to take in tow
the disabled fishing boat and bring it to the shore, whence means could
be secured for their going on to Beaufort. He insisted that in spite of
what he had done, the baby should be taken to the town, in order to
receive treatment with the antitoxin.
Throughout all the scene, Ethel had watched the physician with eyes in
which shone pride and affection. It seemed to her that this man was one
who fought always to relieve distress according to the best measure of
his strength.
"He has succored me," she mused with a warm glow in her heart.
"He is taking me to my home--to Roy. He has stopped only long enough to
rescue another sufferer from the jaws of death--even as he rescued me.
He is a hero."