"Did you have a garden where you came from, my little man?" said the cockswain, lifting the child on to his knee amid a general laugh.
"Torse we did!" answered the child, looking up into the weather-beaten face fearlessly, "a great big garden, with trees and fings, and I played there every day. It was nice; but we hadn't got a sea-gull there, only two dogs. I fink I like a sea-gull best. He makes such nice noises and he dances, too. I fink I shall dig a great big ditch all round the garden, and fill it with the sea, and put a lighthouse in the middle, and Pat and his daddy and my Nan can live with me there; and the sea-gull, too, and then we should have everything, and it would be quite con-wenient for everybody."
"Do you know the name of the house where you lived, my hearty?" asked the man, with beaming face; but Rupert shook his head impatiently, and went chattering on about how his future domain was to be arranged.
"You can come sometimes in your big boat and see us, man," he remarked, "and I'll show you how to sail it in our sea, for I don't expect you'll know how to do it properly. I shall have a boat of my very own then: my papa will give me one. And when I'm not a soldier I shall be a sailor, and I'll teach you how to be one too."
"Thank you, my little man, I'll be sure and come and learn of you," and the child looked a little offended at the general laugh from the rest.
"You needn't bring those men with you another time," he said, "I don't fink they understand fings properly."
At that moment the young surgeon reappeared with Eileen in his wake. She looked grave and sorrowful, and went to the fire to take off the soup she was preparing, whilst the men glanced up at the doctor, and asked what he thought of his patient.
"We heard him groaning a good bit at first, and Jim isn't one to cry out for naught," said Rupert's friend; "I'm afraid he's a good bit hurt. What do you make of him, sir? Can he be taken ashore?"
"No, he must stay where he is. He could not stand any sort of move yet. He has been badly hurt, and there is a great deal of inflammation about him. He will be easier now that I have bandaged him up right, and his lungs will have a chance of healing; but he has been left much too long without medical aid. If I could have seen him at once, things would have been much better. However, we will hope for the best. Any way, the worst of the pain is over now, unless the inflammation spreads."
"Have you hurted my Jim?" asked Rupert, doubling his little fists and bristling up like a young turkey-cock. "If you have, I'll frash you. I won't have my Jim hurted. He came into the water after me. Now I'm taking care of him. You didn't ought to have gone and seen him without my leave!" and he strode up to the doctor as though he meant to inflict condign punishment upon him forthwith.