“Don’t want one,” said Esau, softly.
Mr Raydon asked me a few more questions, cautioned me not to speak much, and to lie quite still, and then left us together.
Esau sat looking at me for a few minutes with his arms rested upon his extended knees.
“I say, you’re not to talk, you know, but I may. I say, I am so sorry. Hush!—no! You mustn’t say you know that, or anything else. I only want to tell you it was an accident. You do know, don’t you?”
I nodded, and then lay back with my eyes closed; the pain caused even by that slight movement being agonising.
Dean saw it, and rose to moisten a sponge with cool water, and apply it to my temples, with the effect that the faint sensation coming on died away.
“Don’t—please don’t try to move again,” he whispered, piteously. “You don’t know how it hurts.”
The idea of its hurting Esau sounded so comical to me in my weak state that I could not help smiling. “That’s right,” he said; “laugh again, and then I shall know I needn’t go and fetch him. I say, do make haste and get better. Shall I tell you all about it? Don’t speak; only say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ with your eyes. Keep ’em open if you mean yes, and shut ’em for no. Now then, shall I tell you?”
I kept looking at him fixedly.
“That means yes. Well, I was bringing the gun, when I tripped and fell and it went off, and I wished it had shot me instead.”