“No,” I said angrily; “and it’s a great shame.”
I hardly know how it was that I had it there, where money was not likely to be of use, but I had a two-shilling piece in my pocket, and I gave it to the poor fellow, as it seemed to me like showing more solid sympathy than empty words.
His face lit up so full of sunshine that I did not notice how dirty it was as he clapped the piece of silver to the swollen eye.
“That will not do any good,” I said, laughing.
“Done a lot, sir,” he answered—“that and what you said.”
He made a curious sound as if he were half choking then, and turned sharply to run forward to the cook’s galley.
By the time breakfast was over, land could be seen from the deck to starboard, port, and right forward—misty-looking land, like clouds settled here and there upon the surface of the sea.
This grew clearer and clearer, till about noon it was plain to see that some of the patches were islands, while farther to the west the mainland spread right and left with dim bluish-looking mountains in the distance.
It was early in the afternoon that the captain suddenly gave his orders, the engine was stopped, and the boat towing far astern began to grind up against the side, as it rose and fell on the heaving sea.
“Still of the same mind, doctor?” said the captain.