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Steve Young, a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 4. In The Doctor's Hands |
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_ CHAPTER FOUR. IN THE DOCTOR'S HANDS A cry rose from the deck, and Steve Young in that brief moment felt that all was over, and that he was struck a violent blow in the ribs. Next moment he swung against the starboard shrouds to which he clung, feeling sick and giddy with pain, but awaking to the fact that the big Norwegian sailor had gripped his jacket on the right side and taken up a little fold of flesh as well. The pain was keen for a few moments, but partly ceased as the man thrust his other hand, by which he had held on between the ratlines, and took a good hold of his waistband. "Now, then, can you get round this side?" For answer Steve worked himself from the inner to the outer slope of the shrouds just below the cross-bars, and then thrust his legs through and held on, waiting for the fluttering nervous sensation which had attacked him to pass off. "Ahoy, there!" came from the deck in the captain's stern tones. "I'll send up a line; make it fast round his chest, and lower him down." These words sent the blood flushing to the boy's cheeks, for the idea of being lowered down like a bale or cask sounded too degrading. "No, no!" he cried. "It's all right, sir; I can come down. Only slipped," he added. "Only slipped!" said the Norseman bitterly. "Didn't I tell you to be careful, sir?" "Yes; but I forgot." "Lucky for you I was watching you." "Can you come down?" cried the captain. "Yes, sir, yes; it's all right"; and feeling more confident now, the boy began to descend the shrouds steadily enough, gaining confidence at every step till he reached the main-top, where he caught a rope, twisted his legs round, slid down to the deck, and laughingly faced his friends. "Steve, my lad," cried the doctor, "what a turn you gave me! I thought you were gone." "Yes," said Captain Marsham in a low tone; "and instead of laughing, my boy, you ought to go down to the cabin and thank God for your narrow escape. It was my fault, though, for encouraging you in your own confidence." "I'm very, very sorry, Mr Handscombe," whispered Steve, as the captain walked away. "I didn't mean to treat it lightly, only to look as if I were not a coward." "Yes, yes, I understand, my lad," was the reply; "but it is a lesson to you. I wouldn't go through those moments again for a thousand pounds. Why, Steve, my lad, I saw, as if in a flash, a funeral at sea, our trip at an end, and poor Captain Marsham going back feeling that he was to blame for your death." "Oh, I say, Mr Handscombe, don't talk like that!" whispered Steve. "Was it really so bad?" "Bad, sir! Why, what do you think you are made of--india-rubber? Did you suppose that you would drop on to the deck and bounce up again, to come down then on your feet and strike an attitude like a clown in a pantomime? I haven't patience with you!" "I'm very sorry, sir, really," said Steve again. "Not half so sorry as we should have been," said the doctor testily. "But there, I don't know; it would have been a good riddance. Boys are more bother than they are worth, especially consequential and conceited boys, like you are. Hullo! what are you putting your hand there for? Not hurt?" "I--I don't know," said Steve, pressing both hands to his side. "Yes, I do; it hurts horribly." "But you didn't fall." "No; Johannes struck me there, and gripped the flesh. Feels as if he had broken my ribs." "How do you know, sir? You never had any ribs broken, did you?" "No," replied Steve; "but it feels as one would suppose ribs would feel if they were broken." "Bah! You don't know anything about it. That's why I called you conceited. Here, come down into the cabin." He took Steve by the arm, and the boy winced. "What! Something wrong there, too?" "I don't know," said Steve in an altered tone. "I don't know anything, only that I'm so horribly conceited. If I did, I should say my shoulder was wrenched with the jerk." "Come along," said the doctor, changing his tone. "There, my lad, I was a bit hard upon you; but you gave me a terrible fright, and I haven't got over it yet." He led the way toward the cabin; but before they reached the companion hatch the captain came up, looking very stern. Then he, too, altered his manner. "What is it?" he said anxiously. "Steve is not hurt?" "Not much, I think. We're going