Hiram was deft in attending the sick. He had shown that at the time Orrin Post had first come to Sunnyside. He made Battick as comfortable as possible, leaving drinking water beside him, and then hurried back up the hill. His first thought was to hitch up Jerry and go for a doctor. He believed the man was in a bad way.
Then he remembered that Miss Pringle had a telephone. In addition, the spinster was famous as a nurse. Hiram knew that Yancey Battick was in need of nursing as well as of medical attention.
"I expect he will give me fits when he gets well for letting Miss Pringle into his house, he hates her so," thought Hiram. "But if I was to be sick that way myself, and could not get Mother Atterson to nurse me, I'd be mighty glad to get Miss Pringle as the next best nurse."
So he did not stop at Sunnyside but went on to Miss Pringle's and told his story. Almost immediately the spinster was at the telephone and calling up Doctor Marble. Abigail Wentworth scurried around to pack a basket with the things Delia thought she might need.
"You won't be let in. You'll be put out like you were before," declared Abigail in her sputtering way. "That Yance Battick will work some magic on you—"
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Miss Pringle.
"Yance Battick has got the evil eye," declared Abigail with confidence.
"He's got pneumonia, I shouldn't wonder," snapped Miss Pringle. "I'll be glad when Doctor Marble comes. Are you going back with me, Hiram?"
"I certainly am, Delia," said the young farm manager. "And if he tries to send you home, I won't let him."
But when they got down to the old Pringle homestead Battick was too deep in delirium to recognize Miss Pringle. When Dr. Marble arrived he declared that Hiram had found the man and given the alarm none too soon, if he was to be saved.