"The doctor's boat!" was the shout from aft one minute after, and when the hospital surgeon entered the poor man's leg was already raw side down in a pail of water, and Kep coolly picking up and tying the arteries with the shaky assistance of the attendant.
"The devil!" cried the doctor.
"No, sir," cried the attendant, "only the boy Bowser, the sauciest boy in the Service."
"Well," said the hospital doctor, as he began to complete the operation, laughing as he spoke, "the devil himself couldn't have done the job half as well."
"How old are you?" he said to Kep after the poor Krooman had been put in his cot.
"Fifteen in five days," he answered proudly. "Quite old, isn't it, sir?"
"Did the surgeon leave you in charge of the ship?"
"Oh no, sir. Dr. McTavish is away in the mountains shooting cobras and things, but really, he is such a nice, affable fellow, that I shall always be only too pleased to do any little job like this in his absence."
The doctor was more amused than ever, and had a rattling good story to tell that evening to his mess-mates.
CHAPTER XI