Every one was astounded, the poor chaplain being nearly frightened out of his wits. The beef-steak was speedily brought in, and the patient made a feint of eating a portion.
From that day the gallant Captain slowly progressed towards recovery, and on September 10th left Saint Luke’s Hospital and sailed for Liverpool in the middle of October, this being his last visit to the country in whose cause he had shed his blood and earned the laurels of war.
Chapter Fourteen.
Closing Scenes.
For some time after his return home Mayne Reid’s health remained in a precarious state, and he suffered very much from depression. At one time it was almost feared that his mind would not recover its balance. That wonderful intellect was sadly clouded; the terrible ordeal he had passed through in New York had left its mark behind. But in the end, with careful nursing his illusions vanished, and he once more resumed the pen. After writing some short articles for “Cassell’s Illustrated Travels,” he revised “The Finger of Fate” and “Lone Ranche,” which was published in two volumes by Chapman and Hall. In May, 1872, Mayne Reid commenced writing a new story, “The Death Shot,” for Mr Ingram. It appeared in The Penny Illustrated Paper, and was a great success, speedily increasing the circulation of that paper. “The Death Shot” was also published by Beadle and Adams, of New York, in their Saturday Journal.
On returning from his autumn tour in South Wales, Captain Reid writes to his young friend, Charles Ollivant:
“I’m growing as fat as the claimant, and strong as a bull, but sorrowful as a ‘gib cat.’”
He was then re-writing “The Lone Ranche,” and making it a much longer book. It ran through the columns of The Penny Illustrated Paper, under the title of “Adela.”