“Oh, I’m so glad you came, doctor!” exclaimed the woman’s husband. “I’m afraid you’re too late though.”
“We’ll see,” said the physician cheerfully, as he dismounted from the rather uncomfortable step and hurried into the house.
While the doctor found that Mrs. Johnson was in much pain and suffering, he soon discovered that she was not in danger of immediate death, though her symptoms were alarming enough to cause herself and her husband much fear. The physician was able to afford some relief, and in about an hour the woman was much better, and, so the physician said, on the road to recovery.
“But I only got here just in time,” the physician remarked. “If she had suffered from such great pain much longer it would have weakened her heart so that the results might have been serious. You owe a great deal to this brave boy, Mr. Johnson. Only for him, and for his ingenuity in getting me here, the case might have had a different ending.”
“I realize that,” said the man, “and I can’t thank him enough. The other two boys aided me also. I don’t know what I would have done without them. They helped me heat water and in other ways. I am sure I’ll never forget it.”
After seeing that his patient was as comfortable as possible the physician said he would return home.
“I’ll send you as far as the bridge in a carriage,” proposed Mr. Johnson. “That is if one of these boys can drive you and bring the rig back. I don’t feel like leaving Mrs. Johnson yet.”
“I’ll drive,” volunteered Ned.
So he hitched up a horse and soon the doctor was ready to go, saying he would call again the next day.