“It was my foolishness that made you do it. Josiah!” she called, as the Captain came down by the rear stair. “Get me a basin of water and the cayenne pepper, quick!”
The Captain obeyed with alacrity. Miss Pipkin soon had the ankle in the water, and the water was a fiery red in color.
“It’ll take the swelling out,” she affirmed.
“Ain’t you got it a mite too hot with pepper, Clemmie?”
“No, I ain’t. That’s all you men know about such things.”
“Well, I didn’t know.”
The swelling began to disappear according to the prophecy of the housekeeper, but the skin took on the color of the reddened water in the basin. An hour later Mr. McGowan was undecided which was the more undesirable, the pain from the sprain, or the blisters from the treatment.
“Cal’late I’ll run down to the Jennie P.,” announced the Captain after breakfast. “You can’t navigate that far, can you, Mack?”
“Josiah Pott! What on earth do you mean? Of course he can’t, and you know it. I don’t see what you want to go traipsing down to that thing for, anyhow; it ain’t going to get loose, though it’d be a good loss if it did.”