“What is there, Johnnie?” he asked listlessly, toying with the pocket fork and knife which all campaigners carry.
“Hot coffee, massa, berry hot; and golly! look at dem tinned sausages! Johnnie take dem from de tin jest now, and look how dey frizzle!”
Dick did look, and on another occasion he would have fallen upon the food with eagerness, for an expedition of any sort encourages a healthy appetite. But this morning, strangely enough, he could not eat. The sight of food sickened him. He pushed his plate away and took to his pipe. Even that did not please him. The taste was all wrong, and he sat down, looking dejected, for the first time for many a day. Then he commenced to shiver, till his teeth rattled together like castanets.
“’E’s got it, sure enough,” whispered one of the salts, an old hand on the coast. “This cruise ’as come to a end, chummies. Look at ’im shiverin’. It’s a bit of bad luck, mates, ’cos ’e was the boy to show us some fun. Beg pardon, sir,” he went on, coming to Dick’s side, “but ain’t yer feeling quite up to it? Let’s feel yer ’and.”
Without further ceremony he took the hand which hung listlessly at his young commander’s side, and put his finger on the pulse, at the wrist, for this tar had had some instruction, and was an intelligent fellow. Then he turned to one of his mates, “Fetch along that ’ere medicine pannier,” he said shortly. “Now, then, open it carefully, and jest lift out that ’ere box. If yer please, sir, jest put this under yer tongue.”
With deft fingers he produced a thermometer from the medicine chest, and placed it in Dick’s mouth. Three minutes later he inspected it, while the look on his jolly face turned to one of concern.
“Are yer cold, sir?” he asked sympathetically.
“No; but awfully hot. I’m burning all over,” was the answer. “And I’m very thirsty.”
“And you’ve got a temperature. Tom Huggins there, ’bout ship; and, Johnnie, let ’er skip till we’re out of the river. The orfficer’s got a go of fever, and sooner he’s aboard the Rattlesnake and at sea the better for him and all of us. I’ll get yer a blanket, sir, and make yer comfortable.”
They were all very good to their young commander, and took care of him as if he were a child, till they reached the open sea and espied the Rattlesnake. An hour later he was lying on the after deck beneath an awning, tossing with fever, and with an orderly from the sick bay told off to keep special watch and ward over him. For Dick had a severe attack. The responsible work at the stockade, the fear of a sudden appearance of the enemy, and the flight had all aided a notoriously bad climate. And at last he was down with malaria, which kept him aboard the ship for a month.