“Bring it here,” cried the doctor, and the rays of a second lantern came dancing through the darkness to help light up the scene.
“Now, my boy,” said the doctor, “do you feel faint?”
“No,” said Mark sturdily.
“I only want to see how much you are hurt.”
“It’s getting better now,” said the boy cheerfully. “It only aches.”
“But I must see where—” began the doctor, only to be checked by a shout from Mark.
“I say, don’t! You are hurting me again. It’s a big thorn, and you pressed it farther in.”
“Is it the beast’s claw?” whispered Sir James.
“It can’t be,” replied the doctor. “It’s right on the back of his shoulder where I placed my hand—yes, here it is.”
“Oh!” ejaculated Mark again, for the doctor thrust his hand inside the door of one of the lanterns, to display a great thorn about two inches long.