Under Fergus' direction the servant had cut off the doublet and, after pouring some more spirits down the wounded man's throat, he bade one of the other women fetch him some soft linen, and a sheet. When these arrived he made a pad of the linen, and bound it over the wounded man's shoulder with some strips torn from the sheet. Then he sent for some straight strips of wood, cut them to the right length, wrapped some linen round them and, straightening the arm, applied them to it and, with the assistance of the girl, bandaged it firmly. Then he placed a pad of linen over the wound in the body, and passed bandages round and round.
"Well done!" he said to his assistant. "You are a stout girl, and a brave one."
Then he turned to the others, who were crowded round their mistress.
"Stand back," he said, "and throw open the window and let the air come to her. That will do.
"The young lady and this girl will be enough, now. Do the rest of you run off and get some clothes on."
"She has opened her eyes once, sir."
"She will come round directly, young lady. Pour a spoonful or two from this glass between her lips. It is stronger than that you have in your hand. She has had a terrible shock, but as soon as she hears that your father is alive, it will do more for her than all our services."
"Will he live, sir?"
"That I cannot say for certain, but I have great hopes that he will do so. However, I will send a surgeon out, as soon as I get to the city."
The lady was longer in her swoon than Fergus had expected, and the servants had returned before she opened her eyes.