“Oh, I say, doctor!”
“Did I?” said that young gentleman, scratching his head. “Well, now you say so, I think it was Robert Howlett, Esquire, with the spy-glass old Staples abused so, and a pretty row there was went on below on deck. The chaps were half mad, and were dancing about the planks, and all bubbling over with excitement, as they tried to get a peep at you. And when—oh, my!—we did at last come up to you, a nice pretty respectable lot you looked, lying about in the boat, with no more discipline than you’d see in a shoal of seals on a rock. You looked as if you had all been pitched in anyhow, and—gug!”
“Why, Bob! what’s the matter, old chap?”
Mark turned to gaze on the convulsed face, and just obtained one glance before it was turned away. For Bob’s voice had suddenly changed from its light, half-cynical, playful tone. There was a sudden choking as if something had come in his throat; and as Mark read his feelings thoroughly stole a thin, feeble hand into his, and whispered softly, “Oh, Bob, old chap!” the face was turned sharply back at him, and its owner burst out in a half-whimpering, half-angry way:
“Well, so would you if you’d seen it. Even iron Staples pretty nearly broke down. It was just horrid. Didn’t seem to be a bit of life in any one of you but Tom Fillot, and he couldn’t have cut a joke to save his life. As for you, I wouldn’t have given a penny more for you than the worth of your uniform, and that was all shrunk. You looked—”
“How will he look to-morrow, Mr Howlett?” cried a sharp voice, that of the doctor. “So this is the way you keep watch over a patient, is it, sir? He was getting better, and now my work’s all undone again. I expect you’ve killed him.”
“Silence!” cried that gentleman, feeling Mark’s pulse. “Yes, of course. Fever greatly increased. Hush, not a word, Vandean. Lie perfectly still. I ought to have been told that you had fully recovered your consciousness. Now, Mr Howlett, you had better be off.”
“No, sir; don’t send me away. I’ll be so careful in future.”
“I can’t trust you, my lad.”
“You may indeed now, sir. It was all with being so glad that poor Vandean’s better.”