“There, there, my lad,” said the other kindly, “You’re all right. Don’t speak to him like that now, Jordan. The boy’s had a horrible scare.”
“Scare!” said the big bluff man; “and so have I. Why, my heart was in my mouth. I wouldn’t go through it again for a hundred pounds. How did you come there, sir?”
“Let him be for a few minutes,” said the other gently. “He’ll come round directly, and tell us.”
I gave him a grateful look and held out my wet hand, which he took and held in his.
“The boy has had a terrible shock,” he said. “He’ll tell us soon. Don’t hurry, my lad. There, be calm.”
I clung to his hand, for he seemed to steady me, my hand jerking and twitching, and a curious sensation of horror that I had never felt before seeming to be upon me; but by degrees this passed off, the more quickly that the two gentlemen went on talking as if I were not there.
“I’m so much obliged,” I said at last, and the big bluff man laughed.
“Don’t name it,” he said, nodding good-humouredly. “Five guineas is my fee.”
I shivered.
“And my friend here, Doctor Brown, will have a bigger one for his advice.”