Surely the man who first dreamed of nectar must have been thinking of water, clear and cool, tasted under similar circumstances to those in which I was then placed. My thirst at length temporarily assuaged, Ella once more resumed the bathing of my wounds, tearing up the skirt of her white cotton dress to bind them up with afterwards. I begged her to desist, alluding as delicately as I could to my naked condition, and the shock to her modesty which it must occasion and assured her I could and would wait until we reached the cutter, when Bob would have leisure to attend to me and enact the part of surgeon.
“I know what you mean, Harry, love,” she answered; “but do not feel any distress on my account. I am, I trust, as truly and perfectly modest as any woman living; you will never have the slightest reason to complain of me in that respect. And you know, dear, that to the pure in thought all things are pure; and I can look, as I have already looked, upon your naked body, without one thought save that of sorrow and deepest pity for the cruel wounds with which it is covered. My modesty is not of the spurious kind which would cause me to turn away my face and hide it with simulated blushes, leaving those gaping wounds to remain uncared for; and I hope you will not think the worse of me if I say that I intend, not only to dress every one of them now, but as often as they require it, until, with God’s blessing, you are completely restored. And am I not your promised wife? That alone, and apart from any abstract question of humanity, is sufficient to justify my resolve, in my own eyes, as I trust it will in yours, dearest. Bob is well enough, he is a dear old fellow in many ways; but utterly unfitted to exercise the delicacy and care, and ungifted with the lightness of touch, necessary in your case. Besides, it is woman’s peculiar province to—What are you smiling at? Ah! I know. You are laughing at what you have styled my ‘pet phrase’ but never mind! I am rejoiced to see that you can smile at anything in the midst of your pain, my poor darling.”
We were by this time rounding the point, and the savages had been visible some five minutes about three miles to the southward, paddling away most furiously, so Bob said, in the vain hope of overtaking the swift boat.
It was not a very long journey from this point back to the cove, in which the Water Lily was lying, and in about three quarters of an hour we were alongside.
To transfer me on board and below was a most painful operation, and I again swooned away soon recovering, however, under Ella’s gentle ministrations. To my surprise I found she had caused me to be placed in her own cot forward, a proceeding against which I at once protested as strenuously as my feeble powers would allow.
“Dearest, dearest Harry,” said she, leaning over me, and pressing her quivering lips passionately to mine, “do not, I pray you, exhaust yourself and distress me by saying a single word. You are far better here than you would be in your hammock. There you would have no room to turn, whilst here you have plenty there it is close and stifling hot, whilst here there is a cool and refreshing draught from the open deck-light; and here, too, I shall have more room to move round and get at your numerous wounds to dress them. And here I can remain at your side and watch you constantly, whilst I could not do so very well in the other cabin, without turning poor Bob out of it altogether.”
“But,” said I, “I protest against your devoting yourself to me so completely as these arrangements imply; you will be ill—”
“Not another word, Harry,” she interrupted, stopping my lips with a kiss; I will not listen to it. I am already your wife in the sight of God, and He knows that no wife can love more fondly than I do; so in this dreadful time I shall perform all a wife’s duties towards you, dearest, as in that way only is there any hope of saving you. You are now still under the influence of excitement, and do not know the extent of your injuries; but you will find all that out by-and-by, when you become more calm, and then you will need the most vigilant watching and the utmost care to save you from sinking under the effects of exhaustion.
“Oh! Ella, what can I do to repay you for all this?” I exclaimed, deeply moved by the dear twirl’s devotion.
“Live, Harry,” she replied passionately; “live, my dearest; recover, and bless your poor little Ella with such love as her heart now feels for you. But this will never do,” she added quickly, and with a powerful effort to regain her self-control; “I must lose no time in getting these dreadful wounds bound up, for they are all bleeding afresh; and, remember, I forbid you to speak another word.”