down to see." "I hope not," said the captain quickly; and his eyes met Steve's as, without another word, he quietly held out his hand. It was a very simple action, but it meant a great deal; and as the lad felt the quiet, firm pressure given to his fingers, he grew more and more, as he had expressed himself, sorry for the pain he had so inadvertently caused. "Now, then," said the doctor, as soon as he had closed the cabin door, "I ought to be very much obliged to you, Steve, for giving me something to keep my surgical lore from growing rusty." "Oh, I say!" cried the boy, "don't talk like that, sir. There isn't much the matter, is there?" "Not much the matter! Why, you talked about broken ribs. Don't you call that much the matter?" "Oh, but--" "Here, let's see, patient. Don't; I'll do that." He pressed the boy back on to the locker, and then proceeded to make his examination, while Steve watched his face anxiously, trying to gather from the intent countenance whether he had sustained any serious injury. "Hum! ha!" ejaculated the doctor, as he went on manipulating the boy's chest, back, and ribs. "That hurt you?" "Horribly, sir." "And that?" "Yes, sir; worse." "Can't help it. Well, that?" "Oh! that's worse of all, sir." "Humph! Now then, take a good, long, deep breath." Steve obeyed. "Now another, deeper and longer. Draw the air well in after an outward breath, to empty the lungs. Hah! that's better. Well, there are no broken rib ends piercing the lungs." "Oh no, I hope not!" cried Steve anxiously. "The ribs are broken, then?" "Not they. All sound as mine are. There, that will do; get on your jacket." Steve began, but the pain the act gave him turned him sick, and seeing this the doctor helped him. "There must be something the matter, sir," he said, rather piteously, "or it wouldn't hurt like this." "Hardly fair to call it anything the matter, my lad. Your shoulder has had a nasty wrench from the jerk with which you were brought up." "But it hurts so much lower down." "And no wonder. In two or three days your side there will be black and blue." "And why--what should make it so, sir?" "Johannes' great hand. Why, he must have gripped you there like a steel claw." "Yes, he did. I felt it like that. He got hold of a lot of the flesh." "Exactly; and a good thing, too. Better than letting you fall sixty to seventy feet." "Much," said Steve dolefully. "Humph! don't sound as if you thought so, my boy. There, you've not anything serious the matter with you. The bruises will get well of themselves. But don't look at me in that disappointed way; were you in the hope that I should perform some serious operation?" "Ugh! No, sir." "Oh, I see; you are disappointed because I have given you no medicine. Why, Steve, you are as bad as the poor people who come to a dispensary. They are not happy unless they have a box of pills and a bottle of medicine. I'll mix you up something." "No, no! don't, sir, please," cried Steve. "I am very much better now; I am, indeed." "Very well, then; lie down there for an hour or two, till the sickness produced by the shock has gone off." "Oh no, sir. I needn't do that, need I?" "Well, then, come on deck." Steve rose from the locker, winced, and subsided again. "I think I will lie for a little while." The doctor nodded and left him in the cabin, where he lay back for about ten minutes listening to the thumping about on deck, where the men were evidently busy making more preparations for the adventurous cruise. His shoulder ached, and there was a peculiar strained feeling about the muscles of his chest; but this did not trouble him so much as the strained sensation in his mind. For, as he lay back there, he began to think about what they were saying respecting him on deck. The doctor would have told Captain Marsham how he was, Mr Lowe would hear it, and then it would go to the men from the engineer and the four Norwegians downward. "And they'll think I've no more pluck than a girl," he thought at last; "just when I want to show that I am ready to take my part in anything. Why, if I'm ready to be upset like this, I shall be left on board when they are going on expeditions fishing, shooting, or hunting, and--Oh! this won't do." And to prove that it would not do he jumped up, walked up and down the cabin twice,--a very short journey, by the way,--found that it did not hurt him more than lying still on the locker, and then went on deck. _ |
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